In Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro, for instance, one of the first urban mobility measures adopted by the municipalities during quarantine was to reduce the public transport fleet and capacity. Leadership and policy decisions may also aggravate cities’ inequalities, reinforced by their systems. Comparing the best index with the worse the inequality is 247 times. It evidences how concentrated it is in the central area. Image 1: Map of formal job access by active economic population in São Paulo’s districts. Besides that, the population from peripheries are also the majority of essential workers, which have no other choice but to make long distance trips every day, not only to access services and their jobs, but also to keep cities functioning during quarantine. This territorial organization common to Latin American cities, in summary, means central and high income neighbourhoods concentrate facilities and institutions (hospitals, pharmacies, supermarkets), which are scarce in peripheral and low income neighbourhoods - aggravating social inequalities. While in some European cities this was evidenced mainly by the lack of spaces and the unbalanced street distribution for active transport, in major Latin American cities this was connected to unfair territorial distribution, which precludes walking distance to access basic needs. Hence, it is noticeable that the context of the pandemic highlighted the unwalkable situation in cities around the world, from different development models and stages. Therefore, avoiding trains, tubes and bus trips became imperative in cities. On the other hand, public transport - the backbone of mobility systems in almost all major cities and usually perceived as a sustainable option - was considered unsafe and not recommended by health specialists, since it promotes gathering and crowding in a closed space for a long time. The organization advocated for active modes as the best option to keep a safe distance between people, stay healthy and avoid other negative externalities - such as air pollution. In this matter, WHO recommended people and municipalities to take action in creating better conditions to stimulate most of commuting to be done by active modes: walking and cycling. This new context put to test cities’ capability to be resilient and to provide safer and better access and movement conditions for urban residents. Under these circumstances, one of the central urban issues becomes even more evident and demands to be faced urgently: people’s access to basic needs such as products, services, work and healthcare.
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