Reshaping Public Spaces Under Impacts of Covid-19

(COVID-19) crisis has forced the entire world to face one of its most difficult challenges. In contemporary history, as it caused the injury of millions and the death of hundreds of people. Covid-19 cannot be described as a health crisis only, as it is a large-scale humanitarian crisis that leads to misery and the suffering of all mankind and push its social and economic well-being to the brink of collapse. Therefore, various issues have constantly been strived to shed light by the scientific community. Perhaps, as the number of infected people and death because of Corona virus have been raised, reshaping cities components and urban structure have been crucial need. This study aims to review impacts of epidemic on reshaping public spaces in both past and present time. Furthermore, propose new recommendations and strategies to generate healthy public spaces. The study result shows that each of governance and management, environmental quality, transportation and urban design and socioeconomic effects are the main impacts of COVID-19 that obligated planners and designers to rethink about the city components. Finally, COVID_19 crisis necessitates policy makers to take transformative actions to create public spaces in cities that are more sustainable and resilient. © 2022, The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG.

Adapting Outdoor Space for Post COVID-19

Great disasters such as earthquakes, epidemics, environmental calamities have been known to trigger transformations of the built infrastructure, environment and give rise to unpredicted or unexpected conditions of social, cultural, and economic development. The fragility of settlement systems, when faced with unexpected threats, indicates the need for re-planning and changing our perspective on the city. This paper examines the effect of COVID-19 and its related social and infrastructure changes on cities and metropolitan regions. It looks at the literature on how pandemics have affected the built environment in the past and postulates how the current pandemic might affect the structure and morphology of cities examining evidence from the imposed lockdowns. An in-depth look at the transformation of the city of Melbourne (Australia) is explored and initiatives in other cities are highlighted. Moreover, 15-min cities can cut carbon emissions and bring communities closer together. © 2022, The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG.