Smarty Pants Podcast

Coronavirus vs. the Urban Commons

How can communal endeavors survive a pandemic?

By Stephanie Bastek | March 27, 2020
King County Parks (Flickr/kingcountyparks)
King County Parks (Flickr/kingcountyparks)

One thing we’re thinking about at the Scholar as we’re all shut away, working from home, is how much we depend—emotionally and logistically—on contact with other people. As coming together in public parks, offices, arts hubs, and community spaces has become verboten in the age of social distancing, what will happen to the urban commons in cities? Amanda Huron, an associate professor of interdisciplinary social sciences at the University of the District of Columbia, was thinking about the urban commons long before we started longing for it. She joins us on the show for a conversation about what “the commons” is and how we can protect it in the midst of a pandemic.

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