Corridor urbanism and the rise of the neighbourhood in the post-COVID city

Abstract

In this paper, urban planner, development consultant and educator, Mark Holland, outlines a rethinking of urban structure that will be supercharged as we learn from the impacts of COVID 19 on our cities. The modern city region has been focused on building high density downtowns and peripheral town centres, based on assumptions that are now out of date as a basis for regional planning. COVID 19 closed our downtowns and we now need to reinvent our urban and regional patterns in light of what we have (re)discovered from our pandemic response. Restructuring our economy, social patterns, food systems and regional growth patterns into a network of high-street-based corridors will not only make us more resilient to shocks like COVID 19, but overall create a much healthier, sustainable, and economically viable region.