Vulnerability Assessment of Old Residential Areas Under the Impacts of COVID-19: A Case Study in Yinhang Area, Yangpu District, Shanghai

Abstract

Residential areas have played a vital role in organisation, coordination, management and service in the fight against COVID-19, but they are also high-incidence areas of the epidemic. In particular, the old residential areas, as a major urban weakness during the epidemic in Shanghai, have also become the focus of scholars in many fields in recent two years. The solution to making up for the shortcomings of old residential areas has become one of the urban development issues that should be put on the agenda in the post-epidemic era. This article aims to provide ideas for the subsequent renovation of old residential areas through the analysis. It first verifies the vulnerability of old residential areas in Yinhang Area, Yangpu District, Shanghai under the impact of COVID-19 through correlation analysis and then explores its contributing factors by semi-structured interviews. The factors can fall into four categories: physical environment, population composition, residential management, and social capital.