i + D - May/June 2020 - 40

Brave New World - By Jessica Goldbogen Harlan

A City Exodus?
While building codes might be updated to make them adaptable enough to
address any future pandemic or natural disaster, another change that might
be wrought by COVID-19 is a shift in where and how people want to live
once they're able to emerge from their social isolation. Will those who were
confined for months to small urban apartments with little to no access to
outdoor spaces decide that a larger home in the suburbs will be better suited
to wait out the next possible pandemic?
Mahoney is one of the many New Yorkers who fled the city. She believes
that if there is an exodus after the pandemic, it might be more due to an
affordability standpoint. "Now that we're in an economic crisis, people will
be looking for ways to decrease their housing costs, as well as from the
concern about space and their health."
And she sees the possibility of urban spaces changing due to the pandemic.
"Access to outdoor space has been the number-one thing people are looking
for in luxury developments," Mahoney says. She anticipates that-just
as after the tuberculosis epidemic there was an increase in apartments
designed with sun porches-post-COVID residential design might increase
the availability of outdoor spaces, either for individual apartments or for the
entire building. Citywide, she envisions changes to the infrastructure, such
as streets being closed to vehicles so residents can walk or bike the streets.
"I think we are all more thoughtful of how our living situation can be
improved if this happens again," says Kuklok-Waldman. "For some people,
that might be spending more money on a larger home. But for others, it
might mean moving closer to easier deliveries, more restaurant choices,
and better internet access."
If there is indeed a shift to suburban living, Kuklok-Waldman cautions that
long-term consideration must be made to how these less-populated areas
operate. "Suburbs just don't work the way they used to," she says. "We see
the severe impact on traffic, car culture, and people being too spread out.
Going back to 1950 is not the answer here."

Schools will need to overcome
their overcrowding issues, and
companies might incorporate
more teleworking.

Charles Marohn, founder and president of Strong Towns,
doesn't believe a city exodus is the right solution. "To build
suburbs and maintain them requires a ridiculous amount of
cash, and the very design of a suburb is insolvent," he says.
"Zoning codes in the suburbs require making your lots really
wide, but when lots are wide, enough wealth is needed" to
maintain curbs and to pipe and wire utilities to each property.
Instead, he says, "What cities need now more than anything
is adaptation, innovation, and nuance. They need the opposite of
rote replication" for which modern zoning seems to advocate.
For the ideal model of a community that would weather a
pandemic like COVID-19, Marohn looks to European cities
that have interconnected neighborhoods. "If one neighborhood
had a disease outbreak, you could essentially seal off that
neighborhood to stop the spread of disease and the people
within that neighborhood would still have essentials,"
he says. Instead, in many suburban and even some urban
neighborhoods, people have to drive to one part of town
to groceries, another part of town for other essentials.
Marohn believes the pandemic will reveal a truth about cities:
"The city is better without suburban commuters." He says
that without the traffic, cities are able to close their streets
for pedestrian use, the air is cleaner, and stress levels seem
to be lower.
His take on how zoning laws can create a better post-pandemic
society: "Zoning needs to become 10 percent of what it is
today. If I were advising someone who works on zoning codes,
I would recommend stripping down the codes and simplifying
them to their essence. Regulate only things that cannot be
fixed in a generation-the structural things that make it difficult
for cities to adapt."

Charles Marohn,
Strong Towns

Suburbs or cities, there's no doubt about it: Our world will be
forever changed when the COVID-19 pandemic winds down.
And the ways we use and interact with our homes, our public
spaces, our workplaces and institutions, and our communities
will follow suit.

JESSICA GOLDBOGEN HARLAN
has written about the home furnishings industry for
more than 20 years, and her work has appeared in
HFN, Town & Country, Stylus, TastingTable.com,
ALLRECIPES.COM, AmericasMart magazine, and
Yahoo! A culinary-school graduate, she also is the author
of nine cookbooks, including Ramen to the Rescue,
Mason Jar Lunches, and The Little Book of Takoyaki.

Nicole Kuklok-Waldman,
University of Southern California

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