Will the Covid-19 Pandemic Transform Our Urban Habitat? A Microalgae Photobioreactors Labyrinth-Garden as an answer for the Post-Covid Sustainable City

Abstract

The epidemics of the first half of the 19th century made sanitation an essential point in the urban life. It laid the way for a city based on sunlight, ventilation and an urban planning of straight-lined, wide street and green areas. Until the beginning of 2020 we have lived in the belief that this urban model protected us. However, there were already many indications that the city was not capable of giving a satisfactory answer to the parameters of the 21st century, such as pollution, the heat island effect and the excessive consumption of energy and resources. Now, the coronavirus COVID-19, has put a stop to the city movement and with it, to the pollution it involves, revealing the level of contamination to which we were exposed. Therefore, it has become a priority to minimize energy consumption, energy dependence and pollution to improve the health and quality of life of its citizens. As answers to these demands, buildings with living organisms, such as microalgae, make the city a sustainable and Self-Sufficient environment. Giving an answer to the problem above, the design of the Park-Labyrinth proposes the installation of an intensive cultivation of microalgae that not only helps reduce CO2 emissions, transforming it into a product that generates interest, but also generates benefits to society in terms of recreation, energy production, reduction of polluting gases and use of space.