Critical Commentary: Cities in a post-COVID world

This paper examines the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic and its related economic, fiscal, social and political fallout on cities and metropolitan regions. We assess the effect of the pandemic on urban economic geography at the intra- and inter-regional geographic scales in the context of four main forces: the social scarring instilled by the pandemic;the lockdown as a forced experiment;the need to secure the urban built environment against future risks;and changes in the urban form and system. At the macrogeographic scale, we argue the pandemic is unlikely to significantly alter the winner-take-all economic geography and spatial inequality of the global city system. At the microgeographic scale, however, we suggest that it may bring about a series of short-term and some longer-running social changes in the structure and morphology of cities, suburbs and metropolitan regions. The durability and extent of these changes will depend on the timeline and length of the pandemic. (English) [ FROM AUTHOR] 本文研究新冠肺炎大流行的影响及其对城市和大都市地区造成的相关经济、财政、社会和政治后果。我们在四种主要力量的背景下，在区域内和区域间地理规模上评估大流行对城市经济地理的影响。这四种力量为：大流行造成的社会创伤；作为一种强迫实验的封锁；确保城市建筑环境免遭未来风险之害的必要性；以及城市形态和系统的变化。在宏观地理规模上，我们认为大流行不太可能显著改变赢家通吃的经济地理和全球城市体系的空间不平等。然而，在微观地理规模上，我们认为它可能会给城市、郊区和大都市地区的结构和形态带来一系列短期的、以及某些长期的社会变化。这些变化的持久性和程度将取决于大流行的时间表和长度。 (Chinese) [ FROM AUTHOR] Copyright of Urban Studies (Sage Publications, Ltd.) is the property of Sage Publications, Ltd. and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full . (Copyright applies to all s.)

"Home away from home” in pandemic times: how has COVID-19 changed the Airbnb market in Melbourne?

PurposeThis study aims to investigate how the COVID-19 pandemic has impacted and changed Airbnb market in the Greater Melbourne area in terms of its temporal and spatial patterns and identify possible shifts in underlying trends in travel activities.Design/methodology/approachA panel data set of Airbnb listings in Melbourne is analysed to compare temporal patterns, spatial distribution and lengths of stay of Airbnb users before and after the COVID outbreak.FindingsThis study found that the COVID disruption did not fundamentally change the temporal cycle of the Airbnb market. Month-to-month fluctuations peaked at different levels from pre-pandemic times mainly because of lockdowns and other restrictive measures. The impact of COVID-19 disruptions on neighbourhood-level Airbnb revenues is associated with distance to CBD rather than number of COVID cases. Inner city suburbs suffered major loss during the pandemic, whereas outer suburbs gained popularity due to increased domestic travel and long stays. Long stays (28 days or more, as defined by Airbnb) were the fastest growing segment during the pandemic, which indicates the Airbnb market was adapting to increasing demand for purposes like remote working or lifestyle change. After easing of COVID-related restrictions, demand for short-term accommodation quickly recovered, but supply has not shown signs of strong recovery. Spatial distribution of post-pandemic supply recovery shows a similar spatial variation. Neighbourhoods in the inner city have not shown signs of significant recovery, whereas those in the middle and outer rings are either slowly recovering or approaching their pre-COVID levels.Practical implicationsThe COVID-19 pandemic has significantly impacted short-term rental markets and in particular the Airbnb sector during the phase of its rapid development. This paper helps inform in- and post-pandemic housing policy, market opportunity and investment decision.Originality/valueTo the best of the authors' knowledge, this is one of the first attempts to empirically examine both temporal and spatial patterns of the COVID-19 impact on Airbnb market in one of the most severely impacted major cities. It is one of the first attempts to identify shifts in underlying trends in travel based on Airbnb data.

