Impact of COVID-19 Pandemic on Home Range in a Suburban City in the Osaka Metropolitan Area

Atsushi Takizawa,Haruka Kato,Daisuke Matsushita

doi:10.3390/su13168974

Abstract

This study aims to clarify the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on home range. The home range is the area that individuals traverse in conducting their daily activities, such as working and shopping. In Japan, the central government declared the first state of emergency in April 2020. This study analyzed the panel data for mobile phone GPS location history from April 2019 to April 2020 in Ibaraki City, Osaka Metropolitan area. The study applied the minimum convex polygon method to analyze the data. The results show that the home range decreased significantly between April 2019 and April 2020. Specifically, the home range in 2020 decreased to approximately 50% of that in 2019 because of COVID-19 infection control measures, preventing people from traveling far from their homes and only allowing them to step outside for the bare minimum of daily activities and necessities. The results suggest that the emergency reduced people’s home ranges to the neighborhood scale. Therefore, it is necessary to consider designing new walkable neighborhood environments after the COVID-19 pandemic era.

Highlights

IntroductionA significant social problem in Japan is population decline, with a rapidly increasing number of older adults
This study aims to clarify the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on home ranges in
This study aims to clarify the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on home ranges suburban Ibaraki City, Osaka Metropolitan area

Summary

Introduction

A significant social problem in Japan is population decline, with a rapidly increasing number of older adults. The home range is an essential indicator in planning a “community-based integrated care system” to support the daily activities of older adults [2]. The home range is defined as the area that individuals traverse in conducting their daily activities, such as working and shopping [3]. The home range is one of the essential considerations for policymakers and urban planners in Japan. The government has introduced enhanced policies that allow citizens to conduct their daily activities on a neighborhood scale. In the field of urban planning, many local governments developed the “Location Optimization Plan” [4]

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Conclusion