How COVID Could Change Our Public Spaces

The coronavirus pandemic is sure to change the world we once new, including our public spaces. Many people are talking about the post pandemic world, but at a recent CREW San Diego event Christopher Bittner of OBR Architecture said that there won’t be a post-pandemic world. Instead, he is working on ways to design spaces for and around COVID. He said that design is beginning to spill into all kinds of spaces so that “every type of person can be comfortable.”

The CREW San Diego conversation included Howard Blackson of AVRP Studio; David McCullough of McCullough Landscape Architecture; Penny Maus of the Port of San Diego; and Alyssa Muto, deputy director of environmental policy and public space in planning department of City of San Diego.

As a result of this changed perspective, Bittner says that is firm is prioritizing people over cars in outdoor spaces. “This is especially true on the West Coast,” he said. “How much space is given to cars as compared to people? COVID forces us to look at this and prioritize people over cars. I think as our design priorities change, it’s going to be for the good.”

The other panelists also said that a lot of the new trends to emerge during the pandemic, like to-go orders at restaurants and increased outdoor dining, isn’t going away. Blackson said that this should mean that cities remain flexible on parking requirements, especially in front of buildings, and Muto agreed, saying that these trends will require changes in professional codes. For example, hair salons will need to be able to operate outdoors. Bittner and McCullough also added that schools and corner markets would also be candidates for indoor-outdoor conversion.

While these trends are currently sweeping across the country, they aren’t necessarily new and there are models that architects can use to redesign public spaces. “Park City has been doing this for years,” said Muto. There are lots of models for us to pull from.” She listed onsite parking lots as one example of areas that could be adapted. “These are spaces that we thought we needed, but COVID brought us back to our neighborhoods,” she said.

For these to become permanent, Muto added that there will need to be regulatory changes. This could include the City of San Diego creating mixed-use zones that enhance walkability and constructing new commercial space to spill outwards.