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For the past years, the world has been facing one of the worst pandemics of modern times. The COVID-19 outbreak joined a long list of infectious diseases that turned pandemic, and it will most likely leave scars and change how we live, plan, and manage the urban space and its infrastructures. Many fields of science were called into action to mitigate the impacts of this pandemic, including spatial and transport planning. Given the large number of articles recently published in these research areas, it is time to carry out an overview of the knowledge produced, synthesising, systematising, and critically analysing it. This article aims to review how the urban layout, accessibility and mobility influence the spread of a virus in an urban environment and what solutions exist or have been proposed to create a more effective and less intrusive response to pandemics. This review is split into two avenues of research: spatial planning and transport planning, including the direct and indirect impact on the environment and sustainability. © 2023 ICE Publishing: All rights reserved.
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Despite the growth in popularity of allotment gardens during COVID-19 pandemic, they still are perceived as potential investment areas to develop residential, service or industry buildings in urban areas. Local authorities often decide to fully or partially liquidate objects in order to transform them into areas having different functions. These kinds of decisions have also been made in Szczecin (Poland), where there are over 100 allotment gardens, as revealed in the inventory carried out. The purpose of this paper is to present selected conditions and directions of transformation of areas connected with the liquidation of allotment gardens, which have taken place in Szczecin in recent years. The location of allotment gardens was also presented in the paper along with defining the intended use of areas as specified in one of Szczecin's main planning documents. Due to the analysis of locational and legal aspects it was possible to highlight legal and location conditions regarding allotments gardens functioning in Szczecin.
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Spatial planning is an interdisciplinary process dealing with practices of regulating and transforming the space, including experts from various fields such as lawyers, spatial and urban planners, geographers, civil engineers, economists, sociologists, etc. Spatial plans are general acts that arise due to the complex spatial planning process in which public participation is a necessary tool for transparent and legal procedure. They impact human rights due to their influence on a healthy environment, organization of life, quality of public services, green areas in the cities, etc. Spatial plans also deal with the economic aspect of investments, urban planning, and development of a particular territory. Cities are rapidly evolving and are characterized by density and overcrowded population, so the EU has a special interest in the adequate organization of the space. Consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic have produced a need for a different land use regulation from the established one. New challenges for the Member State's governments include regulation for the organization of life and everyday needs in 15 minutes' walk areas (work, market, health care, school, kindergartens, public services, parks, etc.). Although the European Union does not have direct competence in spatial planning of each Member State, it has a strong influence on the Member States through regulations (for example, European Spatial Development Perspective, The New Leipzig Charter, etc. which provide a strong framework for good and sustainable urban governance) and practice, as well as through the financial support to the Member States. This paper has two main goals. The first aim of this paper is to analyse how the EU tries to overcome the consequences of the pandemic in the physical planning system (recommendations, guidelines, financial support, consulting, or others). We also aim to discover how the pandemic affected the process of adopting the spatial plans in the Member States on the example of Croatia in one case study. The paper is divided into several parts. After the introduction, the first part of the paper brings an overview of the spatial planning process in the EU and Croatia based on the analyses of the relevant EU and domestic regulations. Next part of the paper deals with the influence of the COVID-19 pandemic on the spatial planning at the EU level, and on the development and adoption of spatial plans in Croatia. This includes the duration of the process, restrictions, and new ways of public participation in the process of the development and adoption of spatial plans (for example online public presentations), the influence on economic development (investments in a building), social distancing, etc. Last part of the paper will contain a research of development and adoption of spatial plans under the influence of the COVID-19 pandemic. The paper concludes with particular suggestions for improving the Croatian situation based on the good practices of the EU.
