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Abstract

This research looks at the impact that pandemics can have on public space. The goal of the research was to learn from the past to anticipate the long-term effects of COVID-19 on the public realm. The research involved exploring the history of the effects of two major global pandemics – the 19th C. Cholera and the 20th C Influenza pandemics – as well as documenting the effects of COVID-19 as they occurred. The main finding of the research is that pandemics have long-lasting impacts on public space, although each has a somewhat different effect, depending upon whether it is bacterial or viral-based and how different countries and cultures respond. The research also shows that COVID-19 has been unique in rebalancing what we do in-person or remotely, physically or digitally, which will likely have profound effects on the use of public as well as private space. This, in turn, will demand a re-evaluation of public policies, many of which are based on pre-pandemic assumptions about in-person interactions as the primary way in which people work, shop, learn, and live.