From globalization to slowbalization

“Slowbalization” is a word that might well have been coined during the Covis-19 pandemic, a crisis which has given rise to new ways of utilizing infrastructures. This is forcing us to view them as disconnected from globalization whereas until now infrastructures were structural drivers toward globalization. Case in point: the term “aerotropolis,” which refers to vast urban areas that spring up quickly and take shape irregularly near airports to facilitate global connectivity. Two such examples are Incheon Airport (Seoul) and O’Hare (Chicago).

Global cities have been hardest hit by Covid-19. The emblematic images of New York, Milan and Wuhan speak louder than words (but the same can be said for London and Paris). Iconic places like Times Square, the London Eye, the Wuhan Center, and Piazza Duomo – the nerve centers of globalization before the lockdown - now seem to symbolize the transition from globalization to slowbalization.

In this scenario, two elements need to be considered, one more general and theoretical, the other more empirical (and still evolving).

First of all, the world’s cities with the best connectivity (that is, Global Network Connectivity - GNC ) are the places that are most at risk for the spread of Covid-19, even though we are in the midst of an asymmetrical proliferation of the pandemic. Hot spots have erupted in some geographical regions more than others, where various complex variables also come into play (form of government, organizational culture, transparency and accuracy in communicating data, and so forth). But undoubtedly the factor of synthesis may be the principle that Covid-19 primarily impacts big cities due to the high population density and greater number of interpersonal contacts. Be that as it may, the strongest driver of slowbalization is connectivity.

Indeed, in the absence of a vaccine, the lockdown chiefly affects a significant part of the connection function of global cities. Meeting places, research and processing centers, offices and airports - all are totally or partially closed, or have destroyed altogether, or now require new forms of communication and interconnection. Most technology in many cases was not developed for these circumstances or this function.

Second, the more empirical consideration comes from preliminary data that give us a snapshot of April 2020, a picture which will most certainly evolve. What we can see is that, despite different periods of time in which the pandemic struck different areas, overall the situation has become most critical in the most representative, advanced global cities in the Western world. For example, London, Madrid and Paris are home to respectively 15.9%, 14.1% and 18 % of the population of their countries, and yet they accounted for 25.1%, 27.2% and 21.2% of total test-positive cases in those nations. The same is true for New York (2.5% of the American population but 17.7% of total number of infected); Chicago (1.6% and 3.1%); Milan (5.4% and 8.8%); and worst of all Lombardy (16.7% and 37.2%). This is not a linear relationship. It’s true that more people equals more positive cases of Covid-19; but contagion spreads faster in global cities, which is another factor impelling authorities to extend lockdowns, which in turn contributes to slowbalization.

With Covid-19, something in globalization has broken down. Urban infrastructures have unexpectedly imploded, upending the very concept of globalization that characterized their form and evolution until today. In other stages of globalization, cities underwent rapid transformations, and infrastructures have changed too in terms of form and organization, taking on new importance in modelling global cities. These infrastructures, in particular thanks to innovative formulas for public-private partnerships (PPPs), brought together finance and real estate, swiftly replacing old, obsolete urban functions and turning them into global competitive advantage.

The interlocking elements in this transformation seemed weak at first, many even appeared to be obstructions, but then the path forward became more clear, albeit with evident and relevant contradictions and significant economic – and more importantly social – exclusions.

Now urban infrastructures must swiftly take on a new identity because for the time being basic spatial elements are lacking: organizing work, organizing family, and creating inter-intra organizational connections. Urban infrastructures in particular have been completely reconceived, as have all collective spaces and gathering places. The cause of all this is a variable we had never even considered, something we thought was mundane: an imperceptible virus only 80 to 160 nanometers in size.

The infrastructures in crisis mode are the ones that base their specificity and effectiveness (profitability) on massification (social agglomeration). This means certain types of transportation (for instance different means of mass transit; airplanes and airports ) or prominent universities located in principal global cities. Yet the same can be said for schools and other public services. Instead the opposite is occurring with hospitals, which is not a good sign but rather an indicator of a pandemic that is not being properly controlled or managed.

Infrastructures that seem most subject to an economic and identity crisis are those that require a large number of people interacting physically in order to work. But in this period of time, physical-social contact has become highly critical. At the other end of the spectrum, infrastructures that were once utilized to transmit data and information flows (5G) would appear to be extensively upgraded.

Ubiquitous infrastructures are proliferating out of all proportion, unlike physical infrastructures, traditional, social (directly publicly funded) and in some cases economic (fee-based). It is in ubiquitous infrastructures that we find the development of technology and ICT, and the evolution of 5G and software apps. An example is the Immuni App (also an ubiquitous infrastructure) which is extremely important for monitoring contacts and flow of people. This app can also flag positive cases and run contact tracing with individuals and groups. Global connectivity broken down, reduced to a group dynamic that is stationary. Beyond the virus, it is technology that orders, prioritizes and selects – for a limited time only, one would hope – but which also drives the transition from globalization to slowbalization.

Public and collective spaces, along with infrastructures, made private spaces (homes) secondary in 2019. And if it were possible to liquefy private buildings, what would remain is a quantity of cables, tubes, pipes infrastructural systems, and connective fluids and electrical impulses. With slowbalization in private homes, beyond the consumer function, computer terminals are becoming production systems in exponential numbers, offering different forms of infrastructure. The advertisement for Chinese 5G technology that can make houses and apartments “smart” rings prophetic , even if interpreted in hindsight, “Hey London, 5G is in the house, here to raise the roof” - a spot that inundated the city in late 2019, before the outbreak of Covid-19.

Beyond a doubt, the perimeter of both the State and the market now needs to be redrawn to include urban infrastructures. In addition, the hierarchy and types of physical urban infrastructures must be revisited. It will also be necessary to rethink the new interconnections between economic and social infrastructures, and between these and ubiquitous infrastructures. This will pose a problem for those tasked with controlling and funding this restructuring process while keeping a watchful eye out for the disquieting possibility of default.

With slowbalization, there is a general revision of geopolitics, markets and more broadly the relationship with the State. The DNA of families – i.e. the social, economic, productive, and reproductive universe – will be modified. Lastly, the perimeter and the boundaries of the company must be reinterpreted. Are we at the beginning, or only at the end of the beginning? It’s too early to know for certain. But the post-Covid world will not be the same.