Long term implications of Covid 19 on Sustainable Lifestyles
Please join us for our next Monday departmental seminar on the 13th of December from 15:00 to 16:00 at the Porter Auditorium.
https://tau-ac-il.zoom.us/j/83229921170
Dr. Valerie Brachya (see bio below)
Long term implications of Covid 19 on Sustainable Lifestyles
The health and economic implications of Covid 19 are by now largely understood. The longterm implications on lifestyles are not. Initial expectations were for a return to ‘normal’, to the pre-Covid conditions for home, work, travel, entertainment, holidays etc. However, even after exits and vaccinations, most parts of the world have not returned to whatever they considered as ‘normal’. What has emerged is termed a ‘new normal’ or ‘great reset’ in response to processes which occurred during the lock downs and which are unlikely to disappear or regress.
The most significant changes were generated by an acceleration of digitalization. Digital highways replaced physical highways as work, commerce, education and social connectivity went online. That process was happening before the pandemic struck but at a slow rate and not reaching large parts of the population. Covid catapulted digitalization into the home, the workplace, retail, learning, medical care and entertainment.
Living in a fully digital world may be very different from the ‘normal’ we knew before the pandemic and it may not be more sustainable. Pre Covid, cities were flourishing, with vibrant city centers, full of activity around the clock and benefitting from demand for inner city small housing units, use of public transport and micro mobility. The real estate market recognized that Covid lock downs shifted priorities and that people sought larger homes and gardens in outer suburbs. Offices emptied, retail stores shut down, services for daytime incoming employees lost their economic basis, and inhouse streaming and gaming replaced previous forms of entertainment. Those trends are continuing, with severe repercussions for ‘Central Business Districts’, Public Transport operators and the sources of income for Municipalities.
Some directions could be harnessed towards more sustainable lifestyles in cities but many are generating larger carbon and material footprints. The cities most affected are those with the highest income level population and high consumers. They have a large proportion of knowledge based employment, which transformed to remote work and is now able to disassociate residential from work location. They rely on ecommerce with its implications for purchasing and returning goods, warehousing, logistics and delivery services and with consequent impacts on high street commerce.
Green New Deals are not coming to terms with the post/trans Covid future lifestyles. Most policy responses add a ‘green’ color to demonstrate their commitment to climate change but basically they are designed to promote and revive economic growth. Countries may have made declarations at COP 26 in Glasgow to achieve a goal of 1.5 degree lifestyles, but current trends in many high income cities are going in the opposite direction.
Valerie Brachya is a senior research associate at the Jerusalem Institute for Policy Research and a lecturer in environmental planning and sustainability policy at Tel Aviv University. Ms. Brachya was a founding member of the Environmental Protection Service in Israel in 1972 and former Senior Deputy Director General for Policy and Planning in the Ministry of Environmental Protection. She participated in many governmental environmental international and regional initiatives and activities, including peace negotiations with Jordan and the Palestinians, representation in UNEP’s Governing Council, Mediterranean Action Plan and in Israel’s accession process to the OECD. She received the NGO ‘Green Globe’ award in 2009 and the annual award of the Israel Planning Association in 2011. Her current research themes focus on urban sustainability and sustainable lifestyles. She is co-author of the book ‘Sustainable Lifestyles after Covid-19’ published April 2021, together with members of SCORAI, an international research network on sustainable consumption.
