Features Blog » Covid-19

On Tuesday May 18th this year, the Design Museum finally re-opened following the latest COVID-19 lockdown. Given the unexpected nature of the shutdown, the museum’s reopening was relatively lowkey. However, the occasion nonetheless made me think about the nature of opening ceremonies and the rhetoric surrounding openings in general – and, in particular, the way in which they reveal something about how a nation sees itself and its place in the world.

We have been aware of the ageing demographic for some time, since the 1840s actually - aware but fearful. The age quake, the grey tsunami, the discourse of the older person as a burden. During the pandemic almost every story about older people has been accompanied by a photograph of a pair of wrinkled hands. Let’s make a pledge that of the many lessons we need to learn from this sombre time, one of them will be to confront and root out ageism. Yes, there are challenges in growing older but there are challenges in all life stages. Existence is not for cowards. Let’s see older people as they really are - workers, volunteers, care givers, civic and community participants.

Andrea Cook, co-author of Children and Planning from our Concise Guides to Planning series, considers the post-pandemic situation for children in the built environment and how planners can ensure that...

Authors Graham Haughton and Iain White consider the importance of planning in a post-pandemic world. They outline the failures and successes of recent planning decisions - as highlighted by Covid-19...

What might Ruskin have thought of Venice today? He held strong views about the kind of destructive restorations he had witnessed in the mid-nineteenth century, and his meeting in Venice in 1877 with the young Count Alvise Piero Zorzi led to their close collaboration on Zorzi’s planned publication: a damning account of the works undertaken on the north and south façades of the Basilica of San Marco, and a forceful protest against the plans scheduled for the west front. Ruskin took part with enthusiasm, writing a long preface to Zorzi’s pamphlet, and undertaking to pay the publication costs.

Parks are not the answer to dealing with the coronavirus pandemic, but they are part of a suite of places and resources that offer respite from the ongoing media discussions of isolation and ill health. By looking at historical forms of planning we can see the multiple positive impacts of Green Infrastructure: we can see how it was used to facilitate social betterment; we can identify how well-designed places are actively allowing people to go outside; and we can show how well-planned towns and communities can function in this time of need. We need Green Infrastructure now and we cannot afford to lose green spaces to closures. Planning has taught us that a lack of access to Green Infrastructure leads to poor quality places and ill health. If we all follow the government guidance, then we will not lose our parks and we will continue to benefit from them.