Climate Change and weather is widely understood as a global challenge. Even though some may see it as a threat somewhere in the future it has already made many aware of how close normalcy and chaos can be if a flood, a storm or an extreme blizzard hits. Covid-19, a virus with a crown shape proves the same point with even more urgency. As with extreme weather events, the new disease shows that the more developed a civilization gets, the more vulnerable it becomes. This is the precise opposite of the resilience planners and architects like to propagate at conferences. Climate and epidemics can hit and even kill anybody, regardless of borders or income, but as we discuss later in this article, the effects are always most severe for the poor.

Ambulances and medical personal in full body protection in South Korea

The Corona virus threatens to turn life upside down from how we know it. Fighting an epidemic is antithetical to everything that a city stands for: Assembly, movement, exchange.

Some cities have already experienced how quickly the freedom of movement can end. Secondary effects are piling up across the globe. The Port of Baltimore which broke new cargo records last year has switched to shortened work days.... READ FULL ARTICLE