The coronavirus epidemic will lead to “a global recession of a magnitude that has not been experienced before” but will eventually allow humanity to reset its values, according to trend forecaster Li Edelkoort.
Edelkoort told Dezeen that the virus was causing a “quarantine of consumption” and would have a profound cultural and economic impact.
People would have to get used to living with fewer possessions and travelling less, she said, as the virus disrupts global supply chains and transportation networks.
“A quarantine of consumption”
“It seems we are massively entering a quarantine of consumption where we will learn how to be happy just with a simple dress, rediscovering old favourites we own, reading a forgotten book and cooking up a storm to make life beautiful,” she said.
However, the virus was also showing how economic disruption could have environmental benefits, she argued.
“The recent pictures of the air above China showed how two months without production cleared the skies and allowed people to breathe again,” she said, referring to the fact that carbon emissions and pollution from Chinese industry have declined since the virus first hit the country.
“This means that the virus will show how slowing and shutting down can produce a better environment which will surely be visible on a large scale.”
“I am hopeful for a better system”
“And this is where I am hopeful for: another and better system to be put in place with more respect for human labour and conditions.”
Edelkoort, who runs New York City forecasting agency Edelkoort Inc, wrote to Dezeen via email from South Africa, where she is in “self-imposed auto-quarantine” following her lecture at the Design Indaba conference in Cape Town last month.
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