A "coronapiste" traced near Paris and La Défense, in May 2020. -
NICOLAS MESSYASZ / SIPA
One year after the entry into force of confinement, decreed on March 17 to fight the Covid-19 epidemic,
20 Minutes
looks
back on the consequences of restrictive measures and the epidemic on urban space.
"Historically, pandemics have led to changes in the urban paradigm", underlines Aziza Akhmouch, head of the cities division at the OECD.
Several trends already at work seem to be confirmed, in particular the importance of vegetation and less constrained mobility, which gives pride of place to walking.
A year of profound changes.
Since the containment introduced last spring to fight against the spread of the coronavirus, the restrictive measures - curfews, closure of cafes and restaurants, etc.
- have never left our daily life.
With major consequences for the way city dwellers “use” their city, suggesting lasting changes.
“Historically, pandemics have led to urban paradigm shifts.
That the coronavirus epidemic has had a magnifying effect on the problems of large urban areas is not a surprise, ”said Aziza Akhmouch, head of the cities and urban policies division at the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development ( OECD).
“The Covid-19 has accelerated pre-existing trends.
Teleworking, for example, did not wait until 2020 to be developed in France, where it is estimated that around 40% of jobs are suitable for teleworking.
And there was already a "Greta Thunberg effect" on travel, "cites the manager as an example, who found, in a study carried out in several dozen cities last spring, their capacity to adapt to the pandemic.
Most have resorted to so-called “tactical” urban planning, authorizing temporary terraces or and creating temporary cycle paths in record time - the famous “coronapistes”.
The era of the pedestrian?
One of the main impacts of the pandemic on urban planning concerns travel.
“Metropolises were built on notions of ultra-mobility.
The pandemic will probably be an opportunity to rethink them around citizens and services, ”points out Aziza Akhmouch.
An observation shared by Lise Bourdeau-Lepage, university professor of geography at Lyon 3, who conducted a survey on the effect of confinement on the daily life and well-being of 10,976 French women: “With the development of telework and the one kilometer movement limit around the home in effect during the first confinement, many people rediscovered their neighborhood, and it was realized that certain urban sectors were lacking or poorly provided in local services, for example.
"
The concept of a “quarter-hour city”, a radius in which each inhabitant must be able to find the main services, seems to have been validated by the health crisis, underlines Lise Bourdeau-Lepage.
“The kilometer limit is the best publicity we have ever done for our neighborhoods.
Above all, this concept has the advantage, in my opinion, of putting the pedestrian back at the center of urban policies.
"
"The months and years to come will tell us whether the mayors will have the political courage to establish a better sharing of public space for a reappropriation of the latter by pedestrians and cyclists", points out Yoann Sportouch, founder of the urban prospective agency LDV Urban studio.
And to philosophize: “There can be joys and positive consequences in being less mobile and having more and more chosen mobility.
Containment allowed us to understand that.
"
Urban geography and digital platforms
Behind this reduction in travel is a redefinition of urban geography, underlines Giovanni Semi, associate professor of sociology at the University of Turin (Italy).
“The forms of urbanization that we have known until now - office buildings, areas for fairs and congresses, etc.
- risk losing, in a short time, a large part of their users and their function.
In the twentieth century, we experienced such an evolution with the deindustrialization of Western cities.
Moreover, at the time of the occurrence of Covid-19, we still had not filled the void of deindustrialisation, ”he underlines.
Having worked in particular on online platforms, Giovanni Semi believes that these will play an increased role in the future.
From the delivery of meals to the applications used for teleworking through Airbnb, "digital platforms are the winners of this crisis", regrets the sociologist.
Giovanni Semi anticipates at the same time a greater “commodification of public space” with the extension of the terraces of bars and cafes.
Vegetalis
ati
on
Another underlying trend accentuated by the epidemic and its restrictive measures: "The crisis has amplified the appetite of urbanites for the presence of nature and plants near the place of residence", noted Lise Bourdeau-Lepage.
A demand for biodiversity increasingly taken into account by cities and structures working in the field of urban planning, observes Yoann Sportouch: “For example, we are seeing more and more requests for urban forests appear to reduce the temperature.
"
With the reduction of the place of the car, the revegetation joins a growing concern of the cities towards the questions of health, notes Aziza Akhmouch, of the OECD.
According to her, local communities have also become aware, thanks to the coronavirus crisis, that they had "levers of action that make it possible to respond to health concerns".
Towards an urban exodus?
There remains the question of a possible massive departure of inhabitants of towns and cities for the countryside, beyond the individual cases reported in the media.
"With the crisis, we realized that in reality, people do not congregate in cities only for work and economic activities", observes Aziza Akhmouch.
“There will certainly be a card to play for medium-sized cities in a very short timeframe, however, she emphasizes.
These municipalities make it possible to combine a certain number of criteria of good living.
"
Our dossier on containment
“Is the era of cities over?
For me, it is no ”, also replies Giovanni Semi, who underlines that large urban centers offer services and fulfill many functions.
“There are plenty of reasons why people will stay in cities for a long time… even if the crisis has shown that they are ill-prepared!
"
By the Web
Coronavirus: How videoconferencing meetings have redefined the relationship we have with our image
Society
Coronavirus: "Useless", "infantilizing", "money pumps" ... For a year, France under certificates
City
Covid 19
Coronavirus
Planet
Town planning