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A Post-Corona Perspective for Smart Cities: ‘ Should I Stay or Should I Go ?’

Author

Listed:
  • Saskia Sassen

    (Department of Sociology, Columbia University, New York, NY 10025, USA)

  • Karima Kourtit

    (The Faculty of Management, Open University of the Netherlands, 6411 Heerlen, The Netherlands
    Centre for European Studies, Alexandru Ioan Cuza University, 700506 Iasi, Romania
    School of Architecture Planning & Design, University of Technology (UM6P), Benguérir 43155, Morocco)

Abstract
This exploratory essay aims to provide a reflection on the possible implications of the COVID-19 pandemic for urban development and to sketch a plausible picture of the urban future. It serves as an introductory contribution to the Special Issue of this journal on ‘happy and healthy cities’, with particular emphasis on the implications of COVID-19 in pluriform cities. There is no doubt that contemporary cities are growing, and have become more dynamic and crowded. The more people, the bigger the challenges are to manage urban growth and to cope with—and control—density frictions, such as pandemics (e.g., COVID-19). Cities have the task to satisfy the essential needs of many heterogeneous people and to develop appropriate people-based strategies in order to make or keep people happy and healthy. The current COVID-19 disaster is a real urban challenge. The deployment of smart cities’ strategies and the use of digital technology tools in order to capture and provide intelligent internal and external online information and communication opportunities may help cities—in active partnership with their residents (‘smart citizens’ voice’)—to manage shocks and disruptions in the urban system. Clearly, cities are dynamic and adaptive organisms with a high resilience capacity. A key question addressed in this paper is whether urban inhabitants may be inclined to move out of the city due to human health threats, or whether intelligent digital technology tools will be able to overcome the current challenges to the ‘urban way of life’. The paper argues that modern information and communication technology offers a range of opportunities for a healthy city life, so that the COVID-19 pandemic will most likely not lead to a massive demographic outflow from urban agglomerations to less densely populated areas in particular rural areas. Instead, what is called the ‘corona crisis’ may cause just a ripple in the permanent dynamic evolution of cities.

Suggested Citation

  • Saskia Sassen & Karima Kourtit, 2021. "A Post-Corona Perspective for Smart Cities: ‘ Should I Stay or Should I Go ?’," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(17), pages 1-16, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:13:y:2021:i:17:p:9988-:d:630142
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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
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