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Throughout the Covid-19 pandemic, the functioning of cities has been challenged, both spatially and a-spatially. This has therefore, exposed parts of urban areas to obvious disruption. Cities have expressed an evident spatial centralisation in places with high identity values and specific functions. The frequent disruptions from health limitations have underlined the important relationship between compact cities and conterminous fragments, thus, starting a process of a sustainable rebalancing of the urban system. The purpose of this work is to present the case study of the regional metropolis Pescara-Chieti and highlight how these fragments can become new complementary centralities with the continuous city. These additional centralities can form a multipolar system with different intensities and contribute to the quality of life in peri-urban areas. Based on a literature review, a set of indicators and criteria is proposed to identify the city-effect, that is the capacity of the city to offer, attract and contain. The recent paradigms of the 15-min city, reinforce the thesis advocated and the consequent reconfigurations of urban space as a driver of regeneration and mitigation action at different planning levels. The methodology was applied to a conurbation of 14 municipalities in the Abruzzo Region (Italy), with polarity to the city of Pescara. This work reasons with city users, defined as dynamic on the territory by ISTAT (Italian National Institute of Statistics), on the spatial dislocation of amenities and accessibility. The results have underlined the relationship between spatial continuity and functional integration of urban fragments—interested by the movement of internal dynamics—with different degrees of city-effect. For the latter to be triggered, urban fragments must assume the role of new centrality through the urban project to counteract marginality phenomena. © 2023, The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG.
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Seas and islands cannot be separated when it comes to sustainable development. For island countries (regions), the sustainable use of marine resources is an obvious choice and a top priority. Despite the fact that many people are still affected by COVID-19, increasing attention is being given to developing island resilience as a means to adapt to many challenges, including climate change. The core concerns of island development are therefore balancing the needs of ecological protection and the sustainable use of natural resources. The Island Research Center of the Ministry of Natural Resources of China etc. organized the 2022 International Island Forum on November 10, 2022 with the theme, ‘Eco Islands, Blue Development.' A hybrid conference was held to bring together representatives of government agencies, academic institutions, and experts from many countries around the world to discuss the key issues of sustainable island development. © 2023
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Seas and islands cannot be separated when it comes to sustainable development. For island countries (regions), the sustainable use of marine resources is an obvious choice and a top priority. Despite the fact that many people are still affected by COVID-19, increasing attention is being given to developing island resilience as a means to adapt to many challenges, including climate change. The core concerns of island development are therefore balancing the needs of ecological protection and the sustainable use of natural resources. The Island Research Center of the Ministry of Natural Resources of China etc. organized the 2022 International Island Forum on November 10, 2022 with the theme, ‘Eco Islands, Blue Development.' A hybrid conference was held to bring together representatives of government agencies, academic institutions, and experts from many countries around the world to discuss the key issues of sustainable island development.
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Whale-watching vessels contribute to elevated ambient sound levels in marine habitats. The reduction in maritime tourism activities during the Covid-19 pandemic provided an unprecedented opportunity to study the acoustic response of marine mammals to noise associated with whale-watching activities. In this study, we used acoustic recordings, visual observations, and Automatic Identification System data to determine the changes in humpback whale Megaptera novaeangliae calling behavior associated with whale-watching vessels on a foraging ground in Skjálfandi Bay, Iceland. We compared pre-pandemic summer months (2018) with pandemic (2020) conditions to quantify reductions in vessel activity and determine changes in calling behavior. Broadband ambient sound pressure levels were low in both years (median ~90 dBRMS (25-1300 Hz) re 1 µPa). During the Covid-19 pandemic (2020), the number of whale-watching trips was reduced by 68.6%. The number of humpback whale call detections increased nearly 2-fold. Ambient sound pressure levels stayed the same. We found that humpback whales reduce their calling effort in the presence of vessel sound independent of the overall ambient sound. As whale-watching vessel traffic rebounds and continues to grow, demonstrating behavioral responses should inform management plans such as vessel codes of conduct and marine spatial planning.
