SANTIAGO ESTELLANO

City Cuts is a series about us and the concept of post-pandemic cities. The urban space once sought after for personal and professional development has turned against us. The oppression generated by the outside world is enormous. It's a feeling shared by most of us who live in big cities: sharing a public space that should be for leisure and enjoyment has become a forbidden space, and social distancing makes it difficult to share it with others. We have developed new structures of thought and actions to interact with each other. On October 12, 2020, during an interview, Dr. David Navarro (Director-General of the WHO) said: “We really appeal to all world leaders: stop using lockdown as your primary method of control.” These established systems, generated by us, required self-control of our behavior and created different kinds of phobias and even OCD that we had never experienced before. We are learning to live with physical distance and, even more so, emotional distance: detachment! Those of us who come from small towns, or those of us who now envision our dreams in big cities, had to realize that these are the riskiest places to live. The small rectangle we had to sleep, eat breakfast, and shower before venturing out into the world became a refuge for survival. That isolation had unsettled us all. Now our social circles have shrunk to gated communities, and taking public transportation is a health risk. Few reliable spaces for movement and many closed public spaces—what a profound irony! The only window that allows us to see and connect with the outside world is our monitors.