Brandon Donnelly — Daily insights for city builders. Published since 2013 by Toronto-based real estate developer Brandon Donnelly. — Page 704

Seeing people out at bars and at amusements parks in this WSJ video about Wuhan, China is a little odd given that in this part of the world we are decisively in our second wave . But that is what is happening. In fact, the title of the video is, "Wuhan, Former Pandemic Center, Emerges as Tourist Hot Spot."

Over a recent public holiday, the city saw nearly 19 million tourists -- the most of any Chinese city. And while tourist revenues are still thought to be down by some 30%, Chinese people are seemingly feeling confident enough to get back out and do things.

Based on what the WSJ is reporting, this seems to be supported by a few things. International travel isn't happening, so it's becoming a boon for local tourism, which is not that dissimilar from what's happening in other countries. (Domestic air travel is rebounding faster than international travel when you look at flight volumes across major airlines .)

At the same time, Wuhan implemented what sounds like some pretty extensive testing, which is in turn supported by a national healthcare platform that presumably makes contact tracing easier. These things seem to have given people the confidence to go out again. And I don't doubt that the same will eventually happen in the rest of the world.

This ArchDaily interview with Gary Chang about nano-scaled architecture is worth a read. Gary Chang is founder of the Hong Kong-based Edge Design Institute and is a pioneer in the world of compact living and small-scale architecture.

In fact, many of you have probably seen where he lives. His place has been widely publicized over the years. Dubbed the Domestic Transformer , Gary has been living in the same 32 square meter apartment in Hong Kong for over 40 years and has been using it as a kind of laboratory for his design work.

Depending on where you live, 344 square feet may not seem like a lot. But this is Hong Kong. And in Hong Kong even this is apparently on the large side for some locals. In his ArchDaily interview, Gary talks about the rise of "nano-homes" in Hong Kong -- everything you need, including a wine fridge, in only 16-18 square meters.

Of course, to do this, you kind of have to reconsider how you think about space. Gary refers to it along the lines of time-based space planning. Instead of just focusing on raw space, he focuses on activities and functionality over time.

" Over the years, I have been more focused into the notion of time rather than the physical space itself, and in this latest model M-2007 (calling it the Domestic Transformer, the year the first episode of the movie of Transformer was launched), I simply explore a time-based system of living in this apartment; instead of me moving from one room to another in the traditional sense, the apartment transforms for me for different functions. I basically utilize the entire home all the time, a great departure from the conventional definition of a home such as the system in Japan in nLDK (n denotes the number of bedrooms, L for Living Room, D for Dining Room and K for Kitchen). "

For the full interview, click here .

A team of researchers at UCL recently surveyed 2,500 households across the UK to see how the design of their homes and neighborhoods has impacted their experience during lockdown (May to June 2020).

Perhaps most notably, the report, called Home Comforts , found that people living in housing built in the last 10 years were more likely to feel uncomfortable during lockdown (1 in 5), compared to those living in homes built before 1919 (1 in 7).

On top of this, people living in Victorian era housing were more likely to say that their neighborhoods were meeting their everyday needs, which seems to translate into convenient access to basic amenities (5 to 10 minute walk).

So what does this tell us?

That people want more ornament and clearly defined Zoom-friendly rooms? That the Victorians were better at city and community building? Or maybe that Londoners living in low-rise pre-1919 housing are generally well-established and have the ability to afford more conveniences? It's likely a bunch of different things.

There's no denying that the way we build our homes and our neighborhoods has, for better or for worse, changed over the last 100 years. But let's not forget that it's easy to romanticize the past and the things we used to do. I'm sure it wasn't puppy dogs and ice cream for all of the Victorians.