CAN INCLUSIVE CITIES PREVENT THE NEXT PANDEMIC?: (RE) EMERGING DISEASES IN THE CONTEXT OF RURAL-URBAN LINKAGES

Abstract

History has obviously shown the mutual relationship between cities and disease outbreaks; how one reshapes or redefines the other and vice versa. The pandemic has amplified a multitude of existing and persistent developmental challenges humanity has been contending with at different scales and magnitude in different parts of the world. Putting to context the disease burden across space (as in the recent pandemic), this study suggests that cities do not exist in isolation; they mutually interact with rural areas for sustenance and livelihoods. This reciprocal relationship is not just critical to the growth and survival of cities but also to disease transmission as it will discussed shortly. Therefore, the paper attempts to address the question of how do pandemics create inclusive cities and how do inclusive cities in turn make or break pandemics? In answering this, the argument of how rural–urban linkages will increase the risk of emerging diseases and can make inclusive cities a far dream was forwarded