COVID-19 and Cities

"COVID-19 and Cities" is a series in which experts share their views on the global pandemic and its impact on our lives. Sign up for our Urban Edge newsletter to get these stories directly in your inbox.

Latest Urban Edge Stories

5 lessons Trader Joe’s can teach the city of the future

Making the cities of tomorrow more resilient to pandemics and other threats won’t require completely rethinking planning and design as we know them, but it will require functional problem-solving, practical solutions, better data mining and analysis, and more flexibility. All of which have helped the beloved grocery store chain improve its bottom line during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Trader Joes on West Alabama in Houston COVID-19 pandemic

Perspective

: Jan 25, 2021

COVID-19 and Cities, Economic Development, Health, Housing, Urban Planning

Imagine there’s no traffic. Amid the pandemic, it isn’t as hard to do.

A recently released traffic index shows the dramatic effect remote work and stay-at-home orders had on congestion levels in more than 400 cities around the world, including 80 in the U.S. Houston saw 33% less traffic in 2020 than in 2019, and the congestion level dropped from 24% to 16%. But as the COVID-19 vaccine is more widely distributed and driving habits move toward pre-pandemic levels, the declines are expected to disappear.

News Story

: Jan 20, 2021

COVID-19 and Cities, Transportation

How Houston can become a 15-minute city

What does cancer treatment have to do with fighting climate change, the COVID-19 pandemic and neighborhood-level urban planning? Taking preventive steps today can literally save us all tomorrow.