| Abstract |
The article raises questions about the future of cities, the appearance and infrastructure of which are rapidly changing under the influence of the Covid-19 pandemic. De-globalization and strengthening of regional interaction, which became apparent with the deepening of the pandemic in 2020, brought to the fore discussions about the city's ability to influence current events. The author shows how some of the previous city concepts have been radically revised in conjunction with the discussion of the future of globalization and climate change in the context of the pandemic. New rapidly changing circumstances and "new norms" of life encourage scholars to refine the concepts "city", "city person", "desired image of the city", and rethink various concepts of the city. For example, the concepts of Henri Lefebvre, David Harvey, and others acquire a special meaning. With the outbreak of the pandemic, the city's "right to the city" delineated by these scholars has taken the lead in developing or advocating policy responses to the crisis with the outbreak of the pandemic; the responses were then scaled up at the national level. The pandemic highlighted the strengths and weaknesses of cities, outlined the demand of the population for protection from infections and for comfortable living conditions in the urban space. Considerable attention is paid to the concept of a "smart city" and its content in the noticeably increased pace of digitalization in the world. However, there is a justified skepticism in the expert community about the positive possibilities of a "smart city" for solving problems that arose during the pandemic; for example, protecting citizens, informing them in a timely manner. Experts pay attention to the fact that service providers can only understand most products of a smart city, and smart city products have the problem of information fragmentation. However, the research results used in the article show that the density of cities does not directly correlate with higher infection rates, but the pandemic itself has re-actualized the class basis of Lefebvre's basic theory. The article outlines the main forecasts of changes in the urban space and the development of "smart cities"; some of them have already become reality. The article concludes that the pandemic has had a major impact on the current and future urban planning towards enhancing the safety and convenience of cities for telecommuting and spending time. |