Density Takes Center Stage in the Pandemic, Again

The latest in a series of compendia tackling the effects of the pandemic, now and in the future, for cities and communities.

8 minute read

January 7, 2021, 12:00 PM PST

By James Brasuell @CasualBrasuell

Joe Tabacca / Shutterstock

Since March 2020, Planetizen has been tracking the stories that have attempted to make sense of the world during the pandemic, and how the pandemic might alter the future direction of communities. Many of the themes have repeated, with only slight variations as the coronavirus has revealed its effects for public health, the economy, and society.

Nine Months Later: How the Pandemic Is Changing Communities (December 2020)
Coronavirus and the Future of Cities: A Final Pre-Election Tour of the Issues (November 2020)
Do We Know Any More About the Future of Cities Than We Did in April 2020? (October 2010)
The Media Can't Stop Talking About the End of Cities (August 2020)
The Great Debate: Will the Pandemic Alter the Course of Urbanism? (July 2020)
Debating the Future of Cities After the Coronavirus, Volume 3 (June 2020)
Density Debate Rages Alongside the Pandemic (April 2020)
Debating the Future of Cities, and Urban Density, After the Pandemic (March 2020)
Coronavirus and Urbanism (Planetizen Tag)
Coronavirus and Transportation (Planetizen Tag)
Coronavirus and Density (Planetizen Tag)

As the calendar year turned, two major themes can be seen in the news. One is the traditional post-mortem on the year in terms related to planning and design. Planetizen recently published two articles with the same purpose: sifting through the news of the year for indications of how the pandemic is changing the world, and how it will continue to do so in the future.

The second theme is the reemergence of density as a fulcrum in the debate about how the novel coronavirus is spreading. For several months, the question of whether density was spreading the coronavirus (cause) took a backseat to analysis and speculation about migration trends during the pandemic (effect)—a theme that might have reemerged because of yet another shift in the geography of the pandemic. Now that Los Angeles and Southern California have become hot zones for the pandemic, density is again assuming a central role in the conversation.

It must also be noted that the new year begins in the worst moments of the pandemic in terms of new infections and deaths. On January 6, the same day that a seditionist mob incited by the President of the United States attacked the Capitol Building in Washington, D.C. and briefly shut down the constitutional duties of the elected bodies to ratify the November 2020 election, more Americans died of COVID-19 in one day that any previous day in the pandemic.

Despite the (heavily criticized) rollout of the vaccine and the approval of a new economic stimulus package by the federal government, the articles below were published in the darkest period of the pandemic so far.

Environment Infrastructure Land Use Transportation Urban Development Coronavirus COVID 19 Coronavirus and Urbanism Coronavirus and Density Coronavirus and Transportation 2020 Density View More

James Brasuell

James Brasuell, AICP is the former editorial director of Planetizen and is now a senior public affairs specialist at the Southern California Association of Governments. James managed all editorial content and direction for Planetizen from 2014 to 2023, and was promoted from manging editor to editorial director in 2021. After a first career as a class five white water river guide in Trinity County in Northern California, James started his career in Los Angeles as a volunteer at a risk reduction center in Skid Row.

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I love the variety of courses, many practical, and all richly illustrated. They have inspired many ideas that I've applied in practice, and in my own teaching.

Mary G., Urban and Environmental Planner

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