‘Being close, yet being distanced’: observations on how the COVID-19 pandemic might affect urban interaction

Abstract

With the abrupt changes that the COVID-19 pandemic brought to daily public life -- socially and economically -- it has become clear that there will be fundamental impacts on the questions of urban proximity and interaction that Weinig and Thierstein prepared for the studio Social distancing -- in fact physical distancing -- and working from home (WFH) is changing drastically how people work, live, move, produce and consume The COVID-19 pandemic has widely created a situation of confusion, uncertainty and even despair Although some of the developments they witness have been ongoing for some time, e g through digital transformation, the speed and extent of change now are enormous Density has turned into today's enemy and physical distancing, along with community masks, is the remedy to remain until a cure and a vaccine are available, which may continue until 2021 or even 2022