House prices, airport location proximity, air traffic volume and the COVID-19 effect

Although house prices and airports are influenced by distinct factors that shape their evolutions, they are also intrinsically connected through the natural and built environment. Standard theory suggests that air-traffic noise and proximity to key economic hubs such as airports are of prime importance to house prices and the housing market. This study contributes to understanding the link between the housing market, airport location proximity and air traffic. The research investigates this association across four key urban areas within New Zealand proximal to an international airport: Auckland, Wellington, Christchurch and Queenstown. Applying a generalized least squares (GLS) regression approach, the analysis reveals that house prices, air-traffic activity and proximity to airports within New Zealand demonstrate a statistically significant effect, and that air traffic volume has a positive effect on house prices. Moreover, the findings reveal a ‘U'-shape relationship between distance to the airport and house prices, suggesting that airport noise and pollution adversely affect house prices, with this effect diminishing with distance, indicating that economic influences and employment may also serve as a positive externality. © 2023 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.

Enlightenment: The Covid-19 Pandemic

All efforts are for body and soul. All scientific theories and technologies, government policies, infrastructures, and spiritual activities are meant to protect the soul, body, and hunger. If we can protect the lives of all living entities in any eventuality, the country is said to be a developed country. Every incident exposes the system and gives the experience to learn for better operation with minimum fatalities. The sudden outbreak of deadly microscopic Corona virus had opened the eyes of all walks of people in the world and put all the countries in danger of human losses as well as the financial crisis. The pandemic covid-19 has taught valuable lessons and exposed many grave areas—loss of family members, loss of jobs, the closing of industries, offices, and schools, tireless work of emergency service providers, and what could be the severity of spreading of Covid-19 and health care systems after post lockdown. Apart from this pandemic disease, other critical areas for Disastrous Management due to the regular occurring natural calamities are droughts, cyclones, and industrial explosions, etc. pose challenges and need for improvement in the areas such as emergency services, agriculture sectors, shelters, sanitation, cleanliness, public parks and playgrounds, beautification of cities, old premises, cremation grounds, market places, slaughterhouses, etc. These essential services need to be investigated with quality assurance for the welfare of the people in terms of health, environment, investments, revenue, and the creation of jobs. These experiential challenges are critically analyzed in detail and presented in this paper for the policymakers to take appropriate steps to avoid any future epidemic diseases and disastrous situations like Covid-19. © 2023 DMICS.

Exploring changes in residential preference during COVID-19: Implications to contemporary urban planning

The advent of the COVID-19 pandemic and the subsequent lockdown has reshuffled our daily routines and activity spaces. The home and its immediate environment have attained a critical role in coping with the confinement both as living, working and recreational space. Drawing on a longitudinal survey from greater Oslo, we analyze shifts in residential preferences amidst COVID-19. Given the pandemic induced movement restrictions, we pay special attention to the mediating role of perceived accessibility on the link between several sociodemographic/locational/housing characteristics on preference shifts. Amidst a drop in perceived accessibility, outdoor assets like gardens or balconies, and motility by car and public transport are amongst the residential and locational amenities that have gained most in people's considerations for a new dwelling peri-pandemically. Dwelling satisfaction and preferences with regard to neighborhood density, dwelling size, and work-proximity, have remained largely unchanged despite a clear trend towards more teleworking. Our results can be understood as a nod of approval to contemporary compact urban planning. Nonetheless challenges as to bolstering its resilience still linger and more needs to be done to mitigate the inequalities in (perceived) access to in-home, near-home, and mobility assets that we have also observed to have (re)-immerged in the wake of the pandemic. © The Author(s) 2023.

A study of the health status of the Slum Dwellers and the present healthcare facilities in the Slum areas

The spread of COVID- 19 pandemic is a wake-up call for cities, towns and areas for proper planning and sanitation. The overcrowding and exodus of people from rural to urban areas in search of employment has created a shortage of basic civic amenities and healthcare facilities. This affects their health status and their health seeking behaviour. The present descriptive research study was conducted in selected slum areas with stratified proportionate random sampling method. A survey questionnaire was used, and data was collected in two phases. Data was analyzed with the help of SPSS version25. Significance was tested with Chi-Square test and Logistic Regression. Low annual income is the barrier in maintaining good health of the slum households and it influences their health status. Healthcare expenditure of the slum households was very less. The district hospitals need up gradation to include all the consultation services. Disease incidence was found between age group 1 to 4 years and 45-65 years. The slum community's participation in health care services was needed to create a slum-free society. Proper housing, sanitation, safe drinking water, affordable healthcare and maternal and childcare services were very essential in these slum areas for their improvement.

Is there a diminishing willingness to pay for consumption amenities as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic?

We employ the Covid-19 pandemic as an unanticipated event in order to investigate the willingness to pay for consumption amenities such as restaurants, cinemas and theaters. We use a hedonic pricing model in combination with a time-gradient difference-in-difference approach. Our data set contains virtually all apartments for sale in the larger Stockholm area. We use a very detailed and flexible definition of the density of consumption amenities based on the exact location of these amenities and the walking distance from the apartments to these amenities. Although there are differences between specifications, we find a decrease of 3.9 percent of apartments that we label as amenity rich. Based on the average apartment price, this equals a drop of 195,240 Swedish Kronor (or almost 22,000 US dollars).

