One year after Covid-19 was declared a global pandemic, Alexandra Hagen, CEO of Swedish architecture studio White Arkitekter, responded to our questions about its impact with a list of six ways Covid-19 will change cities forever.

The pandemic has escalated the use of available technology, this, in turn, has led to new behaviours that impact how we use our cities and our buildings. This is not a new concept. We have always adapted our way of living to new technologies. The difference now is that change is forced on us quickly. Adopting new technology is more about a change in culture than about innovation.
We have experienced how parts of our cities mainly made up of retail and commercial spaces have lost their street life almost completely, while residential areas are populated around the clock and lack sufficient service. The needs of people change quickly so the buildings need to change quickly.
One of the short-term impacts on architecture is that we work more actively with transformation. The needs of people change quickly so the buildings need to change quickly. An example from our practice is a hospital building that we completed in 2019 containing 23 operating theatres that were transformed into 64 intensive care units in just 10 days.
Hotels are turned into long-stay housing. Empty shops are used as temporary office hubs. Businesses that don't use their offices are inviting students to use part of their space as the universities close.
The pandemic has made us awa...