Starting now: 'COVID, Inequalities, and the Future of Cities' with @shaunabrail @ValentineQuinio @ndrlee @michaelstorper @iammaxnathan. Tag #III with any questions or comments. #LSECovid @LSEGeography

Some have said that the pandemic will lead to the death of the mega cities. We're joined by four of the leading experts on this topic. #III #LSECovid

Kicking off with @shaunabrail an Associate Professor at the Institute for Management & Innovation, University of Toronto Mississauga: "one of the very first things we were told were the 3 C's... as an urbanist my first reaction was - what about the 4th C: Cities?"

Our first focus was on the elderly, there was very little discussion about race or income. We now know that the impacts of the pandemic are highly racialised and connected to income. @shaunabrail #III

"We see terrific unevenness in economic impact" Tech firm values have skyrocketed in the pandemic. Meanwhile small businesses have seen a dive in sales, we haven't yet seen the full impact. @shaunabrail

The media has been concerned with the end of urban density, rents falling, social life diminishing, fleeing to the suburbs and the death of urban life. @shaunabrail says the cities can survive the pandemic. There will be scarring but we also know cities are the site of innovation

Now we turn to @iammaxnathan. The pandemic has hit poorer cities and poorer people hard. Those in less wealthy cities are more exposed at work and at home and may have worse health overall. What now with the effective vaccines? #III #LSECovid

The great forced experiment: working from home. Only a minority of jobs can be done from home (44% in the UK). Pre-lockdown only 6% of UK workforce had ever worked from home. But what about start ups, generation of new ideas and drivers of productivity? @iammaxnathan #III

This is not the last global pandemic we will face, post-COVID framing isn't necessarily helpful. The end of cities seems less likely - for now. "We will not be going back to normal, we are speeding up on a pathway we were already on." @iammaxnathan

We are now hearing from @ValentineQuinio. The focus will be on city centres and footfall data. Despite being a small area they concentrate most jobs in the country. Although all UK cities have experienced a drop in footfall, London fell much more than smaller cities. #III

Cities have a very different share of their population that can work from home. London, Oxford and Cambridge have over 40% of workers WFH compared to under 20% in places like Barnsley and Plymouth. @ValentineQuinio

In the short term it appears inter urban inequalities have reduced because of the narrowing of the gap between London and the rest of the UK. London now represents 20% of all benefit claimants. The question for London is how long will it take workers to return. @ValentineQuinio

'Cities in a post-covid world' with @michaelstorper. This is not the first pandemic or the first technology shock. None of these have ever killed cities. However, the shock of this pandemic might be different - we should not write it off.

"Our guess is that for the knowledge base economy it will not be the end of going to the office but there will be a new hybrid set of work patterns combined with minor household choice adjustments" possibly moving away from a 5 day week? @michaelstorper

We know that the city has suffered a wave of commercial and residential gentrification. There will be changes in the demands for commercial and office space. "There was already an ongoing retail apocalypse" @michaelstorper

There's a growing market for second homes a couple of hours away from big urban centres, but only those already established in their sectors or who do not need to work can afford this, for most it is not a reality or possibility - says @shaunabrail

On the topic of urban planning it's about making cities more livable with more space for pedestrians, green space and better air quality @ValentineQuinio

This crisis distracts us from the core problem of climate change. Air quality improved very briefly in the lockdown but has returned to pre-lockdown levels. @ValentineQuinio