Common Areas, Common Causes: Public Space in High‐Rise Buildings During Covid‐19

This article explores forms of public space that have been rendered palpable during the Covid‐19 pandemic: public spaces in high‐rise buildings. We consider both physical and social public space in this context, thinking about the safety of both common areas and amenities in buildings and the emergence of new publics around the conditions of tower living during the pandemic (particularly focusing on tenant struggles). We determine that the planning, use, maintenance, and social production of public space in high‐rise buildings are topics of increasing concern and urgency and that the presence of public space in the vertical built forms and lifestyles proliferating in urban regions complicates common understandings of public space. We argue that the questions raised by the pandemic call upon us to reconsider the meanings of public space. © 2022 by the author(s);licensee Cogitatio (Lisbon, Portugal).

Changes in residents' hygiene awareness and behaviors in public toilets before and during the COVID-19 pandemic in Hangzhou, China: a two-round cross-sectional study.

BACKGROUND: Hygiene behaviors in public toilets are important to prevent the transmission of infectious diseases, especially during the pandemic. All through the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, governments in many countries published guidance on personal hygiene for the general population to prevent disease transmission. This study aimed to investigate improvements in residents' hygiene awareness and behaviors in public toilets before and during the pandemic. METHODS: We recruited 316 residents between November and December 2018 before the pandemic, and 314 residents between December 2020 and January 2021 during the pandemic in the same study sites in Hangzhou, a well-developed city in China. Residents' hygiene behaviors in public toilets, hygiene awareness, risk perception, and sociodemographic factors were collected. Bivariate analysis and multivariable logistic regressions were used to test the differences between the two rounds. We conducted an observational study to record the provision of hygiene amenities at toilets during the pandemic. RESULTS: After controlling for sociodemographic factors (gender, marital status, age, education level, and monthly household income), compared with respondents recruited before the pandemic, respondents recruited during the pandemic were more likely to perceive the risks of infection when using public toilets (aOR = 1.77, 95%CI [1.20, 2.60]), and were more likely to be aware of the risks of touching contaminated toilet facilities (aOR = 1.72, 95%CI [1.17, 2.54]) and the risks of not using soap to wash one's hands after using the toilet (aOR = 1.93, 95%CI [1.38, 2.72]). They were more likely to always clean their toilet seat with alcohol (aOR = 1.88, 95%CI [1.01, 3.51]), wash hands with soap (aOR = 1.52, 95%CI [1.09, 2.10]) and dry their hands with a dryer (aOR = 1.78, 95%CI [1.16, 2.71]), but they were less likely to always wash their hands after using the toilets (aOR = 0.57, 95%CI [0.32, 1.00]). Among 70 public toilets observed, 9 provided alcohol for toilet seat disinfection, 52 provided soap, 33 provided paper towels, and 41 had working hand dryers. CONCLUSIONS: Despite the overall improvement, residents' hygiene behaviors in public toilets and the supply of hygiene amenities were still suboptimal during the pandemic. Further hygiene education and an adequate supply of hygiene amenities in public toilets are needed to promote residents' hygiene behaviors.

The contingent nature of broadband as an engine for business startups in rural areas

The introduction of the Internet in the 2000s was believed to be an effective solution for helping rural economies but previous studies found mixed results. Following the prevailing COVID-19 pandemic, the idea has surfaced that broadband accessibility would result in an increasing number of people and firms relocating to smaller towns and rural areas. In this study, we provide new evidence on the impact of ultrafast broadband on rural economies by considering industrial and spatial heterogeneity. To achieve this, we evaluated the impact of the French Very High-Speed Broadband Plan on business startups in rural municipalities between 2013 and 2018 using difference-in-differences with prematching. The evidence reveals that positive broadband effects are limited to municipalities with good initial conditions in terms of local economic climate, natural amenities, and demographics. From a policy perspective, our results suggest that broadband is not a panacea, and focusing on broadband access only is likely to have little impact in structurally weak rural areas.

The diverse coworking landscape and implications for commercial real estate provision: lessons from individual preferences and practice

Purpose: Coworking (shared flexible working spaces) grew exponentially before the COVID-19 pandemic. The crisis led to spaces closing but demand is likely to increase as homeworking/remote working levels remain permanently higher post-pandemic. Previous studies largely focused on ‘satisfied customers’ – freelancers and entrepreneurs in the urban core;but these are a poor guide to future preferences given an increasingly diverse set of potential users. Understanding these preferences is of significant value to future providers, investors and real estate operators. Design/methodology/approach: The authors employ a mixed-methods approach, observing self-organised coworking sessions and online platforms, and a questionnaire of the coworking networks/groups. The authors address the research questions: i) how do individuals' make decisions about how and where to engage in shared working and ii) do they consider locational characteristics (beyond accessibility) and social and physical (environmental) aspects of coworking? Findings: Proximity to home is a key result. Participants are mostly local and seek community, with a strong emphasis on effective work routines. Results stress the importance placed on social factors and in-space amenities, but affordability is also important. Coworkers experiencing both informal groups and organised spaces rate the informal experience as significantly more beneficial. Practical implications: There are implications for the real estate element of future provision and funding models. Originality/value: The authors contribute to the understanding of coworking preferences/motivations through addressing methodological limitations of previous studies. Rather than surveying individuals in coworking spaces, the authors study individuals who engage in coworking in various forms which will reflect the diverse (users, spaces, locations) demands for future coworking. © 2022, Emerald Publishing Limited.