1 km CITY

For a couple of months we were locked down in our houses and neighborhoods. No one could enter or exit from the restricted area. To be distant is not the same than to be enclosed. Physical distance involves the possibility of existing in open areas. When green areas, parks and forest are closed to the public and citizens are restricted to essential and emergency errands the sense of confinement intensifies. One would also explore this moment as an era of domesticity and excessive productivity. One where we had to use all our ingenuity in order to survive while we longed for our city life.

As we spent afternoons in the balconies and explored domesticity and productivity, we became calmer and even happier. We started wondering how the new normality will manifest in the city. Would urban life become greener, civil and kind?  Eventually more people started walking the streets and freedom of movement became such as delicious luxury, to be consumed with caution. The “1 kilometer, 1 hour, 1 adult, 1 time per day” law came into effect on May 17 when Madrid entered on phase 0, a plan to go back to a new normality was on place. Ideas on the "1 Km city" started to circulate as a choice for a more sustainable future; for us it was a survival strategy, as we went out of confinement and became part of a new city life while maintaining a 1 Km radius from home.