Written by Jordan Hau
As an undergrad Architecture Student, my mind constantly buzzes with new concepts and ideas of benefiting the community through design. It’s an inevitability that we need to be considering greener approaches to our lifestyle and the very fabric of urban landscape. Since the lock-down, imposed by the Coronavirus Outbreak, human activity and progression has practically ceased. The lack and occasional abundance of people has been eye-opening as to what physical changes to my immediate surroundings need in order to create community spaces that are actually suitable for human well-being, health, wildlife populations and climate change.
Personally, my ideas have originated from the most basic of tasks that we are lawfully allowed to pursue, starting at home.
People Should Have Access to Usable Outdoor Private and Public Greenspace.
Everyone is currently dreaming of the next time they can go out with friends or go to their local parks with family, without it being for exercise. These excursions are vital to our mental and physical health, but while we can’t leave the house, I can only think of people who are trapped in garden-less flats or park-less areas. Having access to space where you can experience the outdoors and nature, at least within a short walking distance, should be a human right and it is terribly highlighted by this pandemic that existing infrastructure does not allow for it. Maybe we could take a leaf out of the books of Luc Schuiten and Vincent Callebaut and design like them.
Vincent Callebaut’s Visualisation For the Paris Smart City 2050
Better Infrastructure for Eco-friendly Transport Should Be Invested In. (And not just in city centres)
Obviously, it shouldn’t take a tragedy for other things to benefit but one of the aspects that has been widely considered is the lack of vehicles on the roads. From videos of estranged wildlife walking the deserted streets to noticeably fresher air, the disappearance of cars. As previously expected, they’ve come with multiple benefits and in my opinion, the public should be encouraged to only make essential journeys by cars and to work from home where possible. Favouring the use of trains and electric buses. This should also be greeted by the improvement of cycling and walking infrastructure in and around the city to encourage greener commutes to school and work. Cities such as Milan and Bogotá are already working on vast amendments to their infrastructure due to these reasons and I certainly hope more European cities follow suit. Especially for wider communities that surround cities, due to their lack of transport links.
Image by Jordan Hau
We should be encouraged to buy locally and support small businesses. Always.
At this time, many have heavily relied on the big brand supermarkets for the “big shop”; which I am not criticising. But whilst community values and solidarity are at the fore, we should be supporting small local businesses for a variety of reasons. If not for the local economy or creation of local jobs, then for the environment and long-term growth of your community. Despite social distancing, the volume of people aiming to get into supermarkets is too much at the moment. Supporting local smaller businesses would certainly help to avoid the spread, preventing crowding. It’s also a very uncertain time for your smaller local businesses who don’t have the financial clout of the larger corporations.
In my opinion more thought should be given to the design of small shopping areas, enabling them and the community around them to benefit from each other and grow together. At the end of the day, putting money into your local economy can only mean more money to put into improvements in the local community, which when done right, can produce exceptional results.
Inspired by tales of improving air quality and wildlife returning to the streets of the world, it makes me wonder, wouldn’t it be amazing if we could maintain this in some way? Would we not be better off to say, enough is enough, and not all expansion needs to be detrimental to the least “essential” to society? It’s needless to say that a world in which we can live in “harmony” with the natural world, would be a more sustainable one. Designers are key to making this a reality. I may be a naive optimist from one of the most liberal cities in the UK, but I wholly believe this is a possibility and in fact an inevitability.