Abstract
The COVID-19 pandemic has proven to be a social and economic disruptor on a global scale, severely curtailing people’s ability to travel and engage in many recreation activities. Periodic lockdown and stay-at-home orders have exacerbated the situation. In this social climate, urban green spaces have attained a high significance for the maintenance of the physical and mental health of the population. Given the presence of similar coronaviruses in animal populations, it can be predicted that future epidemics and even pandemics will occur. Urban planning needs to incorporate the lessons learnt during COVID-19 in order to future-proof our communities. This paper reviews the role that urban green spaces played during the COVID-19 pandemic. Based on these observations, the paper discusses a range of options for the provision of pandemic-sensitive spaces for physical exercise and mental recreation. Design concepts for long-term planning adjustments as well as for future ad-hoc solutions are provided. These include the provision of social distancing ‘pods’ embedded in design and landscaping of permanent parks, the design of ad-hoc, socially distanced ‘parklets’ on a quietened street and a rethink of the design of curb-to-boundary setbacks (nature strip) in residential streets.
Highlights
To suppress or at least slow down the rate of COVID-19 infections and to ensure that their public health system was not overwhelmed by cases requiring hospitalization, governments at all levels have engaged in public health measures that run the gamut from social distancing rules to stay-at-home orders
This paper considers how the events that unfolded during the COVID-19 pandemic inform the design considerations for the future of urban green spaces
Both the social distancing rules imposed by public health departments and COVID-19 induced revisions of personal preferences of inter–personal spaces have an impact on use of public spaces, in particular perceptions of ‘crowding’ and the perceived associated transmission risks [54,97,98,99]
Summary
During the first quarter of 2020, COVID-19 rapidly emerged as a truly global pandemic, affecting all but a handful of countries [1]. To suppress or at least slow down the rate of COVID-19 infections and to ensure that their public health system was not overwhelmed by cases requiring hospitalization, governments at all levels have engaged in public health measures that run the gamut from social distancing rules to stay-at-home orders. Zoonotic coronaviruses similar to SARS-CoV-2 have been detected in various host species [5] and some of these are almost certain to emerge as a future threat to humans [6]. This paper considers how the events that unfolded during the COVID-19 pandemic inform the design considerations for the future of urban green spaces. While the paper makes specific reference to the situation in Australia, it has applicability on a wider scale
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