What does COVID-19 tell us about justice and sustainability in cities? This session will include a short lecture followed by an online conversation on how the COVID-19 has exacerbated urban environmental and health inequalities and how it can be a unique chance to create more just and sustainable urban futures. COVID-19 is thus a turning point on how we can imagine and plan our cities to address the social and health crisis it has triggered.
We will discuss the following questions, among others:

• What are the main manifestations of health and environmental inequalities and related, emergent questions around urban justice in times of pandemic and social confinement? To what extent, and where. are such inequalities being addressed in bold, radical ways that can redefine urban futures?
• How does COVID-19 redefine and force us to rethink urban infrastructure (housing, transit, and public space) need, use, and inequalities?
• What lessons can we draw from a crisis such as COVID-19 to build more just and sustainable cities, especially in the context of a changing climate?

This webinar is part of a broader multi-stakeholder initiative and engagement of UrbanA and BCNUEJ partners to build opportunities and address challenges towards more resilient and sustainable cities, where justice, equity, and inclusion are at the heart of planning, policy, and civic processes, rather than an after-thought or a peripheral consideration.

Speakers

All three speakers are members of the Barcelona Lab for Urban Environmental Justice and Sustainability, a research lab part of ICTA and IMIM at the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona.

• Helen Cole, social epidemiologist, co-coordinator of the research line on urban environmental, health, and equity at BCNUEJ.
• Isabelle Anguelovski, urban planner specialized in urban environmental justice, ICREA research professor and BCNUEJ Director.
• Panagiota Kotsila, political ecologist specialized in health at ICTA-UAB, member of the Undisciplined Environments collective, and coordinator of the research line on urban political ecology at BCNUEJ.

Program
In the first part of the event, our main speakers will offer a professionally recorded visual and oral presentation (30’ in total) which will be followed by comments, discussions, and reflections by invited commentators and the attending audience (30’). A graphic storytelling artist will be sketching live and will be sharing the outcome at the end (10’).
This webinar is part of the second UrbanA Arena event, a 2-day online event taking place during 4th-5th June, which brings together urban academics, researchers, practitioners, planners, and civil society groups working towards more inclusive and equitable sustainable cities. The Arena event is focused on identifying drivers and manifestations of urban injustice, and their interconnections, especially in the context of urban sustainability efforts.