Sociopetality or sociofugality? The effects of post-pandemic on public open space

To reduce the virus spread during the COVID-19, "new norms” of daily life were adopted. With urban design strategies characterizing one such norm, public spaces experienced transformations. This study examines the post-pandemic public space Üç Fidan Park in Bursa, Turkey. The study performed a mixed-methods research, including 40 visits to observe behaviors in the selected public spaces in the park during the pandemic. To enforce social distancing, new spatial behavior typologies, i.e., using additional equipment or just the human body itself, were recorded.

What can first-year undergraduate students "envision" from a pandemic?

The COVID-19 pandemic has further compounded the inherent complexities of design pedagogy. At the same time, offering an online teaching method made it imperative to incorporate the pandemic's implications in the design process upon experiencing its adverse impacts. This study investigates landscape architecture students' design approaches and understandings in a real-world studio based on the before and after COVID-19 scenarios. The findings show that most students designed multi-functional public open spaces before the COVID-19 period while they envisioned post-pandemic uses after the COVID-19 period. The study results not only offer insights for online or distance learning for design students, but also prepare design-oriented solutions for the pandemic-related episodes.

Noise complaints, the COVID-19 pandemic, and compact developments: evidence from five American cities.

The COVID-19 continues to take its toll on human life. Even though to a less threatening extent, and insignificant to some, noise turns out to be one of its consequences without consensus. While individuals experience multiple restrictions and restrain from exuberant activities by spending most of their time at home, reducing public transportation and personal vehicles, overall, they end up reduce anthropogenic noise pressure. On another level, people continue reporting noise concerns at various degrees during the COVID-19 pandemic. To draw a bigger picture as to whether or not these complaints have increased during the COVID-19 compared to the same period last year, this research examines them in five major American cities: New York, Chicago, San Francisco, Phoenix, and Dallas. Furthermore, the study also assessed the complaint patterns, whether reported in compact or sprawled areas. The findings highlight that either the noise complaints increased or decreased during the COVID-19 crisis. Accordingly, four of the five selected cities, except San Francisco, showed a decrease in reported noise. As it turns out, compact developments correlate significantly and positively with noise complaints in all study areas, except in Phoenix. These findings call for regulating and prioritizing noise-related policies. Planners and urban designers can thus advise to sustain environmental planning and public health issues, especially in planning compact developments.