Rethinking infrastructure and cities for a Covid-19 world: A UKCRIC prospectus

UKCRIC (UK Collaboratorium for Research on Infrastructure and Cities) sets out its approach to managing the impacts of the pandemic as it relates to infrastructure and cities research.

This report sets out UKCRIC’s approach to managing the impacts of the pandemic as it relates to infrastructure and cities research. You can download it here.

This prospectus captures the outcome of UKCRIC’s efforts to bring into focus the impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic on the UK’s infrastructure and its cities, and to begin to understand how we might use our reaction to the pandemic to do things better. This thinking is encapsulated in three principles:

• Create systems-level benefits and resilience
• Strengthen existing priorities
• Plan the transition

The prospectus recommends actively planning for a ‘new normal’ by:

• repurposing the physical environment, redistributing demand and creating flexibility;
• making density and distance allies; and,
• developing new urban business models.

Seven ‘spotlights’ reflect upon the principles within the context of infrastructure and cities sectors, demonstrating the scale and complexity of the challenges we face, and providing guidance on the way forward.

1. Water
2. Energy
3. Waste management
4. Transport and travel
5. Buildings
6. Construction
7. Demand and supply chains

Read more here.

From European Environment Agency

The European Environment Agency together with the network of the heads of Environmental Protection Agencies (EPA Network) today launch the first in a series of online high-level panel debates focusing on the impacts of COVID-19 and the challenges the pandemic poses in meeting long-term climate and environment goals.

Read more here.