Featured Guest
You’ll find this guest among our growing roll of Urban Champions.
Nicole Harper
Editor-in-Chief, Digital Future Society
Marnie McGregor
Head of Strategic Communications & Advocacy for the Global Covenant of Mayors for Climate & Energy
Danny Bridson
Urban Planner and Designer, Mandaworks
Charlotte Mitchell
Infrastructure Planner, Quod
5 Key
Takeaways
A roundup of the most compelling ideas, themes and quotes from this candid conversation|
Additional Reading
& Resources
1. COVID-19 is driving digital transformation
COVID-19 has catalyzed digital transformation in all industries. This raises the question as to how increased technological usage can coincide with inclusion, livability and privacy. Panelists discussed a technological humanist approach, in which technological integration is people-centered and technological design is society-centered.
2. Trust in government
The panelists observed that in many ways, COVID-19 has increased the trust that people have in their governments. In Stockholm, communities are not going against the Swedish government’s “try this out and see what happens” approach, while separatism sentiment appears to have been toned down in Barcelona.
3. Pre-existing conditions
COVID-19 has affected almost every city in the world, but its impact has varied. The panelists suggest that decades of good city planning initiatives have helped certain cities adapt more quickly while poor city planning has exacerbated problems in others.
4. A moment of opportunity
Many governments are taking this time to improve their cities. For example, in Athens the government is completing sewer works and have paved over 80 roads while lockdown measures are in place. They are also allowing main street patios and terraces to expand, in order to maintain their capacity while meeting social distancing guidelines.
5. Solidarity and resilience
The panelists agreed that places that have gone through previous crises could be better prepared to handle the impacts of COVID-19. One of the panelists highlighted how Greece’s recent emergence from a significant economic crisis strengthened personal and community resilience.
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Coronavirus is not fuel for urbanist fantasies, Alissa Walker, Curbed
Will Pandemics End Megacities, The Agenda with Steve Paikin, TVO
The Swedish Government’s work in response to COVID-19
How Smart City Planning Could Slow Future Pandemics, Emma Grey Ellis, Wired
Why did European leaders’ approval ratings rise during lockdown, Matthew Holyrod, Euronews.com
Full Panel
Transcript
Note to readers: This video session was transcribed using auto-transcribing software. Manual editing was undertaken in an effort to improve readability and clarity. Questions or concerns with the transcription can be directed to events@canurb.org with “transcription” in the subject line.
Full Audience
Chatroom Transcript
Note to reader: Chat comments have been edited for ease of readability. The text has not been edited for spelling or grammar. For questions or concerns, please contact events@canurb.org with “Chat Comments” in the subject line.12:02:04 From Canadian Urban Institute:Folks, please change your chat settings to “all panelists and attendees” so everyone can see your comments
12:03:08 From Canadian Urban Institute:You can find transcripts and recordings of today’s and all our webinars at https://www.canurb.org/citytalk
12:03:48 From Canadian Urban Institute:Keep the conversation going #citytalk @canurb
12:05:57 From Canadian Urban Institute:Danny Bridson – https://www.linkedin.com/in/danny-bridson-74735688/
https://www.mandaworks.com/03-we
Nicole Harper – https://twitter.com/nmharper
Marnie McGregor – https://twitter.com/marniemcg
https://marniemcgregor.ca/about
Charlotte Mitchell – https://twitter.com/charlotteinldn
https://www.quod.com/people/charlotte-mitchell/
12:06:14 From Nadine Tischhauser:Hi from Riga, Latvia! Looking forward to this talk!
12:07:09 From Toby Greenbaum:Toby from Ottawa
12:07:10 From Felipe Canavera:Edmonton Alberta!
12:07:16 From Kate gunn:watching from Edmonton AB today!
12:07:18 From Yanling Lin:Yanling from Singapore
12:07:21 From Rachel Demmers:Rachel from Waterloo
12:07:25 From James McCallan:Normally Toronto, but in Montreal atm.
12:07:25 From Gillian Mason:From Scarborough Ontario
12:07:27 From Malithi Fernando:Hello! Malithi from Paris (previously, Calgary, AB)
12:07:27 From Naomi Roy to All panelists:Edmonton, Alberta
12:07:28 From Mary Kenny:Mary from Halifax
12:07:28 From Ivy Campbell to All panelists:Calgary, Aberta with City of Calgary
12:07:28 From Pierre Chauvin to All panelists:Fergus, Ontario
12:07:28 From Saif Alnuweiri to All panelists:Toronto
12:07:32 From Kara Naklicki:Watching from Toronto
12:07:32 From Michael Rushman:Vermont
12:07:33 From Farhan Dhanani:Farhan tuning in from Toronto!
12:07:36 From Adele Kalinauckas to All panelists:Adele from London, UK
12:07:40 From karen Ramsay Cline to All panelists:Victoria, BC Canada
12:07:51 From TJ Maguire:Hello from Nova Scotia! Great to see you Mary and Danny!
