In the midst the COVID-19 pandemic and resultant stay-at-home orders, many in the civic sector are turning to technology for help. This help ranges from moving public services online to drones, robots, and kiosks informing and serving the public.

As part of HMC’s ongoing research effort to better understand the longterm effects of COVID-19 and develop solutions for civic spaces, we spoke with various representatives from different public agencies including police, fire, sheriff, city and country administrators, and consultants from public safety and engineering companies to gain insight and understanding of COVID-19’s impact on future facility operation and design.

HMC is committed to sharing our findings with the industry in a series of white papers that focus on five main areas of Technology, Adaptability and Flexibility, Regulatory/Budgetary/Institutional Impacts, Space Needs Restructuring, and Impact to Wellness/Mental Health. In this paper, we cover our findings on technology’s role in making civic spaces pandemic ready.