SINGAPORE – In the prepandemic world, the most stressful moments of Janica Solis’ day had little to do with her paintings in a new educational generation in the Philippines, but it was the circular vacation of the paintings that really exhausted her.
Her morning journey through Metropolitan Manila’s domain included a long collective taxi ride that made the 28-year-old feel “hot and tight as a sardine. “Going home involved a 30-minute walk to the station, followed by a bus and two rickshaw rides. . Solis moved an hour and a part two hours in each direction, an absurd time just 7 km away.
Manila is one of the most congested cities in the world, where travelers spend an average of 66 minutes trapped in traffic every day, so when the Philippine government, driven in component through new and safe measures of estating, promised a review of the transport of its capital. formula in May, Solís and many others applauded. He is cautiously optimistic and says it is “smart to hear” plans for more pedestrian streets, motorcycle roads and buses.
If successful, the initiative would be one of the positive aspects of COVID-19.
The pandemic has devastated economies and lives around the world, but in the wake of coronavirus, Manila and other cities see the possibility of a redesign: a possibility to “rebuild better” and create cleaner, greener, healthier, more inclusive and more resilient. long-term disaster communities.
“This is an opportunity to press the reset button on our thinking,” said Guillermo Luz, president of the philippines’ non-profit habitable cities. “We know we can’t just think about health, but we have to take on many how do we plan our cities, activities and infrastructure?
These 3 words, rebuilding better, are back everywhere, from the previous Singapore election this year to the US President-elect’s online transition page. America, Joe Biden, but much of the attention focuses on cities, and it’s easy to understand why. Nations estimates that 55% of the world’s population lives in urban areas, an increase to 68% by 2050.
Developing countries in Asia are expected to be a hot spot for urbanization, as it has been for more than 50 years: the region’s urban population has grown at a rate of 3. 4% consistent with this year consistent with the year, compared to 2. 6% in the rest of the world to come, according to the Asian Development Bank.
Any city that wants to thrive sustainably in the long run will want to plan thoroughly and address the weaknesses that the pandemic has exposed.
Improving connectivity and reducing congestion, as Manila has pledged to do, is a smart start, Luz told Nikkei Asia. Because the region’s public transport systems are fragmented, unreliable and inefficient, “many other people prefer to drive their own cars or use public transport. opportunities like personal rental vehicles,” he said. The result: congested streets.
COVID-19 has only exacerbated the situation, said Norliza Hashim, founder of Urbanice Malaysia, a group of experts who are reading responses about urbanization. “We see other people coming back to their cars because they’re afraid to use public transportation,” he said. .
Aleven, although some villages have implemented sanitary precautions, such as silos with plastic sheets in jeepneys, many citizens remain fearful. “You don’t really know if the driving force cleans the plastic and how it disinfects it,” Solís said. He’s only jumped in a bus three times since the start of the pandemic, who prefer to call rides through Grab even though they charge about 10 times more.
However, it has detected an encouraging trend since the arrival of COVID: more cyclists. The same phenomenon has been observed in Asia, adding Singapore and Cities of India. This gives an idea of what it could be like if there were more lanes for motorcycles and sidewalks. to dispel considerations about the risks of driving or walking near traffic. The result can be a beneficial scenario for healthier populations, as well as relief from congestion and carbon emissions.
Another failure of the cities that COVID-19 has highlighted is economic inequality, that is, in housing. Residents living in overcrowded apartments and slums with limited access to water, sanitation and fitness are among those most affected by the virus.
Millions of metropolises do not yet have an option to live in informal and illegal settlements outside of society. Accommodation is too expensive. A study conducted through the BAfD in 211 cities in the Asia-Pacific region found that housing was “extremely unaffordable” in 93% of cities.
COVID-19 has created a sense of urgency and popularity that public aptitude is intrinsically connected to public housing and that further reconstruction will have to involve a more equitable distribution of social facilities and the progression of adequate housing for the disadvantaged and marginalized.
