Cities, Crowding, and the Coronavirus : Predicting Contagion Risk Hotspots
Today, over 4 billion people around the world—more than half the global population—live in cities. By 2050, with the urban population more than doubling its current size, nearly 7 of 10 people in the world will live in cities. Evidence from today&#...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , |
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| Language: | English |
| Published: |
World Bank, Washington, DC
2020
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/206541587590439082/Cities-Crowding-and-the-Coronavirus-Predicting-Contagion-Risk-Hotspots http://hdl.handle.net/10986/33648 |
| Summary: | Today, over 4 billion people around the
world—more than half the global population—live in cities.
By 2050, with the urban population more than doubling its
current size, nearly 7 of 10 people in the world will live
in cities. Evidence from today's developed countries
and rapidly emerging economies shows that urbanization and
the development of cities is a source of dynamism that can
lead to enhanced productivity. In fact, no country in the
industrial age has ever achieved significant economic growth
without urbanization. The underlying driver of this dynamism
is the ability of cities to bring people together. Social
and economic interactions are the hallmark of city life,
making people more productive and often creating a vibrant
market for innovations by entrepreneurs and investors.
International evidence suggests that the elasticity of
income per capita with respect to city population is between
3 percent and 8 percent (Rosenthal & Strange 2003). Each
doubling of city size raises its productivity by 5 percent.
But the coronavirus pandemic is now seriously limiting
social interactions. With no vaccine available, prevention
through containment and social distancing, along with
frequent handwashing, appear to be, for now, the only viable
strategies against the virus. The goal is to slow
transmission and avoid overwhelming health systems that have
finite resources. Hence non-essential businesses have been
closed and social distancing measures, including lockdowns,
are being applied in many countries. Will such measures
defeat the virus in dense urban areas? In principle, yes.
Wealthier people in dense neighborhoods can isolate
themselves while having amenities and groceries delivered to
them. Many can connect remotely to work, and some can even
afford to live without working for a time. But poorer
residents of crowded neighborhoods cannot afford such
luxuries. They are forced to leave their home every day to
go to work, buy groceries, and do laundry. This is
especially true in low-income neighborhoods of developing
countries – many of which are slums and informal
settlements. In fact, 60 percent of Africa’s urban
population is packed into slums - a far larger share than
the average 34 percent seen in other developing countries
(United Nations 2015). With people tightly packed together,
the resulting crowding increases contagion risk from the coronavirus. |
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