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There have been changes in social attitudes in recent years. These changes have been a consequence of a new societal view of the common good, which manifests itself in social responsibility for a clean and healthy environment. The outbreak and spread of the COVID-19 epidemic has highlighted the socio-spatial variation across regions and countries. The epidemic necessitated restrictive measures by state authorities. In the initial period in many countries, the actions of the authorities were identical throughout the country. This was mainly due to a lack of information about the differentiation of areas in relation to the epidemic risk. The aim of the research was to present a model for classifying rural areas taking into account vulnerability to epidemic threats. The model takes into account demographic, social, economic and spatial-environmental development factors. A total of 33 indicators based on public statistics that can be used to determine the area's vulnerability to epidemic threats were identified. The study showed that for Poland, 11 indicators are statistically significant to the developed classification model. The study found that social factors were vital in determining an area's vulnerability to epidemic threats. We include factors such as average number of persons per one apartment, village centers (number), events (number), number of people per facility (cultural center, community center, club, community hall), residents of nursing homes per 1000 inhabitants, and the number of children in pre-school education establishments per 1000 children aged 3-5 years. The research area was rural areas in Poland. The results of the classification and the methods used should be made available as a resource for crisis management. This will enable a better response to threats from other epidemics in the future, and will influence the remodeling of the environment and social behavior to reduce risks at this risk, which has a significant impact on sustainable development in rural areas.
Subject(s)
COVID-19 , Epidemics , Child , Humans , Child, Preschool , Social Factors , COVID-19/epidemiology , Social Planning , Disease OutbreaksABSTRACT
This paper analyses Aotearoa-New Zealand’s “shovel-ready fund” to assess if, and how, blue–green infrastructure systems were present in bids from its largest city regions. Findings indicate a greater prevalence in areas with existing spatial plans, and while there was some consideration of climate resilience, there was no real acknowledgement of the pandemic or human health. More positively, there was some evidence of unique indigenous influences that have potential to develop more inclusive and holistic blue–green infrastructure initiatives. The overall response, however, demonstrates a disjointed approach to blue–green infrastructure-related projects, and a missed opportunity for a more transformative response to the climate crisis and human health emergencies. © 2022 Editorial Board, Urban Policy and Research.
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India has seen pandemic disasters several years in the past. The recent coronavirus disease of 2019 (COVID-19) is similar to severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) and other viruses earlier, except in its spatial spread and concentration within the city. This paper is an attempt to identify the risk spatial planning factors responsible for the pandemic spread in the metropolitan cities of the four worst affected states of India: Mumbai, Ahmedabad, New Delhi, and Chennai, and how the spread is getting concentrated in these cities among the low-income housing areas such as slums and squatter settlements. Based on COVID-19 spread in these areas, a total number of 14 spatial factors that induce spatial environment were identified. These factors were divided into three categories based on their spread. Further, a combination of geospatial overlay techniques was employed to assess the link between built-up density and the pandemic spread. This was done through geospatial overlay of slums over the risk zone maps obtained from the open sourced geospatial portals targeting hotspots in the study areas. The results revealed that higher built-up density areas such as slums are instrumental in steering a higher number of positive cases. Based on these parameters, a four-pronged planning approach is suggested to tackle the pandemic spread and hence to transform the future planning interventions in India. © 2022, The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG.
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It is increasingly evident that climate sustainability depends not only on societal actions and responses, but also on ecosystem functioning and responses. The capacity of global ecosystems to provide services such as sequestering carbon and regulating hydrology is being strongly reduced both by climate change itself and by unprecedented rates of ecosystem degradation. These services rely on functional aspects of ecosystems that are causally linked—the same ecosystem components that efficiently sequester and store carbon also regulate hydrology by sequestering and storing water. This means that climate change adaptation and mitigation must involve not only preparing for a future with temperature and precipitation anomalies, but also actively minimizing climate hazards and risks by conserving and managing ecosystems and their fundamental supporting and regulating ecosystem services. We summarize general climate–nature feedback processes relating to carbon and water cycling on a broad global scale before focusing on Norway to exemplify the crucial role of ecosystem regulatory services for both carbon sequestration and hydrological processes and the common neglect of this ecosystem–climate link in policy and landscape management. We argue that a key instrument for both climate change mitigation and adaptation policy is to take advantage of the climate buffering and regulative abilities of a well-functioning natural ecosystem. This will enable shared benefits to nature, climate, and human well-being. To meet the global climate and nature crises, we must capitalize on the importance of nature for buffering climate change effects, combat short-term perspectives and the discounting of future costs, and maintain or even strengthen whole-ecosystem functioning at the landscape level. Significance Statement Natural ecosystems such as forests, wetlands, and heaths are key for the cycling and storage of water and carbon. Preserving these systems is essential for climate mitigation and adaptation and will also secure biodiversity and associated ecosystem services. Systematic failure to recognize the links between nature and human well-being underlies the current trend of accelerating loss of nature and thereby nature’s ability to buffer climate changes and their impacts. Society needs a new perspective on spatial planning that values nature as a sink and store of carbon and a regulator of hydrological processes, as well as for its biodiversity. We need policies that fully encompass the role of nature in preventing climate-induced disasters, along with many other benefits for human well-being.
