The pandemic has deeply challenged the concept of urban centralisation
ISLAMABAD: The coronavirus outbreak is a perfect example of the potential instability in manufacturing around the world. Relying on cheaper imported goods would now be discouraged while international trade would decline in general. The global economy is changing. Countries generating their GDP on tourism are in a state of consternation. A hierarchal shift among the manufacturing industries has been witnessed. The weakening demand for consumer goods is making it more expensive for businesses to operate. Countries around the world are postponing their normal activities in hopes of eradicating the virus within the year.
This quarantine period has also forced many designers and urban planners to reconsider their approach in thinking about the morphology of space. An essential question for them to consider is: what if this virus never leaves and instead becomes a new normal? In such a situation, design solutions could never be conventionally approached. The focus from creating interactive or socially active spaces would totally shift after social distancing rules are integrated in world systems. Gathering people in large numbers within an enclosed space would then never be a preferable option. Here we talk about a total paradigm shift in the world of urban planning and architecture. Homes may become more functional with the rising requirement of work-from-home spaces, expansion would be inevitable, and cities would be designed from the perspective of walkability as public transport would be increasingly avoided.
The pandemic has deeply challenged the concept of urban centralisation. The ideology of shared spaces will no longer be favoured, which would in turn pressurise us to rethink the concept of what a dwelling is supposed to be.
Warda Jamil Sheikh
Published in The Express Tribune, June 6th, 2020.
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