Webinar: What Can We Learn from COVID-19 Pandemic about City Planning?

Date 23-Apr-2020 to 23-Apr-2020

Location Time: 11:00 am – 01.00 pm

Format Online

The unprecedented global pandemic of COVID-19 has virtually stopped everyone and confined us in our respective residences. It poses challenges in provisioning of health care, food and essential supplies, sanitation and hygiene services apart from dealing with several million marginalised people whose lives and livelihood are in disarray. As infections spread far and wide, cities are becoming hotspots every day and number of confinement zones are increasing in the large urban centres.

Historically, the spread of diseases and public health concerns have influenced how cities are planned particularly the sanitation system, neighbourhoods, and public spaces. What was learnt in the 19^th Century Europe was attempted to replicate in colonised countries and India was no exception. More contemporarily, the planning of cities are guided by economic efficiency in provisioning of basic services, maximising land use, and minimising travel distances within the city limits. These priorities have led to densification of habitations and workplaces. Cities in India have also grown and densified without planning as can be seen from the presence of numerous high-density informal settlements.

COVID-19 pandemic has pushed the city planning at several crossroads. A city cannot exist in isolation and what happens in a city also impacts its surroundings. A city is a producer as well as a consumer. It is dependent on supplies from the rural hinterlands but also provides market and economic opportunities to rural people. A city cannot be ‘inclusive’ ‘resilient’, ‘smart’ and ‘futuristic’ unless its planning takes into account the needs of women, children, and elderly people particularly from the marginalised sections. The current pandemic is an imminent threat to human existence but it is also an opportunity to redefine how India can plan its cities in the short- and long-term keeping public health at the centre.    

In this backdrop, PRIA International Academy (PIA) and Ansal University (Sushant School of Planning and Development) organised a webinar on "What Can We Learn from COVID-19 Pandemic about City Planning?" on April 23, 2020. 

The key messages emerged from the discussion as follows:

 The Webinar was moderated by Dr. Kaustuv Kanti Bandyopadhyay, Director, PRIA International Academy, New Delhi. 

The panellists for the webinar included:

• Dr. Anil Roy, Associate Professor, Faculty of Planning, CEPT University, Ahmedabad
• Prof. Shrawan Kumar Acharya, Professor of Urban and Regional Planning, Centre for the Study of Regional Development, School of Social Science, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi
• Dr. Sainath Banerjee, Senior Expert - Capacity Development for NUHM, Asian Development Bank, New Delhi
• Ms Banashree Banerjee, Independent Architecture and Planning Professional, New Delhi

The commenters for the webinar included: 

• Dr. Ajith Kaliyath, Associate Professor, Sushant School of Urban Planning and Development, Ansal University, Gurgaon
• Dr. Rajesh Tandon, Founder-President, Participatory Research in Asia (PRIA) and UNESCO Chair on Community Based Research and Social Responsibilities in Higher Education 

Read the full report here. 

Watch the recording of the webinar here.