The Pandemic is Pushing The City to Question Itself
This article was written at the height of the pandemic. However, we would love to know your thoughts about how much of this is still relevant two years after the pandemic started.
This article was written at the height of the pandemic. However, we would love to know your thoughts about how much of this is still relevant two years after the pandemic started.
This article was written at the height of the pandemic. However, we would love to know your thoughts about how much of this is still relevant two years after the pandemic started.
Cities that are more humane, greener, better equipped for pedestrians, more favourable to the vibrancy of high streets… Is this wishful or a real kick-off for urban renewal and enriched tourist experiences?
First, everything stopped. Overnight, the hearts of cities stopped beating. In fact, many urban centres, even to this day, are kept alive artificially. Workers, visitors, students and even residents have been scarce in city centres for too long now. Shops, those that can still accommodate customers depending on sanitary measures, are suffering severely.
Very quickly, the municipal authorities demonstrated their ability to adapt the area to allow for safe travel. Several initiatives (in French) have emerged in large and not so large cities around the world: pedestrianisation, new cycle paths, meeting areas and terraces on pavements and public squares. In a normal context, this type of project comes up against resistance and requires compromises. But with the crisis, it was necessary to act quickly, to adapt to secure and facilitate the frequenting of local shops, an essential link in the dynamic of high streets. The city then became a true laboratory for accelerated pilot projects. Since most people's habits have been turned upside down, their mindset is probably more open, more willing to change.
The end of lockdown in the summer has relieved many businesses, including many hotels, restaurants and tourist attractions in the region. But the situation in urban centres turned out to be quite different. According to Destination Canada estimates, average occupancy rates in major Canadian cities rarely exceeded 40% to 50% at the height of summer.
According to the summer results of the survey on the impacts of COVID-19 on the Quebec tourism industry*, the majority of businesses located in Quebec's major urban centres saw their finances deteriorate further during the high season. Data from the firm STR indicates an average occupancy rate of 18% in Montreal hotels at the end of July, unheard of.
Despite everything, with winter and the second wave of the pandemic, other ingenious initiatives are being deployed in cities that have to deal with the cold and the snow. For mental and physical health reasons, the population will need to go out more than ever. This winter, residents' quality of life will depend, among other things, on the development of outdoor sites.
Architects, urban planners and other planning professionals have documented good practices to support local authorities in developing concepts adapted to winter in a pandemic context. For example, to encourage footfall on high streets, the organisation Bench Consulting has set up the Winter Places competition. This aims to increase the number of low-cost, quick-to-install exterior winter landscaping solutions. A free downloadable guide brings together the selected initiatives.
Many urban development professionals have spoken about the future of cities given the current context. The crisis will certainly favour the acceleration of certain trends. More sustainable construction, more urban agriculture and green spaces and a growing role for active and electric-powered transportation are targets that will gain in importance.
In this movement, some fifty experts and influential personalities in the country, under the impetus of the former chief urban planner of the City of Toronto, Jennifer Keesmaat, signed the 2020 Declaration for the resilience of Canadian cities. This multidisciplinary group proposes to develop a green, clean and low-carbon economy by changing the way of planning and operating urban environments. The signatories thus formulated 20 measures to be put in place as a starting point for this shift. These are grouped under three themes:
The issue of the devitalisation of city centres does not date (in French) after the pandemic. Online shopping and suburban malls have contributed to lower footfall in high streets. The crisis has exacerbated this degradation and stimulated the mobilisation of actors from different backgrounds to create concrete tools for revitalisation. The Canadian Urban Institute has published a report entitled “In it Together: Bringing Back Canada's Main Street” which brings together actions to energise the heart of cities. These proposals are organised around five key themes: people, places, support, businesses and leadership.
In Quebec, the Montreal Urban Ecology Centre and the In.SITU Research Chair of ESG UQAM have launched a Web platform bringing together a range of resources for urban planning, including six booklets offering the procedure to follow to carry out user-friendly street projects (in French).
Quebec cities are real drivers of the tourism economy. Dynamic, lively urban centres, where the cultural and gastronomic scenes are vibrant and have a strong identity, where life is good and where residents are proud and happy to welcome visitors. These are attractive cities, both for leisure tourists and business. Let's ensure that the COVID-19 pandemic has served to propel an essential shift for the future of cities, a kind of legacy that benefits residents, businesses and tourists alike.
*The survey on the impacts of COVID-19 on the Quebec tourism industry is a study conducted in three parts, from April to September 2020, by the Transat Tourism Chair in partnership with the Ministry of Tourism, the Alliance of the tourism industry of Quebec and regional and sectoral tourism associations.
This article is published in partnership with Transat Chair in tourism at the Université du Québec à Montréal, School of Management (ESG-UQAM). This article was originally written in French by Claudine Barry, 23 March 2021, we have provided an English translation.
