COVID-19 and City Space: Impact and Perspectives

Olivera Lekić Glavan,Branislav Folić,Aleksandra Mitrović,Nenad Nikolić,Biljana Vitošević,Saja Kosanović

doi:10.3390/su14031885

Olivera Lekić Glavan, Branislav Folić + Show 4 more

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https://doi.org/10.3390/su14031885

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Journal: Sustainability	Publication Date: Feb 7, 2022
Citations: 17	License type: CC BY 4.0

Affiliation: University of Priština - Kosovska Mitrovica

Abstract

The pandemic of the COVID-19 disease has radically changed human lifestyle and the usage of living space, especially in cities. With the prolongation of the crisis, the effects of COVID-19 on urban spaces are becoming more noticeable, but the definite changes that can inform approaches to future development, planning, and use of urban space have not yet been determined, as evidenced by the research carried out in this study. The research revealed that there exists the consensus in terms of several new guidelines whose application in design can simultaneously increase the resilience of urban environment to future pandemics and improve the overall quality of city life. These presented guidelines show that we may expect in the future a greater integration of nature-based solutions at various scales of the city, i.e., better ventilated, and naturally lit, more spacious, mixed-use, and flexible buildings surrounded by enlarged, multiplied, and multifunctional open spaces that safely receive the users who are carrying out those activities that were moved from the inner to the outer space.

Highlights

Mankind has been facing epidemics of various infectious diseases for centuries [1,2,3].the data on impact of these crises on settlement areas are scarce [4,5,6]
The objectives of the study are to register the pandemic’s main impacts on a city through analysis of worldwide space-related measures for disease control, to examine published works and consider authors’ views on spatial consequences of COVID-19 and their permanence, and to acknowledge and describe the newly emerged guidelines for spatial design that will likely be applied in post-COVID-19 cities
This review deals with the emergence and evolution of changes in the city space caused by the COVID-19 pandemic

Summary

Introduction

Mankind has been facing epidemics of various infectious diseases for centuries [1,2,3]. The data on impact of these crises on settlement areas are scarce [4,5,6]. To the critical impacts on human life in all parts of the planet, the outbreak of the COVID-19 contagious disease at the beginning of 2020 created an opportunity to review urban vulnerability and resilience [7], and to define and apply reinforcement measures [3], globally, regionally, and locally. The pandemic represented a surprise, and the mode of transmission and the nature of the virus were initially insufficiently known, the first measures to combat contagion in human settlements, especially in cities, referred to restrictions in the use of space.

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