Trend Watch May 2020

Podcast by Two Urban Designers – From Shopping Malls to Coronavirus:

Adelaide (un)Planned is a slick and engaging podcast exploring design and planning in Adelaide, South Australia – the good, bad and (sometimes) ugly. What is it that makes this city one of the most liveable in the world?

Presented by Michael McKeown, Director and Urban Designer at Jensen PLUS, and Daniel Bennett, Urban Design Strategy Lead with Architectus, the podcast has recently celebrated its tenth episode.

Each instalment features conversations with some of Adelaide’s leading thinkers, planners and design professionals, selected for their opinions, insights, stories and good humour.

Expect discussion about well-known and changing places, streets and developments, and topical chats about landscape, transport, the environment and civic leadership.

We recommend starting with episode seven, Coronavirus and the City, Part 1. Michael and Daniel discuss what Adelaide may learn from the pandemic – will our local shops be revitalised by the ‘great work from home experiment’ and a return to localism? What can we take from the increased use of parks and many public spaces? Will there really be a return to suburban values and gardening?

Our Cities May Never Look the Same Again After the Pandemic:

Cities are introducing public space interventions to attempt to control the spread of Covid-19. It is unclear if these initiatives will continue once the pandemic is over, and what the virus means for planning ideals of connected community places with ‘sticky’ streets, writes Oscar Holland for CNN.

“For advocates of walkable, unpolluted and vehicle-free cities, the past few weeks have offered an unprecedented opportunity to test the ideas they have long lobbied for,” he writes.

“With Covid-19 lockdowns vastly reducing the use of roads and public transit systems, city authorities – from Liverpool to Lima – are taking advantage by closing streets to cars, opening others to bicycles and widening sidewalks to help residents maintain the six-foot distancing recommended by global health authorities.”

Holland highlights examples of how cities are currently reshaping public spaces – at least in the short term – and explores implications for future city design and planning.

Read the article, ‘Our cities may never look the same again after the pandemic.’

Photo: Mission Dolores Park social distancing circles by Dicklyon, Wikimedia Commons.