Impacts of COVID-19 on Bus Ridership and Recovery Trends in Syracuse, New York

COVID-19 had serious repercussions on public transportation throughout the USA. The aftermath of the peak of the crisis marked the path towards a slow and gradual recovery characterizing the shift to a new normal. Given the limited information on the recovery trends of public transportation, this paper compares the actual ridership and bus supply data for the years of 2019 and 2020 to study the timeline impacts of the pandemic on the bus system of the mid-sized city of Syracuse, NY. A data-driven analysis is presented across the city's bus routes, university bus routes, and categorical bus stops. Various census tract socio-demographic data are also correlated with passenger activity changes and mapped using ArcGIS. The findings show that overall bus ridership in 2020 fell by 70%, on average, during the three months that followed the onset of the pandemic. Since the lifting of the initial restrictions, concerns about using public transportation had partially been alleviated;however, passengers remained reluctant with ridership decline stabilizing at approximately 55% during the last four months of the year. While bus lines serving the university area, which houses a high percentage of youth, were severely affected by the pandemic, passenger activity near hospital stops were less affected and those near major supermarkets/ hypermarkets seemed unaffected, showing a surge especially in the two months that followed the onset of the pandemic. Passenger activity at census tracts having low poverty levels mostly located on the outskirts of the city of Syracuse were the least affected tracts in the last six months of 2020. It is anticipated that the insights presented will help service planners in preparing for similar future events by better understanding what stops and routes are deemed essential during a public health crisis and how the socio-demographics impacted the recovery after restrictions were removed. [ FROM AUTHOR]

Impacts of Omicron associated restrictions on vertical distributions of air pollution at a suburb site in Shanghai

To prevent the Omicron transmission, Shanghai government implemented varying degrees of restraint measures. This study provided a new insight into the responses of air pollution altitude dependence to restraint measures by conducting vertical observations at a suburb site in Shanghai. Based on the difference-in-differences (DiD) models that compare the results in 2021 (normal scenario) and 2022 (Omicron-based restriction), we evaluated the casual effects of restrictions on (i) nitrogen dioxide (NO 2), (ii) aerosol (presented by aerosol extinction coefficient (AEC)), formaldehyde (HCHO) and glyoxal (CHOCHO) and (iii) ozone (O 3), which are generally treaded as primary, multi-sources and secondary pollutants, respectively. The estimated results from 0.0 to 2.0 km show that the drop/rise induced by restrictions is greater below 1.0 km than that above 1.0 km. Averaged on vertical distributions, AEC, NO 2 , HCHO and CHOCHO during restrictions felled by 15.1% (0.12 km−1), 40.3% (1.65 ppbv), 10.0% (0.26 ppbv) and 28.6% (21.79 pptv), respectively, while O 3 increased by 21.3% (18.12 μg/m3). It indicates that restrictions induce significant drops in primary pollutants and enhancements in secondary pollutants. For multi-sources pollutants, the decline from primary sources can be partly offset by enhanced secondary productions, and the ratio of increased secondary sources to decreased primary sources can be elevated with height. The discrepancies of responses to restrictions are reflected in vertical distribution and types of air pollution, emphasizing the significance of vertical observations for diversified pollution. These finding can also be meaningful in the strategy development for prevention and control of air pollution. [Display omitted] • This study provided a new insight into the responses of air pollution altitude dependence to restraint measures by employing vertical observations. • The difference-in differences model was applied to evaluate the casual effects of restrictions on different types of pollution. • The decline of multi-sources pollutants from primary sources can be partly offset by enhanced secondary productions. [ FROM AUTHOR]

Perceived Benefits and Forest Tourists Consumption Intention: Environmental Protection Attitude and Resource Utilization Attitude as Mediators

