Cities after the pandemic

How different could our cities look in the future?

There's no doubt that the Coronavirus pandemic will change how we live, play and work in the future, and one area that will be affected more than most is how we'll get around. As we emerge out of lockdown, cities around the globe have announced changes to how their roads and pavements will be used in the future.

As more people are likely to work from home, fewer people will commute to work in city centres. Physical distancing will probably continue, and crowded public transport could be a problem, so we'll be encouraged to walk and cycle more. This means more space provided for cyclists and pedestrians.

Steve Brooks, Executive Director of External Affairs at Sustrans told us:

"How people access their everyday needs, and move around cities, towns and neighbourhoods will play a vital role in helping the nation’s future economic recovery".

"Walking and cycling is an important part of this. It will play a key role in giving people the space they need to move around safely as we begin life in our new normal".

"We’ve seen an unprecedented level of travel investment during lockdown. This new urgency to invest in walking and cycling has the potential to transform the way we move, the way we live and the impact we have on the climate".

Just how different will our city centres look?

We've looked at cities in the UK and further afield to reimagine what they might look like after the pandemic.

Use our sliders to see what cities look like now and how they could look after they've been changed.

London

london before london after

Birmingham

birmingham before birmingham after

Cardiff

cardiff before cardiff after

Manchester

manchester before manchester after

Edinburgh

edinburgh before edinburgh after

Tokyo

tokyo before tokyo after

Paris

paris before paris after

Rome

rome before rome after

New York

new-york before new-york after

Sydney

sydney before sydney after

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