City streets are deserted. Every day is like a macabre holiday, with everyone staying home or fleeing to less densely inhabited areas except—
When citizens wanted to express outrage at the death of George Floyd, what did they do?
They flocked to city streets to express that outrage. They needed each other and a public space.
We may argue about the judgement of those who gather in dense crowds during a time of pandemic. Nevertheless, even this pandemic could not stop the gathering. The people demanded a public expression, so they flocked to the public spaces of cities of all sizes.
Writes Jennifer Keesmaat, a former city planner, “Cities will remain vibrant and dynamic centers of economic and cultural activity. The density that supposedly made them vulnerable to the pandemic does not have to be their undoing. “
Instead, she says, planners must work to make cities dense in the right ways. These include: “avoiding overcrowding, minimizing car use, and building inclusive communities with affordable housing.” (“The Pandemic Does Not Spell the End for Cities,” Foreign Affairs, May 28 2020.)
She points to the lower coronarius infection rates of dense cities like Seoul and Singapore. “Rates of infection have more to do with factors such as public health preparedness than with the sheer number of people per square kilometer.”
Zoom has been a blessing as a cyber meeting place during this time. But physical gathering is as instinctive as—well, as breathing.
Part of Zoom fatigue seems to be its insufficiency in replacing face-to-face and communal esperience.
Yes, as a participant in several Zoom meetings with friends, I admit to its limitations. I’m hoping that we can begin small group meetings while masked in, say, the large fellowship hall of our church. I think we could manage more physical meetings if we accepted masks and distancing as part of our lifestyle for the time being.