Weak Signals from Wuhan and Shanghai

Around the world, societies are opening back up after months of lockdown. Some countries are doing this officially; others more gradually and unofficially, as people grow tired of staying indoors, summer weather sets in, and activists in the US especially take to the streets to protest racial injustice. Slowly we’re beginning to glimpse answers to the question: What will a post-COVID future look like?

In early May, ReD researchers conducted rapid ethnography throughout public parks and squares across Copenhagen. In late May, we looked to China — Wuhan and Shanghai, specifically — where our local research partners studied newly bustling public spaces and conducted video interviews with people from a range of age groups and backgrounds.

Here are some of the weak signals revealed by that research in China — emerging post-COVID behaviors and values that may indicate longer-term or more mainstream shifts to come.