Distributing, desynchronising, digitalising: towards a new mobile urbanity in the COVID-19 era

This chapter analyses how the disruption of everyday mobilities induced by the COVID-19 pandemic is testing cities’ preparedness for present and future challenges. Based on the experience of two Italian cities—Milan and Bologna—three main conditions are envisaged for the refunctioning of urban systems: distributing, questioning urban density following the concept of accessibility by proximity; desynchronising, based on the reorganisation of urban rhythms; digitalising, allowing the rearticulation of centralised compact cities into systems of smart districts. These conditions are analysed by evaluating their impacts and role in consolidating a culture of preparedness for future challenges facing urban mobility systems.