Building resilience in a crisis will lay the foundations for a kinder, gentler, fairer world

We live in uncertain and unsettling times. Just as the debate and discussion around the climate crisis started to crystallise into calls for clear action within this decade, we now find ourselves facing the unprecedented challenge of a global pandemic.

Most of us living in near lock-down are learning to accept and work within a ‘new normal’. Listening to often heartbreaking stories of people who are suffering from the impacts of COVID-19, I have struggled with conversations on the climate crisis and the design of liveable towns and cities. I have, like many others, wondered if this really is the right time to be having these debates. But can we really disassociate the public health crisis we face now from an ongoing environmental one?

This crisis further exacerbates social inequalities
Our towns and cities should provide healthier environments for everyone to live, work, rest and play. But what the pandemic has highlighted to me is that in times of crisis, the inequalities inherent and ingrained in so much that we take for granted, come right to the fore.The impact of COVID-19 – whether it is on people worrying about how to make ends meet, people with underlying health conditions or disabilities, people who haven’t got the luxury to stop and reflect – are the greatest on the most vulnerable in society.

In this article in Transport Xtra, Daisy Narayanan, Sustrans’ Director of Urbanism, takes a look into the incredible resilience shown by people during the current COVID-19 pandemic.