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The Covid-19 crisis has shown the spatial nature and implications of pandemics, urging to revive old debates and instruct reflections upon emerging urban issues. By relying on early scientific literature, grey literature and evidence from news reports, this contribution discusses some broad issues in relation to the spatial and scalar factors and implications of the pandemic, and the response to it: the socio-spatial features of its spread;the crisis of urban development models based on the experiential economy and commuting metropolization;the emergence of a new balance between relocalization and dematerialized connectivity;the effects of the spread of remote work. In conclusion, the paper offers some insights on relevant research issues for spatial planners and urbanists. © 2021 FrancoAngeli. All rights reserved.
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In small islands, the potential for new coastal activities and management options are often spatially limited. To reduce dependence on external factors and increase the resilience of populations to global changes and fluctuations in international markets, a recommended pathway is to diversify activities. We used a systematic prioritization tool with single and multiobjective zoning to explore the feasibility of scenarios at various levels of spatial diversification in the Gambier lagoon (French Polynesia), where black pearl culture is economically and spatially dominant. Local managers are committed to economic, livelihood, and environmental sustainability and agree that prioritizing both artisanal fisheries, which provide local food security, and ecosystem conservation should also be considered. Diversification options included the optimized reallocation of farming concessions and the identification of different types of conservation areas while taking into account traditional management areas. The scenarios were set to minimize surface areas and loss of access to existing fishing grounds. The solutions were compared between the scenarios with different cost metrics, allowing further discussions with stakeholders and managers. The Gambier case study shows that exploring diversification options in small islands using systematic prioritization tools can provide local managers with tailor-made plans adapted to island development questions.
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The chapter offers some critical considerations regarding the effects of pandemic on planning cultures and practices. The concept of preparedness, introduced in the recent international debate, is used as a tool for strengthening forms of planning that take the objective of preparing societies and territories in a context of radical uncertainty and instability. The concept of preparedness is also used for reflecting on the public action dilemmas connected with the introduction, during the pandemic crisis, of actions based on a “state of exception” logic. In the last part of the chapter are proposed some principles for spatial planning coping with COVID-19 challenges. © 2022, The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG.
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COVID-19 poses a massive challenge to urban public-health emergency and governance systems. Urban planners and policymakers engaged in spatial planning and management should carefully consider how a "people-oriented" principle can be incorporated into spatial-planning systems to reduce the negative impacts on both cities and people. However, there is limited literature discussing the aforementioned issues, particularly using qualitative methods. Therefore, this research aims to explore the implications of COVID-19 on spatial planning, well-being, and behavioural change using Changchun as a case study. Semi-structured interviews are used to examine the views and insights of 23 participants. Our results show that, first, the shift to home working has changed people's way of life, affected their subjective well-being, and significantly affected spatial planning within cities, placing greater demands on architectural design and community spatial planning. Therefore, additional open public spaces and a more supportive infrastructure are required. Second, it is found that Changchun has not established an effective community-based spatial planning system, something which should have been taken into consideration in the master plan for the future. Third, our findings suggest that being a resilient city is vital for the sustainable development of second-tier cities like Changchun, which is reflected in urban development patterns, disaster prevention, and long-term functional layout, among other aspects. This study contributes to the existing literature on resilient cities, particularly from the perspective of sustainability with regard to resilience to and recovery from major urban crises. In terms of policy implications, planning departments should work with public health and public safety departments to formulate guidelines and management rules in order to improve the spatial planning of cities during periods of extraordinary change and challenge.
