By Lou Corpuz-Bosshart, UBC News, March 23, 2020
“We spoke to UBC professor” Patrick Condon, chair in Landscape and Livable Environments at UBC’s School of Architecture and Landscape Architecture and the founding chair of the UBC urban design program.
“What are the potential impacts of the current crisis on transit systems?
“This will be another blow to urban transit, which will be needed to solve the climate crisis. It will likely be a boost to the ride-hailing industry.
“How will it affect the way we design and build cities?
“The rich will withdraw even more behind the protection of doormen and gated communities. Sanitized cars with drivers on call.
“Our current housing inequality in the region needs to be addressed when this is over. It makes no sense to continue a trend where increasingly the rich live in Vancouver and wage earners who provide services to the city are being forced further and further east.
“How will it affect community services?
“I foresee a continued slide in our civic infrastructure and reduced taxpayer support for these functions. I suspect our concerns post-crisis will be more basic: where can I live affordably and how can I access job and services safely.”