Do Pandemics Disrupt or Seed Transformations in Cities? A Systematic Review of Evidence

Abstract

Research on urban risk and disasters has deepened our understanding of transformations to sustainable, inclusive and resilient cities. However, there has not been much comprehensive analysis on how pandemics have and will shape urban existence. This paper attests to the question of whether pandemics disrupt or seed transformations in cities. It draws on a qualitative systematic review of academic literature, using Black Death in the middle ages of European societies as the mark to the advent of COVID-19 in metropolitan China. A historical account of pandemic events shows that drastic disease-control measures and unprecedented restrictions on urban mobility, not only interrupt stable and coherent meanings of urban life but also negate the notion of carefully planned transformations in cities. The semblance of disruptive transformations appears inevitable, given the showdowns between economic policies, cyber security, public health imperatives and civil liberties. History also shows that pandemics often seed transformations in cities through fluid contexts of emergent changes in governance, urban design and patterns of human interactions with nature. Endeavors around mitigation and containment of pandemics need to be rooted in a culture of transdisciplinarity, if research and policies are to collaboratively influence transformations in cities.