The Post-COVID Urbanism

Dear Colleagues,

The COVID-19 pandemic has affected many aspects of urban life, raising questions regarding the desirability of the past and present patterns of urban planning and development. Among other things, it has exposed some of the long-lasting problems such as the unsustainable human–environment interactions, the ever-growing environmental footprint of cities, deep-rooted urban inequalities, and the fragmented urban governance systems. This is not the first time in the human history that pandemics have hit cities and will probably not be the last. In fact, previous pandemics have provided incentives to enhance public health and improve quality of urban life by, for instance, restructuring infrastructure systems. The COVID-19 pandemic unraveled at a historical juncture when unprecedented scientific and technological advances provide opportunities to develop transformative solutions towards more sustainable and resilient forms of urban planning and development. It is essential to seize these opportunities to recover from the crisis in a more just, sustainable, and resilient manner. This will also ensure alignment with Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and may enable planners and policymakers to deal with more complex and challenging issues such as climate change that are looming over cities.

The need for building better is already acknowledged by many researchers and policymakers. In fact, there are already ongoing discussions in science and policy circles regarding the need for new urban planning/design paradigms and models in the post-COVID era that reflect the lessons learned from the pandemic. Against this background, this Special Issue of Urban Science aims to offer a platform to advance our understanding of the evolving dynamics of the pandemic in cities, synthesize the existing knowledge, discuss the lessons that can be learned, and explore strategies for transformative solutions towards more sustainable and resilient cities in the post-COVID era. We encourage researchers and practitioners to submit original research articles, case studies, reviews, critical perspectives, and viewpoint articles on topics, including, but not limited to:

• social, economic, and environmental impacts of the pandemic on cities;
• the evolving patterns of COVID-19 spread in cities;
• success and failure cases of pandemic control in cities;
• pandemic-resilient cities;
• lessons learned from the pandemic;
• short-, medium- and long-term implications of the pandemic for urban planning and design;
• implications of the pandemic for achievement of the SDGs and climate change adaptation/mitigation targets;
• post-COVID urban planning and development scenarios;
• new urban planning/design paradigms and models in the post-COVID era;
• promotion of smart cities for enhancing resilience to future pandemics;
• sustainable and resilient recovery strategies.

Dr. Ayyoob Sharifi
Dr. Amir Reza Khavarian-Garmsir
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

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