Building resilient cities

The healthcare design THAT WILL BECOME THE NEW NORMAL

The word pandemic derives from the Greek, pan (all) and demos (people). We have seen the global impact of Covid-19, a pandemic nobody expected to spread so quickly, nor be so destructive, catching systems off-guard leading many healthcare providers to act quickly and requiring overnight solutions to cope with the sudden influx of patients.

Entire countries, and high population cities in particular, are facing new and increasing challenges from natural and manmade pressures.

Cities must learn to adapt and thrive in the face of these diverse challenges. We must learn how to build resilience in an uncertain world, physically and operationally.

Recently Bill Gates announced a viral outbreak similar to Covid-19 will likely happen every 20 years or so. So, what can we do as healthcare architects, planners and designers to play our part, in creating a resilient city?

The way resilience manifests itself plays out very differently in different places.

Commonly cited, most notably in the Rockerfeller Foundations’ study, the “City Resilience Framework”, four common themes have emerged:

1 People: The health and wellbeing of individuals

2. Place: The way in which infrastructure and ecosystems protect, provide for and connect urban citizens

3. Organisation: The social and financial systems that enable urban populations to live peacefully, and act collectively

4. Knowledge: The importance of informed decision making, and having empowered stakeholders.