Farmers Markets Are Vital During COVID-19, But They Need More Support

Farmers markets have long served as a way to increase food access in low-income areas, support small farmers and local businesses, and bolster a strong, locally empowering economy.

Now, with food insecurity heightened, the agricultural food supply chain at risk, and local economies devastated by businesses closures, farmers markets can fill a critical health and economic gap.

But they need federal, state, and local commitment to allow them to remain open and safe as essential services amid the pandemic. Read more.

• Density: A pandemic was bound to bring the anti-density advocates out of the woodwork (Planetizen), though as our friends at the Congress for New Urbanism point out, their arguments don't hold much water when you look at the data so far (Public Square). Given the many social, civic, and economic benefits of density, we agree that compact urbanism is here to stay (Brookings).
   
• Retail: More plausible is that a rapidly unfurling recession could make the overhyped "retail apocalypse" into a reality. William Fulton paints a picture of a post-COVID-19 world where Main Streets have more ground-floor residential, more personal care shops, more restaurants, bars and cafes—and less of everything else (Urban Edge). But it's also not too late to save the retail sector (Brookings).
   
• Surveillance: Surveillance systems have been used by many countries that have successfully recovered from the virus to track movements and social contacts of infected people, but some worry that once implemented, these systems would be hard to roll back (Bloomberg)
   
• Social Infrastructure: On the bright side, we are seeing signs that the United States may emerge from this moment with a greater appreciation for public spaces and the social and psychological benefits they provide (The Atlantic).
  
  This is particularly true for communities that have been hit hardest by COVID-19 and its economic fallout. A lack of social infrastructure is just one of the many vulnerabilities that made this virus so deadly for some and not for others (Brookings).

Places in the News: Finally, here's a roundup of some recent innovative placemaking projects making headlines:

• A global sampling of placemaker's COVID-19 stories (State of Place)
• COVID-19 tactical urbanism interventions from around the world (New York Times)
• Making fun places for kids to learn, even during a pandemic (Brookings)
• Urban design for "sociable distancing" (Public Square)
• Kids create handprint butterflies in Sweden (TJ Maguire)
• Community positivity ambassadors (YorkRegion.com)
• Transformative placemaking amid COVID-19 (Brookings)
• Handmade maps of life in quarantine (CityLab)
• Where streets are silent, signs speak up (Slate)
• A guide to safely opening streets as public spaces during COVID-19 (Vancouver Public Space Network)
• A guide to designing spaces for infection control (Mass Design Group)

We believe placemakers have a key role to play in both "flattening the curve," and recovering from this crisis. That's why we want to know what kinds of resources would be most useful to you during the COVID-19 pandemic and beyond.

Please take a few minutes to answer this multiple-choice survey, and let us know how we can help you meet the needs of your community.