Implications and Relationships between Transportation Infrastructure and COVID-19

The COVID-19 pandemic has affected every city throughout the world in monumental ways with transportation being one of the sectors severely impacted. Radical changes were globally brought to cities, profoundly transforming the way local communities and cities function. COVID-19 has had a profound, far-reaching impact on the way we look at transport, requiring transit agencies, transportation departments and experts to revisit the role they play in fulfilling mobility options.COVID-19 has demonstrated the importance of public spaces in cities. As the pandemic has exposed vulnerabilities of cities, a post-pandemic urban city that has diverse transportation options with the proper safety measures and infrastructure in place will be exceptionally well positioned to achieve sustainability, economic and environmental improvements that benefit those residing within the communities. The way we live is shaped by our infrastructure - the public spaces, building codes and utilities that serve a city or region. Studying the movement of people and activities during this time, it is time to create an evidence-based recovery plan to react to people’s natural behaviour, accommodating social distancing, and providing all modes of transportation to be safe and accessible. Successful cities will find ways to design spaces everyone can access that include active transportation options to travel to and from multiple areas throughout the city. We now have the chance to be forward-thinking, resetting our cities to a green economy that is more cycling and pedestrian-friendly and neighbourhood-based, and includes fundamental public spaces suitable for all users. These changes in our living style, are calling planners and city officials to bring and allow new perspectives in the way of life in urban environments. Urban planning and design must respond to these changing habits and build on the fact that public and accessible space is not only desirable but a natural necessity for all people.