From food to tech, virus to spur urban planning rethink
BANGKOK: The coronavirus pandemic sweeping across the planet will force city authorities and planners to more seriously consider factors such as population density, technology, food security and inadequate housing, urban experts said. As of yesterday morning the outbreak, termed COVID-19, had infected about 200,000 people worldwide and killed roughly 8,000, according to a global tally kept by Johns Hopkins University. In response, countries have tightened border controls, imposed travel bans, locked down cities and stepped up surveillance using technology powered by artificial intelligence (AI).
“It is likely that COVID-19 will prompt a rethink of urban design and planning in the Asia-Pacific region,” said Tony Matthews, a senior lecturer in urban and environmental planning at Australia’s Griffith University. “There will probably be consideration of desirable population density levels, a greater utilisation of apps and smart data to track health trends, and many cities will probably start to think about their food security more closely,” he said.
Countries including China, South Korea and Singapore are using robots, drones and big data to track the outbreak, disinfect hospitals and deliver supplies. Such technologies may become a fixture in cities to flag potential problems for quicker response, said Matthews. Authorities are also likely to more closely monitor vector-borne diseases such as dengue fever that are shifting due to climate change, and impose limits on the types and numbers of live animals in traditional markets, he said.
Coronaviruses are zoonotic diseases - meaning they are passed from animals to humans - and the rapid pace of deforestation and urbanization are major factors in the spread of these diseases in Asia, health experts say. Authorities in China said they would tighten supervision of traditional markets in the cities. This would not be the first time that an epidemic has led to changes in city planning, research shows. The cholera outbreaks of the 1830s led to better sanitation in London and elsewhere, while the tuberculosis epidemic in New York in the early 20th century paved the way for improved public transit systems and housing regulations.
The Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) outbreak in 2003, which hit cities such as Hong Kong and Singapore, led Singapore to upgrade its medical infrastructure and create systems to map the disease. “Historically, epidemics have acted as catalysts in transforming how diseases are handled, especially in urban areas,” said Annie Wilkinson, a research fellow at the Institute of Development Studies, a UK-based think tank. “Community engagement is key to effective epidemic control, be it delivering trusted messages, carrying out surveillance, or limiting movement,” she said.
Catalysts