ABSTRACT
This article discusses the crucial role of blogs in reporting topical materials yet to be adequately discussed in scholarly journals. A scoping study examined 31 samples from 4 types of blogging sources cited in 10 publications published in 7 journals in 2020. We identified four categories of blogs that include 39 community organisations, academics, practitioners, and community members who are readers of these blogs. We discuss the areas in which these blogs have affected public discourse over COVID-19. We also show that the blogs are based on novel concepts that have not yet been subject to the peer review process.
ABSTRACT
PurposeOver the coming decades, the widespread application of social distancing creates challenges for the urban planning and design profession. This article aims to address the phenomenon of boredom in public places, its main influences that generate change in repetition, monotony and everyday lifestyle, whether positive, negative or both – depending on the binding and governing rules of urban shape variations and daily lifestyles.Design/methodology/approachThis viewpoint relied on literary narration to discuss the phenomenon of boredom vis-à-vis urban design and placemaking solutions in the face of social distancing. It builds its orientation by analyzing the works of nine scholars and five of their relevant theories.FindingsEvidence from previous studies helped develop three-pillar guidelines that can produce better results for post-pandemic development in the face of boredom. These pillars include recommendations for the trinity of heterogeneity for metamorphosis in urban form, changes in public life and digital transformation in a time of uncertainty on how to confront (un)seen boredom in public spaces. Practitioners should develop new insights into the relationship between people and place by reviewing existing paradigms in urban studies to avoid repetition, monotony and change in everyday life after a pandemic.Originality/valueThe added value here is in underlining boredom as one of the consequences of social distancing and lockdown applications building on the phenomenon's theorizers. The key contribution of this work is the three-pillar recommendation for confronting the boredom in public spaces that happens because of social distancing and lockdown.
ABSTRACT
Coronavirus (COVID-19) raises an essential debate about implementing the ideas and insights of smart technology in the fields of urban planning and design. This commentary sheds light on considerations and challenges in the area of knowledge in these fields as consequences of the recent pandemic. The concluded remarks cover issues with a specific focus on accelerating the digital transformation in education and a typo-morphological analysis that ends with revisiting the norms and standards of social distancing. Besides, this commentary recommends research directions to follow after the pandemic recedes, tackling the multidisciplinarity between fields of specialisation.