In 1793, a Yellow Fever outbreak in Philadelphia led to the creation of the city’s first garbage collection service. In 1853, the New York City Board of Health authorized the creation of a reservoir system, and New York’s Central Park, in response to a cholera epidemic. And here in Wisconsin, a 1909 typhoid surge led to the creation of the Milwaukee Sewerage Commission. Pandemics have often led to dramatic, long-lasting changes in urban life — often for the better. Will the current coronavirus pandemic lead to similar permanent innovations? Catherine Brinkley teaches Regional and Community Development at the University of California Davis, and she joins us now by phone.
