Abstract
The COVID-19 pandemic has had a deep impact on the way we perceive our world. This study explores its effect on Urban Green Space (UGS) perception in Buenos Aires City (CABA), Argentina. We provide a detailed overview of the distribution of UGS in CABA, along with socio-economic analysis and visitors' profile and perception before and during the restrictive measures adopted by the national authorities to contain the COVID-19 outbreak (July to December of 2020). We conducted a series of surveys based on open and closed questions. Before the pandemic, surveys were carried out in situ in eight parks of six districts, randomly chosen. During the confinement, online surveys were conducted. According to our results, the mean UGS density in CABA is 6.09 m2 /person, but marked differences between districts exist, ranging from 0.02 m2 /person to 17.68 m2 /person. This uneven distribution causes differences in the quality of life of CABA inhabitants, perhaps more pronounced during reduced-mobility situations like COVID-19 confinement. Socio economic analysis were done linking multidimensional poverty, COVID-19 positive cases and urban mobility in CABA. Regarding UGS visitors, before the confinement, the majority of respondents were employees or students; during the confinement, employees and retirees predominated. When asked to choose important attributes to describe their perception about the UGS from a given list, respondents selected “calm,” “green,” and “sounds of nature,” without differences before and during the confinement. However, when asked about the UGS role, the main answer was “a place to be with nature” before the confinement and “an important place in the city” during it. Understanding how society perceives the UGS, especially during crises, is essential to rethink the urban landscape and prepare our cities, towards biophilic cities and for a more sustainable future.
Highlights
Urban green spaces (UGSs) offer visual and aesthetic recreation necessary to provide physical and mental health to big cities’ dwellers (Groenewegen et al 2006)
This study resumes that research, adding more parks, deepening on the demographic analysis and revealing the revalorization that UGSs experienced during the COVID-19 pandemic
We did not find a positive correlation between multidimensional poverty index was used (MDP) and UGS per person in the evaluated districts (PCA; R2 = 0.018 y L = 0.16 for p < 0.01), but in southern and central districts the heterogeneous distribution of the UGSs causes large areas in which they are further than a ten minutes walking distance and considered unavailable (Figs. 1 and 3) (Vazquez Brust and Rodriguez 2020)
Summary
Urban green spaces (UGSs) offer visual and aesthetic recreation necessary to provide physical and mental health to big cities’ dwellers (Groenewegen et al 2006). Urban Ecosystems systems, incorporates natural figures and images to buildings and urban landscape, provides close and daily contact with nature, and seeks to foster awareness of environmental problems and promote the care for the environment As a result, these cities are sustainable and resilient (Beatley and Newman 2013). As in the rest of the country, an official resolution known as “Preventive and mandatory social isolation” (in Spanish, Aislamiento social preventivo y obligatorio, ASPO), that basically implied home confinement, was established by Argentine authorities on March 19, 2020 (DNU 297/2020 and modifying clauses 2020) Those considered essential workers (e.g., health, security, food supply workers) or involved in human care tasks (for children, senior citizens, and persons with COVID-19 risk factors) were allowed to leave their houses. This study resumes that research, adding more parks, deepening on the demographic analysis and revealing the revalorization that UGSs experienced during the COVID-19 pandemic
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