This Thursday is the launch of a brand new city event called the WRLDCTY Virtual Festival (vowels, clearly, suck). Presented by Vancouver-based Resonance Consultancy, the "host cities" are New York, London, Hong Kong, Los Angeles, and Toronto.

The idea is to bring together thought leaders and city lovers from all around the world on a virtual platform for three days. The speakers include people like Richard Florida, Bjarke Ingels, and Dan Doctoroff.

The other thing they're doing is offering up over 20 virtual urban experiences. Think yoga on Santa Monica Pier, burlesque in Brooklyn, and graffiti art tours in Toronto. It's clearly no substitute for actual travel, but this is the best we've got right now and we're all trying to adapt.

A general admission ticket is free, but some of the headline events require a pro pass and if you'd like to do some virtual networking and chat with other guests in the "Community Center," you'll also need that same pass. Here's the full agenda.

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Tech:NYC has just launched a new podcast called Talk:NYC. The first episode is with venture capitalist and blogger Fred Wilson. (Though, it should be noted that Fred and his wife, Joanne, are also involved in the real estate development space.) In this episode, Julie Samuels and Fred Wilson talk about why he came to New York, how to manage through a downturn, where working spaces are going, and why the magic of New York is still there -- among a bunch of other things. Click here if you can't see the embedded podcast below.

New York City just made its "Open Restaurants" program permanent. Originally set to expire at the end of the October, the al fresco dining program -- which allows restaurants to use sidewalks and curb lanes adjacent to their business -- is now being thought of as something that will permanently reshape public space in the city.

Along with this announcement, the City also provided clarity on how heating and enclosures may be used throughout the winter months. Electrical heaters can be used anywhere. But propane heaters can only be used on sidewalks and you'll need to get a permit from the fire department. Prior to this announcement, there was an outright ban on propane heaters.

Tents and other enclosures are now permitted, but at least 50% of the side walls needs to remain open for ventilation. Otherwise it gets classified as indoor dining and those rules would then apply. However, fully enclosed structures, such as cool looking Instagrammable domes, are allowed for individual parties provided there's "adequate ventilation." Whatever that means.

This is yet another example of how COVID-19 is forcing us to reconsider the way we think about and use public space within our cities -- perhaps forever. And in this particular case, it'll be interesting to see to what extent cities embrace dining outside in the winter. Some of us already do it when we, for example, après ski. Could the same thing work in our cities?

Photo by Aleks Marinkovic on Unsplash