“We want to think about how we can locate the sustainable bureaucracy of social housing,” said Jordana Ramalho, who studies urban progression at University College London. “A space is such a basic space . . . Other people’s ability to recover and recover is closely related to the safety of their homes. “
It is only the quantity, but also the quality of the accommodation that counts.
The design of the buildings will want to be reviewed after COVID, said design ethics specialist Jeffrey Chan of the University of Technology and Design of Singapur. La most architects sometimes elements like aesthetics and how to conserve energy, he said, but most likely points will be taken into account in the sanitation and conditioning of buildings “now that there is a greater awareness of the willingness to decrease the spread of viral agents in the air. “
Before the pandemic, many city dwellers already spent much of their day in enclosed buildings or traveling in “hermetically enclosed and ventilated environments between buildings,” said Chan, who believes that in the future architects will design “healthier buildings” that have greater ventilation. , fewer contact surfaces and safer, contamination-resistant coatings.
Areas around buildings also want to be redesigned. “People now recognize the importance of green spaces to a city,” said Puthearath Chan, who works in the Cambodian government’s Department of Green Economy.
“Before, other people regularly went to buy grocery stores in Array and chatted. But when COVID arrived, more people became interested in herb spaces, such as climbing Knong Psar Mountain,” he said, referring to the popular nature reserve. in western Cambodia.
Similar scenes of city dwellers flocking to open spaces have been reported in Singapore, Hong Kong, Tokyo and other cities as a form of physical and intellectual escape from COVID restrictions. “Based on this change, urban planners have begun to think about how to get there. with more green spaces and urban forests,” Puthearath Chan said.
Some urban dwellers have also embarked on urban agriculture because COVID-19 has disrupted chains of origin and raised concerns about food security. Governments in the region rushed to inspire this practice, sending seeds that others can plant, opening more housing and supporting urban farms. .
“I think most recognize the need for genuine change, whether it’s environmental change, switching to greener infrastructure, or supporting urban agriculture to generate chains and show that we’re a little more self-sufficient,” UCL’s Ramalho said.
However, having a vision of larger cities is one thing and implementing it is another. There is a struggle between the progression of the economy and the coverage of the environment. “I believe that one of the biggest challenges, especially in the mega cities of Southeast Asia and East Asia, is to strike a balance between progression, public aptitude and sustainability. Chan said of SUTD.
Clean and ecological progression is possible, but it has a higher cost. And COVID-19 is only making greater use of resources and budgets. There are “very difficult times,” Hashim said of Urbanice Malaysia. “We may have setbacks in some areas,” he said, noting that more cash was available in the past.
Another challenge facing its organization in selling sustainable cities in Malaysia, where more than 75% of the population lives in urban spaces, is the lack of “local data” especially from demographics to emergency logistics. Granular data “makes people more aware of what they are doing,” he says, and is helping officials make more accurate decisions by “knowing precisely where to allocate the budget and put programs into effect. “
Luz faces the same challenge in the Philippines. For example, he and his team have spent more than two years compiling statistics – on the population of students and runners, the number of hospitals, first aid rates, etc. – Other cities and bring them in combination in one place: an online dashboard that mayors and citizens can access for free.
“One thing with knowledge is that once you get it, you have a tendency to ask a lot more questions like ‘What if . . . ?’,” Luz said. “When you can measure what’s happening, you can manage it better. “
To better rebuild, Luz and other replacement actors are also pushing for greater collaboration between governments and communities, following the old top-down technique in many parts of Asia.
It’s “very ambitious,” Ramalho of the UCL admitted, but we try to “move from consultation to co-production. “At the same time, he said it was vital to paint through the lines of the sector and think “creatively about how we can cope with resilience and sustainability in urban development. “
Many experts have hope.
“In the future, some will return to what they were before, but there will also be a replacement in behavior,” Luz said. “I think other people will be informed to do things differently. “
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