Risk society revisited: Challenging positions of COVID-19 on city and society

Abstract

This paper presents a critical evaluation on the global riskscape following the COVID-19 pandemic. The coronavirus disease spread around the globe questioning the priorities in public health policies as well as the economic adaptability to prevention measures. Spreading with social, political and economic costs on societies, the issue of pandemic exceeds the limits of being identified as a health problem, and becomes to be a catalyst of a new paradigm consid-ering the state of art of modernity and capitalist economic systems. Regarding the catastrophic impact on human life in all aspects, the virus-related problems lead individuals, nations and global society to evaluate the ways of ‘living with risks’. Departing from the threat posed by the COVID-19, this paper discusses the issues of society, city and planning by reading the past experiences, current situation and trends through the concept of ‘risk society’. It reflects on the historic dynamics of modernity, capitalism and public health priorities, and sheds light on the ‘new normal’ of the society at different scales for the post-pandemic world. Through the critical evaluation, this paper conceptualizes the new phase of risk society at individual, local, national and global scales; and portrays the dichotomies that each scale incorporates.