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ABSTRACT
Based on the authors’ personal experiences, this commentary discusses contrasting urban contexts and lockdown measures in twinned cities Wuhan, China and Manchester, UK, to examine spatial reach under COVID-19 restrictions in both places. Focusing on latency, the capacity of space to fit new occupation patterns and uses, the role of architecture and urban design is considered, to identify lessons applicable to physical and digital environment design, in scales and media that can absorb shock, supporting flexible, creative resilient approaches and patterns of future liveability. With massive externally induced change, what stays, what shifts, what disappears? This paper considers spatial adaptability, spatial resilience in two comparative, yet different contexts to identify design-based questions and propose thematic responses addressing resilient liveable future urbanism. This reflects on the similarities and differences between lockdown in China and the UK, the concept of mental as well as physical lockdown and how this has played out in these two countries.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.
Additional information
Notes on contributors
Tom Jefferies
Tom Jefferies Previously Head of The Manchester School of Architecture (2011–2019), he is a prize-winning architect and urban designer who has taught, lectured and examined internationally. Tom’s research investigates and proposes new forms of contemporary urbanism. Expertise in architecture, urbanism, landscape, master planning, design codes, architectural history and theory, sustainability and heritage underpins symbiotic research and inter-disciplinary practice. Significant experience in running exploratory design-based work generates new understanding of lived space, identifying similarities across diverse regions and places, the importance of infrastructures, whilst critically addressing culturally generated use patterns.
Jianquan Cheng
Dr Jianquan Cheng is a Reader in Urban Studies who worked in Wuhan as an associate professor (2000–2006) before joining Manchester Metropolitan University in 2006. Research experiences and expertise include urban growth, geographical mobility, spatial accessibility, and sustainable healthy city, using GIS and big data approaches. His recent projects focus on analysing and modelling how physical and built-environment impacts on public health and well-being at a variety of scales in Chinese cities, which aim to generate data driven evidence and frameworks for spatial planning and governance.
Laura Coucill
Laura Coucill is a Senior Lecturer in Architecture with experience in practice, teaching and research. She has held positions at The University of Sheffield and Birmingham City University as well as spending a number of years in practice working on commercial, educational and industrial projects. Laura’s research foregrounds cross-thematic data mapping and spatial analysis spanning historical and contemporary domains to offer insights into the conditions, operation and performance of urban space. Her work engages with policy and technology, using design as a testbed for sustainable and resilient urban form.