What will our cities and urban spaces look like after COVID-19? This was the topic of ABC Radio National's Life Matters program yesterday, which explored what we might learn from the current lock-down experience to make our cities and urban areas better places to live into the future.

The coronavirus pandemic has had a startling effect on the way we move in public spaces. The most obvious shift is the dramatic reduction of vehicular traffic on our streets and increase in people using urban parks and public places for exercise and passive recreation, while still maintaining social distancing.

Ideas of accessibility and equity were critical to the discussion, with an acknowledgement that public spaces now need to work harder than ever before to meet growing expectations, including concerns such as safety, amenity and biodiversity.

Hosted by Hilary Harper, program guests included Melanie Davern, director of the Australian Urban Observatory and co-director of the Healthy Liveable Cities Group at RMIT, and Claire Martin, associate director with OCULUS and a board member of the Australian Institute of Landscape Architects.

The program is available to stream here.