Establishing a relationship model between environmental protection and resource utilization attitude and consumption intention is the key to promoting the sustainable development of forest tourism. From the standpoint of the Stimulus–Organism–Response (SOR) framework, the purpose of this study is to explore the complex causal relationships between perceived benefits, attitudes toward environmental protection, resource utilization attitudes, and consumption intentions in the context of forest tourism. The research data have been collected using a questionnaire survey of 436 tourists at Siming Mountain in the suburbs of Ningbo city, China. Furthermore, it is analyzed by structural equation modeling. The results indicate a positive correlation between the perceived benefits and tourists’ consumption intention that is mediated by the tourists’ attitude toward resource utilization. Although the independent mediating effect of environmental protection attitude is not supported in this study, both attitudes have played a chain-mediating role between perceived benefit and consumption intention. This study contributes to the existing knowledge by measuring the impact of perceived benefits and environmental attitudes of forest tourists on consumption intentions.

Analysis of Environmental and Pathogenic Bacteria Attached to Aerosol Particles Size-Separated with a Metal Mesh Device

Metal mesh devices (MMDs) are novel materials that enable the precise separation of particles by size. Structurally, MMDs consist of a periodic arrangement of square apertures of characteristic shapes and sizes on a thin nickel membrane. The present study describes the separation of aerosol particles using palm-top-size collection devices equipped with three types of MMDs differing in pore size. Aerosols were collected at a farm located in the suburbs of Nairobi, Kenya;aerosol particles were isolated, and pathogenic bacteria were identified in this microflora by next-generation sequencing analysis. The composition of the microflora in aerosol particles was found to depend on particle size. Gene fragments were obtained from the collected aerosols by PCR using primers specific for the genus Mycobacterium. This analysis showed that Mycobacterium obuense, a non-tuberculous species of mycobacteria that causes lung diseases, was present in these aerosols. These findings showed that application of this MMD analytical protocol to aerosol particles can facilitate the investigation of airborne pathogenic bacteria.

15-minute neighbourhood accessibility: a comparison between Naples and London

The 15-minute city seems to represent a new way of looking at the city and responding to many current challenges, including climate change, aging population, and most recently Covid-19. However, if the 15-minute city idea is useful to guarantee an adequate supply of basic services, its basic principles cannot be adaptable to what we consider a city, especially to the big city. To this end, the paper considers the 15-minute city idea as an approach to be applied to the neighbourhood scale, in which the suitable supply of basic services and pedestrian paths and spaces allows to increase accessibility to places and the quality of life of the inhabitants. In this perspective, the work provides a methodology, based mainly on spatial analysis, aimed at defining 15-minute neighbourhoods by adopting a systemic approach. The methodology is tested on some suburbs located in the cities of Naples and London, whose different morphological, settlement and functional characteristics make them a significant experimentation test.

Transition towards a Sustainable Mobility in a Suburbanising Urban Area: The Case of Barcelona

This article aims to address the apparent contradiction between the urban demographic and migratory trends and the transition towards a more sustainable mobility that local and metropolitan governments seek. To that end, it uses the case of Barcelona, and its metropolitan area during the first decades of the 21st century, characterized by suburbanisation and gentrification. Employing demographic, mobility and transport, and air quality statistics, we intend to analyse: (a) the spatial demographic trends in the metropolitan area of Barcelona (AMB), particularly regarding the core and periphery population growth or decline;(b) trends in daily mobility and how the public and private transport mix has changed;and (c) pollution data changes confirming the success or failure of the private vehicle reduction policy. Findings confirm our initial hypothesis: the slow but steady transition towards sustainable forms of mobility in the core city and the dense contiguous municipalities is counterbalanced by what occurs in the peripheral suburbs. There, the use of private vehicles is still preeminent and growing. Nevertheless, the air quality has improved in the most central municipalities of the AMB (for which data are available), even if not all parameters have seen a similar pollution reduction.

