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The Role of Design in a World of Perpetual Pandemics
Call it a panic. Call it a pandemic. It doesn't matter whether you believe this year's novel Coronavirus, also known as COVID-19, is just a small bump in the road or will indeed be the end of us all. The fact remains that pandemics will, and already are, becoming as commonplace as severe weather events and other natural disasters. The rapid rise and decline of SARS in 2003 may have just been a warning. COVID-19 and it's swift, seemingly inevitable march across the world is a sign that globalized diseases are here to stay. Indeed, I believe that we now live in an age of perpetual pandemic. Governments and tech billionaires probably won't save us, but the architects and designers of our shared built environments and cities just might - if we can get our act together.