The COVID-19 pandemic has brought the world to a standstill. As the disease continues to take a devastating toll on human lives globally, businesses and workers have been severely affected by the stay-at-home orders and shutdowns that many cities have imposed to flatten the curve. Many people have lost jobs and stable sources of income, and small business owners are struggling to keep their businesses afloat amidst a dramatic drop in pedestrian traffic and consumer spending.
In the United States of America, almost 110,000 small businesses across the country have permanently closed and many more will potentially follow, especially in the retail, restaurant, hospitality and leisure sectors. Many small businesses struggle with high fixed costs, low profit margins and low digital adaptability, making them significantly more vulnerable to economic shocks like COVID-19. With the national unemployment rate peaking at approximately 15 percent, many people are struggling to make ends meet.
Race is one of the biggest factors in the pandemic’s impact on the country. Systemic racism has resulted in generational lack of access to wealth, employment and health care for Black communities, which makes Black-owned businesses more vulnerable to COVID-19. During the pandemic, more than 40 percent of Black businesses closed down in April 2020 compared to only 17 percent of white businesses, while only 12 percent of Black and Latino business owners who applied for aid received the full requested financial assistance from government loan programs like the Paycheck Protection Program. Racism resulting from the virus’ alleged origin in China has also hurt Asian-American businesses and communities. The unemployment rate for Asian-Americans working in the hospitality and leisure sectors reached 40 percent nationwide. In New York, sales for Chinese businesses in Manhattan’s Chinatown decreased up to 80 percent in February 2020. Furthermore, Asian-American business and residential communities across the U.S. have also experienced increases in hate crimes and vandalism.
Where does that leave us?
As we think about recovery and resilience for small businesses, design serves as an important framework and tool for creating solutions that will help revitalize our communities. Design can help us change existing systems of behavior, infrastructure and policy for the better. It can channel innovation and creativity in making public and private spaces more safe, vibrant and equitable for all people. The pandemic’s disproportionate and acute effects on people of color makes design all the more necessary as a tool for justice and equity.
Many cities have turned to tactical urbanism as a way to help businesses reopen and temporarily experiment with new designs to activate public spaces for a variety of uses. Its advantages lie in the fact that it is efficient, flexible, relatively cheap to implement, and gives space for radical and creative ideas. Furthermore, it facilitates multiple iterations based on resident input and feedback. Sidewalks, curbside areas and streets are now places for cities to implement infrastructure that promote economic development, sustainability and high quality of life for all.
Various cities around North America have released guidance and recommendations for reopening businesses and repurposing the public right-of-way. Many projects have been collaborative efforts involving the public, private and non-profit sector, all intervening in different ways to support the recovery process.
Below is a non-exhaustive list of our favorite city and organizational responses to reopening businesses:
- The National Association of City Transportation Officials (NACTO) Streets for Pandemic Response and Recovery, a strategic and implementation guide to help cities reallocate street space to promote sustainable mobility, economic development, vibrant communities and public health in the context of COVID-19
- The New Urban Mobility Alliance’s (NUMO) COVID Mobility Works, a digital platform that supports the sharing of best practices in pandemic responses in mobility, public health and community engagement
- The City of Baltimore’s Design for Distancing Guidebook, an online resource featuring 10 tactical urbanism design ideas for outdoor public space with uses ranging from retail and dining to mobile food kiosks and libraries with Internet access
- The Open for Business KC, a guide aimed at helping businesses in Kansas City, Missouri, navigate the permitting and design process for reopening, along with DIY construction guides for businesses. The guide, made by Cityfi LLC, Street Smarts Design + Build, and Midtown KC Now, has also been adapted for Kansas City, Kansas, which has no permitting process for parklets and parking lot adaptation as city administrators have taken the approach of reducing bureaucratic approvals to help small businesses move quickly.
- The City of Denver’s temporary outdoor expansions program for restaurants and bars, which lasts until October 2020. On the government website, business owners can apply for permits and seek guidance on infrastructure and public health requirements. The Mayor has also convened several subject matter task forces to quickly assess and develop recommendations to support small businesses.
- The City of New York’s Open Restaurants program details site and infrastructure requirements, as well as guidance for construction, supplies, public health.
- The City of Oakland’s Flex Streets Initiative, in which the city is facilitating outdoor expansion of businesses and restaurants with waived fees, and streamlined permitting processes particularly for mobile food vendors
- The City of Seattle’s partnership with Coord to use data-driven strategies to identify restaurant pickup zones that lack curb space for pickup and delivery
- The City of Toronto’s CaféTO program, which helps restaurants navigate the process of installing outdoor dining, along with guidance for delivery and pickup services through CurbTO. The city’s expansion of its Digital Main Street initiative helps small businesses acquire digital capabilities to adapt to the pandemic.
- The City of Santa Monica’s COVID-19 Assurance Program, a free, online training program for businesses regarding COVID-19 safety and health requirements with certification
- The Neighborhoods Now program in New York City, that will facilitate partnerships between local architecture firms with community groups from the Association for Neighborhood and Housing Development
- DineOutNYC, a outdoor dining design prototype by the Rockwell Group in New York City, as well as a toolkit that outlines ways to adapt to multiple street and restaurant conditions
- Assembly for Chinatown, an outdoor dining design toolkit written in English and Chinese aimed at helping businesses reopen with design recommendations and assembly guidance starting with restaurants in New York City’s Chinatown
Recommendations
Each community will need its own solutions but based on best practices and what has been working, we recommend the following short-term actions to open for business:
- Adapt city processes to make it easier for small businesses to operate. Consider removing permit processes and using inspections for compliance or eliminating permitting fees and onerous street closure requirements. Provide clear and accessible guidance to small businesses regarding public health and safety requirements. Promote repurposing of curbside parking and street space as delivery and drop-off zones;
- Facilitate partnerships between small businesses in need and design organizations such as the American Institute of Architects, Better Block, as well as local universities and community-based organizations (CBOs) to help execute parklets and other placemaking strategies;
- Engage your most adversely impacted communities in their spaces, and go beyond just digital engagement to reach them. Strategies can include public on-street charrettes, signage and mailings, and phone concierge service for small businesses. Support community-based networks and community champions that can help reach Black, LatinX, Asian, elderly, disabled, and other at-risk stakeholders;
- Engage artists, schools and community members in your neighborhoods in the activation of vacant spaces and streetscapes, and explore ways to create mini-granting programs to support their work;
- Anticipate seasonal changes (winter will be here soon enough!) and focus on near-term term strategic planning and co-creation of solutions for public space and streets post-COVID that address the needs of the most at-risk communities, as it may take time for Main Streets to recover;
- Frame overall strategic and design work through the lens of vibrancy, safety, health, resilience, sustainability, connectedness and joy.
To hear more strategies and best practices, please join us for an upcoming webinar on Open for Business, Thursday, August 27.