12:07:52 From Evgeny Voutchkov to All panelists:Edmonton
12:07:54 From Abby S:Toronto
12:08:05 From John Peterson:tuning in from Toronto
12:08:15 From Andrew Rozen:Andrew from Vancouver, BC
12:08:26 From Canadian Urban Institute:CUI is looking for volunteers to help us continue the great work of our COVID-19 initiatives. If you can help, please contact us at covidresponse@canurb.org
12:08:43 From Susan Fletcher:Hello from Toronto (actually the border between Scarborough and Toronto)
12:09:39 From Canadian Urban Institute:
Help CUI improve its CityTalk programming with a short post-webinar survey – https://bit.ly/3e1imuV
12:09:45 From Susan Fletcher:Marnie — as a Canadian Honk, does that mean you are a Canada Goose? lol
12:10:20 From Andrew Rozen:Andrew Rozen tuning in from Vancouver, BC
12:10:22 From Alan Kan to All panelists:Mississauga
12:10:35 From Ronny Yaron:Hello from St. Lawrence Neighbourhood in Toronto
12:10:46 From Alan Kan:Mississauga
12:11:22 From Sherri Torjman:Hello from Sherri Torjman in Toronto.
12:12:43 From Abby S:Always Cocktail hour somewhere in the world!
12:14:00 From karen Ramsay Cline:Karen from Victoria
12:17:02 From Alyssa Valente:Hello from Toronto
12:22:55 From Toby Greenbaum:How has the Pandemic affected the Brexit conversation?
12:25:24 From Abby S:Are people back on the Tube?
12:34:39 From Abby S:Does it depend upon the neighbourhood?
12:41:05 From Lisa Cavicchia, CUI Staff:How is this pandemic hitting vulnerable people? Interested in Stockholm & Athens for this
12:41:43 From Marit Mitchell:A question for Charlotte: as travel and transport usage habits change, do you foresee a shift in how big infrastructure projects are approached and planned?
12:42:27 From karen Ramsay Cline:Panelists: How are cities responding to and supporting the homeless population if shelters are closed due to distancing?
12:42:42 From Sherri Torjman:Have any of the national governments provided special or additional financial assistance to cities to help with pandemic-related costs?
12:43:56 From Charles Crenna:What are local authorities doing to do the business case for permanence of initiatives?
12:44:42 From Susan Fletcher:Jennifer Keesmat (in a ULI webinar) described the “Now, After-Now and New Normal” with the After-Now as before a vaccine. Helps as a way to think of the Now and After-Now as a pilot.
12:44:42 From Michael Roschlau to All panelists:Correction – transit has not been free in Toronto. Both TTC and GO Transit have continued collecting fares. Only some of the outer suburban systems have suspended fare collection.
12:44:50 From Sue Campbell:Victoria BC will charge for buses again June 1st. Losing $6m/month without fares.
12:48:11 From salman faruqi:Lockdown
12:49:44 From Toby Greenbaum:Is there a rural urban conflict in Sweden?
12:50:04 From Canadian Urban Institute:
Help CUI improve its CityTalk programming with a short post-webinar survey – https://bit.ly/3e1imuV
12:50:57 From Charles Crenna:Do cities have good neighbourhood level data on COVID-19 cases?
12:51:10 From Canadian Urban Institute:CUI is looking for volunteers to help us continue the great work of our COVID-19 initiatives. If you can help, please contact us at covidresponse@canurb.org
12:54:18 From Charles Crenna:A key message is the need for local public-private cooperation…
12:54:54 From Canadian Urban Institute:You can find transcripts and recordings of today’s and all our webinars at https://www.canurb.org/citytalk
12:56:16 From karen Ramsay Cline:Can you write out the phrase Nicole mentioned, was it “technology too’ism”?
12:56:25 From Canadian Urban Institute:Keep the conversation going #citytalk @canurb
12:56:35 From Lisa Cavicchia, CUI Staff:technological humanism
12:56:50 From karen Ramsay Cline:Thank you!
12:57:19 From Toby Greenbaum:and what about the citizen deliberation platform – what is that called?
12:58:00 From Nicole Harper:https://www.decidim.barcelona/
12:58:42 From Charles Crenna:We need to be able to assess whether it’s true that there are more cases in more densely populated situations, apart from the NY subway, maybe…
13:00:32 From Susan Fletcher:Read this today, made me think about who I am thinking about. https://www.curbed.com/2020/5/20/21263319/coronavirus-future-city-urban-covid-19
13:00:39 From Toby Greenbaum:Jennifer Keesmaat’s talk at ULI Toronto on Tuesday shared a lot of great data about how density is not the issue. Rather it is about shared surfaces and crowding (different then density). Check it out.
13:00:44 From karen Ramsay Cline to All panelists:Marnie can you tell people what HONK stands for?
13:02:41 From Marnie McGregor:Not a policy wonk and not a political hack- don’t know where the H comes from!
13:02:59 From karen Ramsay Cline to All panelists:;)
13:03:23 From Kathryn Mills:Thank you very much!
13:03:31 From Farhan Dhanani:Thank you all for the session, it has been a pleasure
13:03:36 From karen Ramsay Cline:Thanks all
13:04:06 From Danny Bridson:Thanks everybody!
13:04:19 From Nicole Harper:Thanks everyone for joining 🙂
