11 min

For better for worse: How will the pandemic reshape our towns and cities? Peter Bishop, Professor in Urban Design at the Bartlett School of Architecture, Faculty of the Built Environment, University College London Reshaped

    • Design

Pandemics, disasters, recessions tend not to re-set things, but they do amplify pre-existing trends. This is what Peter Bishop, a leading planning academic, predicts will happen. Tech will keep driving globalisation as economic activity is separated from geography. We will return to cities, but some workers may be forced to work in isolation. We will 'recalibrate' how we use cities, but they are robust enough to assimilate changes. Maybe in future we'll value quality over quantity rather more. 

Pandemics, disasters, recessions tend not to re-set things, but they do amplify pre-existing trends. This is what Peter Bishop, a leading planning academic, predicts will happen. Tech will keep driving globalisation as economic activity is separated from geography. We will return to cities, but some workers may be forced to work in isolation. We will 'recalibrate' how we use cities, but they are robust enough to assimilate changes. Maybe in future we'll value quality over quantity rather more. 

11 min