On Thursday 10 June 2021, Futurecity partner Sherry Dobbin joined global leaders at the Pritzker Forum on Global Cities: The Post-Covid City. The forum was hosted by the Chicago Council on Global Affairs and the Financial Times.
The event brought to the fore the discussion of how the pandemic has tested the resilience of our cities and what solutions, policies and strategies can be introduced to advance the social and economic vitality of the post covid city.
The event was rich with insights and a packed agenda and featured influential personalities such as Microsoft President, Brad Smith; Governor of Tokyo, Yuriko Koike; Paris Mayor’s Special Envoy for Smart Cities, Carlos Moreno; and Author of Feminist City, Leslie Kern, among others.
The Post-COVID City virtual program was organised around three conversations, which explored how the pandemic has impacted the way we live, work, and play in cities. The play panel was a discussion about reinvigorating urban recreation in the post-pandemic world and the connected worlds of travel, tourism, and culture.
‘Travel and Culture: Connecting people and places’ was moderated by Sherry Dobbin. Sherry joined United Airlines CEO Scott Kirby, and Deputy Mayor for Culture and Creative industries and Chair of World Cities Culture Forum Justine Simons in conversation on how their connected worlds of travel and culture revitalize urban life and global cities. They talked about travel as an antidote to ignorance and culture as a golden thread holding our cities together and connecting people both literally and metaphorically.
Justine Simons touched upon the learnings from the World Cities Forum, and the challenges of addressing inequity in cities and the need for a paradigm shift around the working conditions of freelancers and SME’s in the creative economy. The recently launched campaign ‘Let’s do London’ is all about promoting culture, retail and hospitality and encouraging public confidence and footfall into central London to get things moving again. Culture is at the heart of it all – because that’s the reason people come.
“The best vaccination is actually wealth in this pandemic….What we actually need is a paradigm shift around working conditions….Culture is a human right. And that’s what we have to hold in our hearts as we move forward post pandemic.”
– Justine Simons, Deputy Mayor for Culture and Creative industries, and Chair of World Cities Culture Forum
Scott Kirby talked about how human nature hasn’t changed during the pandemic. Being on zoom calls is not the same as being there in person. Travel and culture is about making human connections, relationships and emotions that you feel. He confirmed that culture was a major factor in travellers plans – across leisure, business, and family-related travel. Leisure demand is back at more than 100% as there is a huge pent-up demand to reconnect with people.
“Painted on the side of our aeroplanes is the tagline -connecting people, uniting the world. It is the core mission of what we do at United Airlines, and we mean that and feel that….Aviation and tourism are part of the psychological recovery for the globe as we come back.”
– Scott Kirby, United Airlines CEO
Sherry concluded that despite all the challenges, the creative sector would rise to be ‘culture-ready’ as well as ‘travel-ready’. The conversation highlighted travel and culture as key mutual supply chains – for those who consume and produce culture.
Futurecity’s invitation to moderate this public-private conversation proves that culture is an integral part of the success of cities. We believe that through cultural placemaking we can connect commerce and culture. We are proud to be based in London – a city that demonstrates this commitment through culture’s role in the heart of The London Plan and to facilitate these global conversation.
In case you missed it watch the recording: here
Skip to 1:17:05 to watch the conversation on Travel and Culture.
To learn more about the Pritzker Forum on Global Cities and their past event visit: https://www.globalcitiesforum.org/
For more Futurecity projects on Thought Leadership and Advocacy click: here