Commentary and reflections on, 'The existential crisis of traditional shopping streets: the sun model and the place attraction paradigm', by Matthew Carmona, with particular reference to the Australian retail milieu

Overall, the spatial arrangement of land uses comprises strong retail activity corridors with a diverse retail offering, framed by single dwelling residential areas, which have all but disappeared by 2016. Throughout the nineteenth century, Australia's retail landscape was typified by small shops at street level, commonly with attached dwellings, echoing that found in Britain. Retail activity is not immune to this process as technological innovations have had profound implications for the retail sector since the First Industrial Revolution ca.1800 when steel framed glass roofed arcades were constructed (Drechsler [10]). This informative paper by Matthew Carmona ([7]), explores the crisis facing retail high streets as a result of the rapid adoption of online shopping from the beginning of this century. [Extracted from the article] Copyright of Journal of Urban Design is the property of Routledge and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full . (Copyright applies to all s.)

Ambient BTEX Concentrations during the COVID-19 Lockdown in a Peri-Urban Environment (Orléans, France)

During the period from 17 March to 10 May 2020, France saw dramatic shifts in domestic, industrial and transport activities as a national lockdown was introduced. So far, studies have generally focused on urban settings, by contrast, this work reports data for a peri-urban location. Air samples were collected and analyzed using a fully automated GC-MS-FID system in an air quality monitoring station situated in the suburbs of Orléans, France. Average concentrations of BTEX (benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene, and xylenes) before, during, and after lockdown, were 402 ± 143, 800 ± 378 and 851 ± 445 pptv, respectively. Diurnal variation in BTEX and correlations between each of its components were analyzed to determine its various sources. The toluene/benzene (T/B) and m,p-xylene/ethylbenzene (MP/E) ratios, photochemical ages were used to explore whether the BTEX were from local or more distant sources. Together with a host of complementary measurements including NOx, O3, black carbon, meteorological parameters, and anthropogenic activities, we were able to make some inferences on the sources of BTEX. The results suggest that although anomalous local anthropogenic activity can lead to significant changes in BTEX concentrations, pollution levels in Orléans are mostly dependent on meteorological conditions, specifically whether the winds are coming from the Paris region. It appears, based on these measurements, that the pollution in the Orléans area is very much tied to the nearby megacity of Paris, this may be true for other peri-urban sites with implications for city planning and pollution mitigation strategies.

Spatial Variability of the ‘Airbnb Effect’: A Spatially Explicit Analysis of Airbnb’s Impact on Housing Prices in Sydney

Over the last decade, the emergence and significant growth of home-sharing platforms, such as Airbnb, has coincided with rising housing unaffordability in many global cities. It is in this context that we look to empirically assess the impact of Airbnb on housing prices in Sydney—one of the least affordable cities in the world. Employing a hedonic property valuation model, our results indicate that Airbnb’s overall effect is positive. A 1% increase in Airbnb density is associated with approximately a 2% increase in property sales price. However, recognizing that Airbnb’s effect is geographically uneven and given the fragmented nature of Sydney’s housing market, we also employ a GWR to account for the spatial variation in Airbnb activity. The findings confirm that Airbnb’s influence on housing prices is varied across the city. Sydney’s northern beaches and parts of western Sydney experience a statistically significant value uplift attributable to Airbnb activity. However, traditional tourist locations focused around Sydney’s CBD and the eastern suburbs experience insignificant or negative property price impacts. The results highlight the need for policymakers to consider local Airbnb and housing market contexts when deciding the appropriate level and design of Airbnb regulation.

The Rise of Virtual Schools: Selected Findings from the Third American School District Panel Survey. Data Note: Insights from the American Educator Panels. Research Report. RR-A956-5

