The Biocene Concert. © Max Estrella.

We begin a new year that we do not know how it will be, we only hope that it does not resemble the past, that the pandemic subsides and that we will recover in the future the issues that for a moment were parked, not because of their minor importance but because of a change in priorities, and that will again demand urgent attention as required by climate change.

A fundamental objective of planning must be to improve the quality of life in our cities. This requires a change in the understanding of governance that involves citizens in general, professional associations, universities, associations and NGOs in shaping the future of our cities.

The economic and social setback has led to an increase in inequalities caused by covid. A focus on the territory based on differences is required. The need to conceive housing and facilities as a mechanism for social balance has been reinforced in these times. In the most disadvantaged neighborhoods, with small dwellings, it is seen that facilities represent an element of balance and social inclusion. Schools, libraries, cultural centers as work and leisure spaces help access to education, culture and all the opportunities of the territory. At the same time, it is necessary to support digital procedures in the whole of society to bridge the digital divide.

From the experience of these times arises the need to turn housing into the central axis of planning, the objective of decent housing, accessible to all citizens as a social right, of adequate size and with sunny and ventilated conditions returns to be in first place. Housing that will have to obey new ways of life such as teleworking and that therefore requires greater flexibility in its structure and conception and larger sizes to accommodate these new uses.

On the other hand, the concept of proximity becomes basic with the pandemic, we have seen the need to have nearby open spaces, green wedges that penetrate the city, small parks and boulevards, forming a network, as places of recreation, relationship and walks that bring nature closer to our homes lead us to improve urban spaces.

The basic supply in stores close to home has been reinforced, but at the same time digital commerce has increased, generating new modes of acquisition, including perishable goods, which lead to other forms of use of urban space.

The need in this period to walk to access work and services reinforces this priority of proximity, but at the same time adds the need to design the street at the service of soft modes of transport, such as cycling or walking. The recovery of the walk as an act of personal physical improvement or as a simple pleasure to walk and discover and identify with our neighborhood.

All this leads us to urban design based on public transport and to the need to build the city over the existing city. The public debate on densities must lead to suitable densities not only in support of public transport, but also for the creation of a neighborhood and the promotion of social relationships.

The single-family house with its advantage of social isolation and false approach to nature is not the panacea, to the consumption of land, a basic good, urbanization and maintenance costs are added as well as environmental externalities.

It is necessary to introduce aspects related to climate change in housing policies and sustainable urban development policies, such as decarbonisation, the use of renewable energy, the recycling and reuse of urban waste, and greater awareness of the use of water as a scarce good, in short, a development based on the circular economy, approaching planning from an ecosystem perspective.

It is still necessary to assume that populations and cities are increasingly vulnerable to floods, while desertification advances, derived from severe droughts, together with forest fires and an already visible consequence, climatic migrations.

We must approach city planning with a transversal vision, not sectoral, integrating all aspects in the final design, it is necessary to look at the short term and the long term simultaneously, not only with a numerical reading. It is about giving importance to innovative and social factors, generating inclusive urban spaces and sustainable urbanization not only from an environmental point of view.

Integrated strategic planning in the territory is necessary to strengthen the urban and social link and reduce inequalities. Equity and social inclusion policies with a generational and gender focus so that cities are friendlier and safer.

All planning is meaningless if we are not capable of evaluating its effects, establishing citizen audit mechanisms of compliance with the plans for their effective control and monitoring.

There is a correlation between urbanization and the reduction of poverty in our cities, an urban-rural integration must be promoted that links local agriculture and allows a rational leisure use of rural spaces by the inhabitants of the city who contribute to the economic improvement of these areas and avoid their depopulation. At the same time, teleworking and digital processes can lead to recovering the depopulated spaces of our territory, helping to limit the overpressure on existing cities.

The end of confinement in Spain was celebrated with a concert at the Liceu Theatre (Barcelona): "The Biocene concert", an anthropocene-biocene reflection from a cultural proposal. A plant audience listens attentively to Puccini's Il Crisantemi, not as a message associated with the pain of death but with a renewed future to which the virtual enthusiastic applause, derived from a rumor, opens a door to another life in which nature and society consciously associate. A whole message to consider.