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The COVID-19 pandemic has spurred significant changes in the fields of economic develop-ment, social issues, everyday life, etc. Activities that used to depend on face-to-face communication were firstly suspended and then shifted to new forms of communication. This includes the public participation process in urban and spatial planning. Therefore, this study explores the new domain developed in urban and spatial planning with regard to public participation and surmises future realms in the post-pandemic era. On the occasion of the virtual collaboration platform Cyber Agora organized by the ISOCARP (International Society of City and Regional Planners), chosen participants got together virtually to share, discuss, and compare their practical knowledge in public participation before and during COVID-19. In addition, they addressed the potential benefits of shifting from traditional to virtual participation and potential benefits in the post-COVID-19 era. Considering the collected data and understanding them in the light of the available literature, this study concludes that the application of a combined approach (using both traditional and virtual modes of participa-tion) is recommended because it would enable a larger number and higher diversity of participants. The study also elaborates particular modes of virtual participation with the pros and cons of their use in a particular context. © 2021 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.
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The global outbreak of COVID-19 has exposed the deficiency of urban space quality in terms of health and awareness of respiratory infectious diseases.This article analyzes the influencing factors of urban health mechanisms and simulates through infectious disease mechanisms and approaches. Finally Propose corresponding strategies and optimization methods for the optimization of urban space form and structure, and provide corresponding strategies and basis for healthy urban space planning. © 2021 The authors and IOS Press.
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A seemingly unresolved debate in urban planning is the call for compactness and the provision of intra-urban green spaces. This article defines a multi-scalar spatial planning model for peri-urban areas and urban voids able to reconcile medium to high building densities with the provision of ecosystem services. The research is framed within design science research, and the theoretical definition of the model was followed by its application to the International Hub for Sustainable Development (HIDS) proposed by the University of Campinas, Brazil. The model’s parameters and indicators derive from a literature review, case studies, and GIS spatial analyses. A series of expert workshops and a survey were carried out to test and validate the model. The results show that the model can support knowledge-based development in peri-urban areas with high levels of population density while ensuring good accessibility to green spaces and productive landscapes. The model can serve as a planning and design tool and support the development of public policies for other contexts committed to more resilient and sustainable development.
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The novel and unprecedented Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic has negatively impacted most nations of the world within a short period. While its disproportionate social and spatial variability has been established, the reality in Nigeria is yet to be studied. In this paper, advanced spatial statistical techniques were engaged to study the burden of COVID-19 and its risk factors within the first quarter (March-May) of its incidence in Nigeria. The spatial autocorrelation (Moran's I) test reveals a significant but marginal cluster of COVID-19 occurrence in Nigeria (I = 0.11, p < 0.05). A model comparison between ordinary least square (OLS) and spatial error model (SER) was explored having checked for multicollinearity in the dataset. The OLS model explained about 64% (adjusted R2 = 0.64) of variation in COVID-19 cases, however with significantly clustered residuals. The SER model performed better with randomly distributed residuals. The significant predictors were population density, international airport, and literacy ratio. Furthermore, this study addressed the spatial planning implications of the ongoing disease outbreak while it advocates transdisciplinary approach to urban planning practices in Nigeria.
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This study addresses the risk and vulnerability of Chilean salmon production to hazards resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic threat, including limited access to farms, limited processing capacity and reduced market demand. The role of different management approaches in reducing risk and vulnerability is also explored. Results suggest that concession areas having the largest accumulated and current biomass have the highest risk, which is also transferred to the municipal level. The scenarios modelled with better management practices that reduce diseases were able to reduce risks by 30-40%. The largest risk reduction is achieved when production biomass is divided in a more equitable manner among concession areas, suggesting the need for strategic improvements in spatial planning of the activity in the marine environment according to ecosystem carrying capacity and better practices. Improving adaptation capacity can reduce vulnerability between 20% and 30% for municipalities; for example, providing local employment can be a win-win management measure under the COVID-19 threat because it reduces movement of people and facilitates handling and responses to emergencies. A larger footprint in local economies and employment can also improve social perception and acceptance of the sector, thus contributing to improve adaptation changes and governance to face the threats. The framework used here to perform a risk and vulnerability assessment of salmon farming to the pandemic-associated threats can also be useful for other aquaculture systems elsewhere, provided that relevant information is available.