The onset of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has prompted school districts in the United States to offer remote schooling options for their K-12 students. The authors of this report fielded the third American School District Panel (ASDP) survey in June 2021 to assess districts' plans to offer both temporary and more-lasting remote instruction options starting in fall 2021. The key ASDP findings presented in this report draw on the responses of 292 district leaders after weighting those responses to make them nationally representative. Results from the June 2021 ASDP survey suggest that K-12 remote instruction will outlast the pandemic. Remote instruction can be delivered in various forms, however, and the survey questions delved into three: a temporary option for fully remote instruction in fall 2021, fully online courses, and standalone virtual schools. The authors explore differences in districts' pre-pandemic offerings and plans to offer multiple remote instructional modes in the 2021-2022 school year by district type. Virtual schools have had the most marked growth. Only 3 percent of surveyed districts ran a virtual school before the pandemic began. Since the pandemic began, however, the number of districts running virtual schools has grown ninefold. And nearly one-quarter of surveyed districts that had no plans to operate a virtual school in the 2021-2022 school year had at least some interest in operating a virtual school sometime in the future. [For a related report, "Technical Documentation for the Third American School District Panel Survey. Research Report. RR-A956-6," see ED615291.]

The K-12 Pandemic Budget and Staffing Crises Have Not Panned Out - Yet: Selected Findings from the Third American School District Panel Survey. Data Note: Insights from the American Educator Panels. Research Report. RR-A956-3

This report presents school district leaders' views about staff turnover, hiring, and districts' financial outlooks at the end of the 2020-2021 school year. Based on the survey responses of 292 district leaders from the American School District Panel (ASDP), the authors found that teacher and principal turnover had not increased substantially beyond pre-pandemic rates in most districts. They also found that a majority of school districts have increased or are trying to increase their number of staff--especially for substitute teachers and mental health staff--for the 2021-2022 school year. District leaders also reported budget concerns. Four in ten district leaders anticipate a fiscal cliff around the time coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) federal aid expires in September 2024, and over half of the districts that anticipate a funding increase from federal stimulus funds are concerned about their ability to spend the money, even though virtually all district leaders said that they have some level of discretion in how to spend those funds. Although districts' reported impacts have not led to much-feared budget and staffing crises for their school districts, these survey findings suggest systemic problems that could outlast the COVID-19 pandemic. [For a related report, "Technical Documentation for the Third American School District Panel Survey. Research Report. RR-A956-6," see ED615291.]

Pandemic resilient cities: Possibilities of repairing Polish towns and cities during COVID-19 pandemic.

Cities, due to population density and the complexity of human interactions, experience specific problems arising from their functioning in the era of the Covid-19 pandemic. Many scientists who publish their findings in contemporary literature agree on the need to shape pandemic resilient cities by making changes to the functional-spatial structure and preparing cities for rapid revitalization [regeneration] in the post-pandemic period. The main objective of the research is to identify the most important problems regarding service infrastructure deficiencies in the nine medium-sized Polish cities selected for research located in the Warsaw agglomeration, which are well connected with Warsaw. The research was based on: analysis of selected GIS spatial data, demographic data from the Polish Central Statistical Office, surveys among residents, on their needs during pandemic constraints. The focus was on three important aspects of development in the era of the pandemic: access to first-need services, access to greenery and active recreation areas, accessibility and transport efficiency problems. The research revealed changes in the way people travel and do their essential shopping, inadequate cycling infrastructure and problems with the availability of essential services close to where they live. The research programme varies, although the diagnosis and the possibility of transforming the functional-spatial structure of the cities studied as typical medium-sized cities in the impact zone of a large centre dominate. The conclusions provide examples of proposals for tactical urbanism planning solutions that could rapidly improve the quality of residence in a low-budget way. Finally, the proposals and guidelines for creating sustainable pandemic resilient cities are described. The article investigates the aspect of urban resilience related to transport, services, relaxation, while using the method of tactical urbanism as a remedy for cities' pandemic problems.

Four shareworthy SEPR scenario ideas.

In this communication article, we share our scenario ideas at the request of the journal editor. These are (1) a scenario for building sustainable suburbs; (2) a counterfactual scenario for coping with the super wicked COVID problem; (3) envisioning alternative futures of cultural ecosystem services supplies in Southwestern Ghana; and (4) a path toward writing successful scenarios. The ideas will be fully developed in due course into scholarly articles for the journal.