Abstract
The coronavirus pandemic entailed varying restrictions on access, movement and social behavior in populations around the world. Knowledge about how people coped with “soft-touch” restrictions can inform urban spatial planning strategies that enhance resilience against future pandemics. We analyzed data from an online place-based survey on 2845 places across Sweden that respondents abstained from visiting, visited with similar frequency, or visited more frequently in spring 2020 as compared to before the pandemic. In spatial logistic regression models, we relate geographical and sociodemographic properties of places (fields, forests, water, residential population density and daytime population density) to self-perceived changes in wellbeing from visiting the given place less or more often, respectively. Abstaining from visiting places with natural features located in areas of high residential density was associated with a self-perceived negative influence on wellbeing. Yet, fields, forests and water were strongly associated with places people claimed wellbeing benefits from during pandemic restrictions. The further a visited place was from the respondent’s home, the more likely it was to have a positive wellbeing influence. As an illustrative case, we map our models onto the landscape of Stockholm, showing that some neighborhoods are likely more resilient than others when coping with pandemic restrictions. Both the most and least resilient neighborhoods span the socio-economic spectrum. Urban planning will do well to enable equitable, easy access to natural settings by foot or bike, to increase pandemic preparedness as well as support climate change mitigation and biodiversity protection.
Highlights
Urban residents’ wellbeing is linked to experiencing different places in everyday life (Heller et al, 2020)
Our analysis corroborates previously reported associations with pandemic restrictions: that they diminish wellbeing among some groups more than others (Okruszek et al, 2020), that negative impacts can be mitigated by spending time outdoors (Stieger et al, 2020), and that urban dwellers turn more to natural settings if possible (Venter et al, 2020)
With continued globalization and urbanization, spatial planning must help prepare for future pandemics
Summary
Urban residents’ wellbeing is linked to experiencing different places in everyday life (Heller et al, 2020). With the ensuing concentration of activities in their homes that people previously undertook elsewhere, like schooling or paid work, possibilities to periodically escape household confinement without risking infection have appeared especially important for maintaining wellbeing (Stieger, Lewetz, & Swami, 2020). We address these possi bilities as place-based strategies for managing the demands of life and their psychological consequences, commonly referred to as coping The experience with the COVID-19 pandemic calls attention to the ways in which urban resilience necessitates access to places that support people’s efforts to cope, but without imposing dangerously increased risk of infection. Access to natural settings in particular has emerged as a likely component of this pandemic resilience (Venter et al, 2020)
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