Posted by Brandon Copeland
While St. John’s is dwarfed by the largest urban centres on our planet, it stands unchallenged as the most populous point in our province. As residents of our city have learned this year, when it comes to emergencies, size and prominence in the provincial context really doesn’t matter. Twice in only four months, activity in our city has come to a screeching halt; first, when we were buried under an unprecedented snowfall and then again this past month as COVID-19 swept across the globe.
The experience of battling these emergencies has led to a review of public space. Many have observed public space in new ways, and these new observations may have long-term consequences on expectations around public space that ultimately shape policy.
First, let’s talk Snowmeggedon. One of the most common sentiments I witnessed on social media was the excitement people seemed to have as they explored St. John’s at a time that cars couldn’t access the roads. Twitter and Facebook were aflutter with commentary about peaceful walks through neighbourhoods and extracurricular activities in the street. From campfires to skiers, our streets were repurposed. Yours truly also took part in a bit of fun.
I strongly believe this experience may have made people think harder about carless streets – or certainly what a street could be capable of when the traffic is halted. Interesting discussion followed about repurposing our streets for public gatherings, or at least creating opportunities in the future to close down streets for this sort of recreation. We after all live in a city known for a major on-street event.
Of course, any talk of reducing vehicle access to streets leads to opposition. Parking remains a perceived challenge (I won’t touch on this further but I strongly believe the challenge is indeed perceived only). Snowmeggedon talk of streets quickly pivoted to the safety of our streets once cars returned to the road, with pedestrians bemoaning the challenges of walking when sharing icy roads with fast-moving vehicles.
Post-Snowmeggedon the takeaways for me were largely around the potential people began to see for alternative uses for streets in a car-free world. Certainly re-purposing streets – particularly among predictions of reduced vehicle ownership in the coming decades - has been a large topic in urbanism for a while.
As fast as January excited us about gathering in our streets, March sent us all back indoors. As I write this, COVID-19 continues to scare us into hiding, but progress by flattening the curve will undoubtedly send us back to our public spaces in time. Certainly, whatever post-pandemic world we do return to, it won’t be the “normal” we once knew.
An immediate impact on public space will undoubtedly be fear of proximity. The pre-pandemic challenges of shopping centres will be amplified, as comfort in distance further drives people towards online shopping. Festivals, sports, and other public gatherings are on the backburner for the near term.
The jury still seems to be out regarding the impact on work space. While not as public as other facets of cities that I’ve touched on so far, the way we construct our real estate and organize our workers has a direct impact on the public space that connects work space. Many have speculated that working from home will be more common. Others have suggested that offices will continue to exist, but the trend towards open workplaces may be replaced by a reversion to the cubicle as people seek to create barriers between themselves and their coworkers in the name of continued distancing. One prediction would likely see a decrease in the needed square feet per worker. The other prediction would undoubtedly lead to an increase. Perhaps then the answer lies in the middle, and we will see no change at all.
Regardless of what impacts we see, emergencies cause us to evaluate life as we know it. What I saw after Snowmeggedon excited me, as citizens seemed to begin to naturally rethink how traditional public spaces could be use. It’s a shame that two short months later, a global pandemic has likely harmed that initiative. I remain hopeful that public spaces are embraced post-emergency for the benefits they provide to their citizens in a time of crisis. I took comfort in Alexandra Lange’s recent comments in Politico regarding how COVID is impacting people’s perception of parks: “Urban parks – in which most major cities have made significant investments over the past decade – are big enough to accommodate both crowds and social distancing. It helps that it is spring in the northern hemisphere. Society might come out of this pandemic valuing these big spaces even more, not only as the backdrop to major events and active uses, but as an opportunity to be together visually.”
There can be opportunity in turmoil, and I remain hopeful that the post-COVID world will see some positive changes in regards to how we interact with our cities.