{"id":319,"date":"2020-04-03T12:57:36","date_gmt":"2020-04-03T11:57:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.uwe.ac.uk\/sustainable-planning-and-environments\/?p=319"},"modified":"2020-04-03T12:57:39","modified_gmt":"2020-04-03T11:57:39","slug":"planning-in-a-time-of-pandemics","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.uwe.ac.uk\/sustainable-planning-and-environments\/planning-in-a-time-of-pandemics\/","title":{"rendered":"Planning in a time of pandemics"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

by Katie McClymont…..<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Strange times we\nare in. Somewhere in the midst of transitioning to online teaching (or at least\nattempting to- I\u2019ll leave it up to my students to be the judge of how\nsuccessful this has been), home-schooling three children, standing in busy yet\nspacious queues for fruit, veg, bread, milk and other necessary elements of\ndaily fuel – my mind has drifted to what all this means to us as planning\nresearchers and educators. Aside from the practicalities of Zoom meetings, Skype\nfor interviews and tutorials via blackboard, what things should we be offering\ncomment on, and what things should we be reassessing ourselves?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The first is about housing and the idea of home. The message of ‘stay at home’ is loud and clear, but the implications of this vary vastly between households. The media has noted efforts to find accommodation for rough sleepers (BBC, 2020) and Arwa Mahdawi (2020) has eloquently written about the increasing risks of domestic violence, and for those for whom \u2018home\u2019 does not equate with safe space. It is right that these immediate concerns are at the forefront of policy responses, but there are longer-term, less-apparent issues for some \u2018staying at home\u2019. This includes those in overcrowded, unsatisfactory housing, with poor access to outdoor space, or even natural light. With public playgrounds now closed, those in social housing denied access to purportedly private gardens seem even more unfairly treated than before (Grant, 2019a and b). Moreover, research revealing the shockingly poor resident units developed under relaxations in change of use for offices showcases what \u2018home\u2019 will be for some people (Clifford et al, 2018). Units, some as small as 13 square metres (Park, 2019) and some without windows cannot be seen as fit places to be \u2018locked-down\u2019 within. This is only one part of the issues- including poor ventilation and exposure to excessive noise- with much contemporary housing as highlighted by the TCPA within their healthy homes campaign (Howie, 2019). Now, more than ever, (staying at) home should evoke safety, security and some comfort- for all of us as we all share the restrictions imposed for the national good. At its core, planning is premised in making decisions for collective interests- now is a time which acutely demonstrates how far from acceptable some of these decisions have been.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The message of ‘stay at home’ is loud and clear<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

This leads me to\nthink further about public and community spaces, and their value. Aside from\nfears for health and fears of uncertainty, the current pandemic has provoked\ndisquiet through the myriad impacts of \u2018social distancing\u2019. As much as missing\nthe pub, the theatre, attending football matches and swimming in public pools,\nthe removal of spaces for incidental \u2018encounters\u2019 with others- in libraries,\ncafes, the (school and public) playground changes the emotional pattern of\ndaily life. It is too soon to know, personally or more widely, what the impact\nof these changes with be, but the removal of such \u2018common\u2019 places- or social\ninfrastructure as Eric Klinsberg (2018) articulately defines- from everyday\nlife, does offer a unique vantage point to reflect on their role. As planners,\nwe do not often or readily articulate the value of such places: our language\nfor the importance of community, public, semi-public spaces is under-developed.\nWhat is the difference between a church hall and community music venue? Does it\nmatter who owns it? Who uses it? How does this vary between different setting-\nurban, rural, wealthy, mobile, declining, aging and all the other ways we are\nable to define an area?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Now, more than ever, (staying at) home should evoke safety, security and some comfort <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Planning has a\nrole in offering hope in the dark times: hope not for a return to business as\nusual, but hope for a better, shared future: one in which home can be a\nsanctuary supported by resilient and well-understood social infrastructure.\nMoreover, these quick comments are only a beginning. Can we emerge from this\ncurrent crisis with renewed and refreshed ideas about the decline of the high\nstreet as a social space with increased online shopping, changes to our daily\ntravel patterns which can minimise pollution and increase air quality (one\nsilver lining of the current situation) as well as the key challenge of our\ngeneration: taking collective and state action to tackle climate change? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

References<\/p>\n\n\n\n

BBC (2020)\nCoronavirus: All rough sleepers in England ‘to be housed’ https:\/\/www.bbc.co.uk\/news\/uk-politics-52063939\n27th March 2020<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Clifford, B,\nFirm, J, Livingstone, N and Canelas, P (2018) Assessing the impacts of extending\npermitted development rights to office-to-residential change of use in England,\nRICS Research Trust, available at https:\/\/www.rics.org\/globalassets\/rics-website\/media\/knowledge\/research\/research-reports\/assessing-the-impacts-of-extending-permitted-development-rights-to-office-to-residential-change-of-use-in-england-rics.pdf<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Grant, H.\n(2019a) Disabled children among social tenants blocked from communal gardens, https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/cities\/2019\/sep\/27\/disabled-children-among-social-tenants-blocked-from-communal-gardens<\/a>\n27th September 2019 <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Grant, H.\n(2019b) Too poor to play: children in social housing blocked from communal\nplayground https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/cities\/2019\/mar\/25\/too-poor-to-play-children-in-social-housing-blocked-from-communal-playground<\/a>\n25 March 2019 <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Howie, F. (2019)\nWhy we need a healthy homes act, Town\nand Country Planning, <\/em>88(7),\npp266-267<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Klinenberg, E. (2018) Palaces\nfor the People: How to build a more equal and united society, <\/em>London, The\nBodley Head<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mahdawi, A\n(2020) For some people, social distancing means being trapped indoors with an\nabuser https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/commentisfree\/2020\/mar\/21\/coronavirus-domestic-violence-week-in-patriarchy\n21st March 2020<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Park, J (2019) Housing and the importance of liveable\nspace, Town and Country Planning, <\/em>88(7),\npp280-284<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Katie McClymont….. Strange times we are in. Somewhere in the midst of transitioning to online teaching (or at least attempting to- I\u2019ll leave it up to my students to be the judge of how successful this has been), home-schooling three children, standing in busy yet spacious queues for fruit, veg, bread, milk and other … Continue reading “Planning in a time of pandemics”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":37,"featured_media":323,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"wds_primary_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-319","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorised"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.uwe.ac.uk\/sustainable-planning-and-environments\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/319","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.uwe.ac.uk\/sustainable-planning-and-environments\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.uwe.ac.uk\/sustainable-planning-and-environments\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.uwe.ac.uk\/sustainable-planning-and-environments\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/37"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.uwe.ac.uk\/sustainable-planning-and-environments\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=319"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.uwe.ac.uk\/sustainable-planning-and-environments\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/319\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":322,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.uwe.ac.uk\/sustainable-planning-and-environments\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/319\/revisions\/322"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.uwe.ac.uk\/sustainable-planning-and-environments\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/323"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.uwe.ac.uk\/sustainable-planning-and-environments\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=319"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.uwe.ac.uk\/sustainable-planning-and-environments\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=319"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.uwe.ac.uk\/sustainable-planning-and-environments\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=319"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}