This article was written at the height of the pandemic. However, we would love to know your thoughts about how much of this is still relevant two years after the pandemic started.
Cities that are more humane, greener, better equipped for pedestrians, more favourable to the vibrancy of high streets… Is this wishful or a real kick-off for urban renewal and enriched tourist experiences?
First, everything stopped. Overnight, the hearts of cities stopped beating. In fact, many urban centres, even to this day, are kept alive artificially. Workers, visitors, students and even residents have been scarce in city centres for too long now. Shops, those that can still accommodate customers depending on sanitary measures, are suffering severely.
Very quickly, the municipal authorities demonstrated their ability to adapt the area to allow for safe travel. Several initiatives (in French) have emerged in large and not so large cities around the world: pedestrianisation, new cycle paths, meeting areas and terraces on pavements and public squares. In a normal context, this type of project comes up against resistance and requires compromises. But with the crisis, it was necessary to act quickly, to adapt to secure and facilitate the frequenting of local shops, an essential link in the dynamic of high streets. The city then became a true laboratory for accelerated pilot projects. Since most people's habits have been turned upside down, their mindset is probably more open, more willing to change.
The end of lockdown in the summer has relieved many businesses, including many hotels, restaurants and tourist attractions in the region. But the situation in urban centres turned out to be quite different. According to Destination Canada estimates, average occupancy rates in major Canadian cities rarely exceeded 40% to 50% at the height of summer.
According to the summer results of the survey on the impacts of COVID-19 on the Quebec tourism industry*, the majority of businesses located in Quebec's major urban centres saw their finances deteriorate further during the high season. Data from the firm STR indicates an average occupancy rate of 18% in Montreal hotels at the end of July, unheard of.
Despite everything, with winter and the second wave of the pandemic, other ingenious initiatives are being deployed in cities that have to deal with the cold and the snow. For mental and physical health reasons, the population will need to go out more than ever. This winter, residents' quality of life will depend, among other things, on the development of outdoor sites.
Architects, urban planners and other planning professionals have documented good practices to support local authorities in developing concepts adapted to winter in a pandemic context. For example, to encourage footfall on high streets, the organisation Bench Consulting has set up the Winter Places competition. This aims to increase the number of low-cost, quick-to-install exterior winter landscaping solutions. A free downloadable guide brings together the selected initiatives.
Many urban development professionals have spoken about the future of cities given the current context. The crisis will certainly favour the acceleration of certain trends. More sustainable construction, more urban agriculture and green spaces and a growing role for active and electric-powered transportation are targets that will gain in importance.
In this movement, some fifty experts and influential personalities in the country, under the impetus of the former chief urban planner of the City of Toronto, Jennifer Keesmaat, signed the 2020 Declaration for the resilience of Canadian cities. This multidisciplinary group proposes to develop a green, clean and low-carbon economy by changing the way of planning and operating urban environments. The signatories thus formulated 20 measures to be put in place as a starting point for this shift. These are grouped under three themes:
The issue of the devitalisation of city centres does not date (in French) after the pandemic. Online shopping and suburban malls have contributed to lower footfall in high streets. The crisis has exacerbated this degradation and stimulated the mobilisation of actors from different backgrounds to create concrete tools for revitalisation. The Canadian Urban Institute has published a report entitled “In it Together: Bringing Back Canada's Main Street” which brings together actions to energise the heart of cities. These proposals are organised around five key themes: people, places, support, businesses and leadership.
In Quebec, the Montreal Urban Ecology Centre and the In.SITU Research Chair of ESG UQAM have launched a Web platform bringing together a range of resources for urban planning, including six booklets offering the procedure to follow to carry out user-friendly street projects (in French).
Quebec cities are real drivers of the tourism economy. Dynamic, lively urban centres, where the cultural and gastronomic scenes are vibrant and have a strong identity, where life is good and where residents are proud and happy to welcome visitors. These are attractive cities, both for leisure tourists and business. Let's ensure that the COVID-19 pandemic has served to propel an essential shift for the future of cities, a kind of legacy that benefits residents, businesses and tourists alike.
*The survey on the impacts of COVID-19 on the Quebec tourism industry is a study conducted in three parts, from April to September 2020, by the Transat Tourism Chair in partnership with the Ministry of Tourism, the Alliance of the tourism industry of Quebec and regional and sectoral tourism associations.
This article is published in partnership with Transat Chair in tourism at the Université du Québec à Montréal, School of Management (ESG-UQAM). This article was originally written in French by Claudine Barry, 23 March 2021, we have provided an English translation.
Cities that are more humane, greener, better equipped for pedestrians, more favourable to the vibrancy of high streets… Is this wishful or a real kick-off for urban renewal and enriched tourist experiences?
Cities that are more humane, greener, better equipped for pedestrians, more favourable to the vibrancy of high streets… Is this wishful or a real kick-off for urban renewal and enriched tourist experiences?
.webp)