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Idea by

Tomás Reis

Lisboa, Portugal
Tomás Reis uses hand drawing and digital illustration to work at different scales. His design proposals aim at raising climate-consciousness in a changing world.

Call for ideas 2021

Plastic Wrap City


How empty space defined our lives in 2020.

Plastic Wrap City


How empty space defined our lives in 2020.
Will our care for safety, during the pandemic crisis, change our perception of public space?
File under
Type of project
  • Systemic changes

How is the pandemic disease shaping our cities? The spread of coronavirus left virtually no time to adapt. Therefore, rather than making cities more liveable, there is a risk that the new solutions make it more difficult to move around.

Like plastic bubble wraps in delivery packages, public spaces should make people feel safe. Not only plastic bubbles absorb shocks, but also make protection redundant, ensuring the care for the most fragile items. If one bubble bursts, others remain undamaged. On the other hand, physical barriers are a threat to the continuity of public space, to mobility and social inclusion.

What will happen in post-pandemic cities? How will public spaces convey a sense of safety, when social isolation seems to be the best way slow down the spread of a pandemic disease? If the 2-metre distance between people is a reference, as per epidemiological standards, it will not be hard to imagine all public spaces becoming like bubble wraps, with 4-metre wide bubbles.


Plastic Wrap City


How empty space defined our lives in 2020.

Plastic Wrap City


How empty space defined our lives in 2020.
Will our care for safety, during the pandemic crisis, change our perception of public space?
File under
Type of project
  • Systemic changes

How is the pandemic disease shaping our cities? The spread of coronavirus left virtually no time to adapt. Therefore, rather than making cities more liveable, there is a risk that the new solutions make it more difficult to move around.

Like plastic bubble wraps in delivery packages, public spaces should make people feel safe. Not only plastic bubbles absorb shocks, but also make protection redundant, ensuring the care for the most fragile items. If one bubble bursts, others remain undamaged. On the other hand, physical barriers are a threat to the continuity of public space, to mobility and social inclusion.

What will happen in post-pandemic cities? How will public spaces convey a sense of safety, when social isolation seems to be the best way slow down the spread of a pandemic disease? If the 2-metre distance between people is a reference, as per epidemiological standards, it will not be hard to imagine all public spaces becoming like bubble wraps, with 4-metre wide bubbles.



Idea by

Tomás Reis
Lisboa
Portugal
Tomás Reis uses hand drawing and digital illustration to work at different scales. His design proposals aim at raising climate-consciousness in a changing world.