The post-pandemic city: speculation through simulation

Although we can explain the way centripetal and centrifugal forces determine form function of contemporary cities, our abilities to predict their futures are severely limited. The pandemic has led changes in locational travel behaviour as well regulated lockdowns with respect where people work, live social distance from one another. This makes it impossible a ‘new normal’ reflecting ways able control manage pandemic. As have little data pertaining this future, engage informed discussion, develop hypothetical city organised around theories spatial interaction, urban hierarchy, density, heterogeneity movement. We propose symmetric square grid locations, simulate interactions using gravitational models, then lock down. release lockdown transition new normal, assuming different parameter values controlling effects distance, illustrating difficulty generating highly decentralised forms. apply model London, locking down metropolis, exploring seven functional forms that provide us sample shapes densities. Our approach provides framework for speculating about future what call ‘computable thought experiments’.