The city in the context of climate change and the Covid-19 pandemic (2020 - early 2022)

The article aims to identify the impact of climate change on cities in a pandemic. It is shown that the improvement of the ecological state in the world as a whole at the initial stage of the pandemic began to change to the previous levels of environmental pollution as restrictive measures were weakened. Predictably, the impact of COVID-19 has been most devastating in poor and densely populated urban areas, especially for the one billion people living in self-contained settlements and slums around the world. Overcrowding in such places has made it difficult to comply with measures recommended by the World Health Organization such as social distancing and self-isolation. The article raises questions about the reversibility of the transformations that occurred during the pandemic in the daily life of urban residents and the role that cities will play in the future. Particular attention is paid to the initiatives of the European Union to include cities in the implementation of the Green Deal, taking into account its actualization under the influence of the pandemic. Conclusions are drawn that the role of cities in the implementation of environmental objectives and reformatting urban space and infrastructure in the interests of nature and man is increasing. The pandemic has accelerated the process of transition to new environmental standards in the context of increasing the sustainability of cities and the flexibility of their adaptation mechanisms in case of crisis situations. The experience of the European Union in this case can serve as a good example for other regions, countries and cities. The impact of climate issues on the existing and projected infrastructure of cities in the context of the tasks of increasing their sustainability and further application of “smart” technologies to ensure the safety and comfort of human life in the city has increased. The author concludes that for cities that have taken the brunt of the COVID-19 virus, there is still a time lag for transforming their planning and infrastructure in such a way as to enhance the quality of life of the population, its security and saturation of the “desired image of the city” with new elements based on digitalization tools. It is precisely this behavior of cities that is being pushed by the demand of the population - according to surveys of various regional and global agencies, during the pandemic, the proportion of respondents who consider climate change as one of the acute problems of our time has increased. The author declares no conflicts of interests.

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