Uploaded May 2020 | Updated September 2026, 1 hour ago
The impact of COVID-19 on cities and residents around the world has not been uniform. Neither has the varying responses of city leaders to the global pandemic. While some cities are transforming their streets into open-air restaurants or closing them to cars in an effort to make it easier for pedestrians to physically distance, others are shutting down public space entirely. And the choices being made have varying impacts on the residents – depending on their community support, the design of their neighborhood, their access to housing and jobs, as well as many other factors.
But one thing that remains true across the board is that cities aren’t going anywhere, and public spaces will have to be adapted to meet the needs of a new normal.
Mike Lydon, Founder and Principal at Street Plans Collaborative, moderates a discussion between a panel of international speakers representing a breadth of experiences from the pandemic. Together, they explore topics like open streets and the repurposing of street space, the impacts on various communities through an equity lens, the psychological and physical impacts on residents, and how our collective trust in returning to the public realm will shift as we emerge into a new normal. Our speakers include:
- Marcela Guerrero Casas - Founder and former Managing Director of Open Streets Capetown from Bogotá, Colombia
- Maria Sitzoglou - European Commission Urban Expert for OASIS Schoolyards Project and Advisor for the 100 Resilient Cities program from Thessaloniki, Greece
- Robin Mazumder - Neuroscientist from University of Waterloo, Canada
- Charles Brown - Founder of Equitable Cities, Senior Researcher with the Alan M. Voorhees Transportation Center (VTC), and Adjunct Professor at the Edward J. Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy at Rutgers from New Brunswick, NJ
As always, this webinar is available for 1 AICP continuing education credit if viewed live as well as 1 CNU-A continuing education credit if viewed live or recorded.
The impact of COVID-19 on cities and residents around the world has not been uniform. Neither has the varying responses of city leaders to the global pandemic. While some cities are transforming their streets into open-air restaurants or closing them to cars in an effort to make it easier for pedestrians to physically distance, others are shutting down public space entirely. And the choices being made have varying impacts on the residents – depending on their community support, the design of their neighborhood, their access to housing and jobs, as well as many other factors.
But one thing that remains true across the board is that cities aren’t going anywhere, and public spaces will have to be adapted to meet the needs of a new normal.
Mike Lydon, Founder and Principal at Street Plans Collaborative, moderates a discussion between a panel of international speakers representing a breadth of experiences from the pandemic. Together, they explore topics like open streets and the repurposing of street space, the impacts on various communities through an equity lens, the psychological and physical impacts on residents, and how our collective trust in returning to the public realm will shift as we emerge into a new normal. Our speakers include:
- Marcela Guerrero Casas - Founder and former Managing Director of Open Streets Capetown from Bogotá, Colombia
- Maria Sitzoglou - European Commission Urban Expert for OASIS Schoolyards Project and Advisor for the 100 Resilient Cities program from Thessaloniki, Greece
- Robin Mazumder - Neuroscientist from University of Waterloo, Canada
- Charles Brown - Founder of Equitable Cities, Senior Researcher with the Alan M. Voorhees Transportation Center (VTC), and Adjunct Professor at the Edward J. Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy at Rutgers from New Brunswick, NJ
As always, this webinar is available for 1 AICP continuing education credit if viewed live as well as 1 CNU-A continuing education credit if viewed live or recorded.
