Planning cities for pandemics: A review of urban and transport planning lessons from COVID-19

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.

Twitter as Passive Sensor to Understand How COVID-19 Pandemic Affected Human Mobility

During the COVID-19 pandemic, countries all over the world have tried to prevent the spread of the virus with measures like social distancing, movement limitation, closure of premises and shops, voluntary isolation, lockdown, and curfew. Likely, these limitations have influenced the way people moved within urban spaces. In this study, we use Twitter as a passive sensor to understand how these measures affected human mobility. We focus on the city of Milan, one of the most international and active cities in Italy, but also one of the cities most affected by the spread of the virus. We analyzed more than one million of GPS geo-tagged tweets, posted from 2019 to 2022, and results show that the pandemic has affected human mobility (in 2022, less mobility during work hours and more mobility during the evening hours), and show that social and fashion-related activities are the main reasons people move within the city. This study shows the benefits of using Twitter as a passive sensor to measure human mobility: real-time analysis (not possible with interviews and/or questionnaire) and insights of the reasons behind human mobility (not possible to get with the sole use of telephone operators data). © 2023 IEEE.

"Vem pra rua” ou "fica em casa”?

This article addresses the use of public spaces by organized movements that led thousands of people to the streets between March 2015 and March 2016 and culminated in the President Dilma Rousseff impeachment. It starts from the premise that although the organization of these manifestations occurred through social networks, it was in the appropriation of public space by respective groups that they took place. In a timider way, due to the COVID 19 pandemic, the protesters returned to the streets in 2020. For the research, we used the theoretical contribution of urban space structuration and its symbolic dimension, followed by the compilation of information regarding protests published at major newspapers in circulation. The balance shows that the location of social manifestations followed the symbolic logic of urban space structuration, where the group opposed to the impeachment had its space of demonstration associated with the main center of cities and the groups that demanded the withdrawal of President Roussef occupied the spaces identified with the reproduction of financial capital and/or elite housing. This logic was maintained during the demonstrations that took place in 2020. © 2022 Universidad Nacional de Colombia. All rights reserved.

Urban spaces as a positive catalyst during pandemics: Assessing the community's well-being by using artificial intelligence techniques

Amid the Covid-19 pandemic, lifestyles changed completely. This new normality damages human psychology and mental health. Hence, new approaches must be considered while shaping public spaces to accommodate the pandemic life. This paper aims to show the importance of exploiting outdoor spaces to save people's mental health. Accordingly, an online survey is conducted and analyzed by Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) for more precise answers. Afterward, the most important public spaces during the pandemic are extracted;consequently, another questionnaire has been held to validate these items. The last one has been run through a machine learning technique to classify and categorize the users' different preferences in three situations only. It was found that 85,17% of the sample declared the importance of outdoor public spaces. However, future research is needed to rethink urban spaces' design and to relocate the activities done within indoor public spaces to the outdoors to maintain human mental health. © 2022 THE AUTHORS

Predictions for architectural and urban spaces in response to the COVID-19 pandemic: Delphi survey of Korean experts

Studies on the factors of the COVID-19 pandemic that influence architecture and spaces have presented various, often contradictory, findings, and the same is true for studies making predictions. Considering this, this study aims to use the Delphi technique, an analytical method for synthesizing the opinions of experts across diverse fields to determine major issues in the COVID-19 and post-COVID-19 eras as wells as the architectural and urban spaces in which future changes are expected. This study derived keywords representing major trends and issues that would lead to changes in architectural and urban spaces in the COVID-19 and post-COVID-19 eras, predicted the change patterns for each keyword, and determined the architectural and urban spaces expected to undergo major changes. The experts predicted these keywords to show a variety of changes, including the pattern of increasing influence during the COVID-19 pandemic and then decreasing in influence after the pandemic, the pattern of small influence during the pandemic and the increase in influence after the pandemic, and the pattern of greater influence during and after the pandemic. Furthermore, they predicted that most of the post-COVID-19 changes would occur in the housing sector. Developing architectural guidelines that could incorporate these changes is thus necessary. © 2022 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group on behalf of the Architectural Institute of Japan, Architectural Institute of Korea and Architectural Society of China.

Evaluate Space after Covid-19: Smart City Strategies for Gamification

Smart cities carry the burden of utilizing technologies to support city life during and beyond the Covid-19 pandemic. More than ever, true smartness needs to address the broader health implications of the shared urban space. Especially highly populated cities tend to suffer more from the consequences of Covid-19 than rural areas. Without a doubt, the pandemic has revealed particular weaknesses of the existing urban environment, in urban space and population demographics, so evident of unprepared city infrastructure systems. The traditional design of public space has created inequalities, and such space design serves the needs of a commercialized urban context and enables public gatherings or private/commercial access. The sudden behavioral shift needed in cities means that smart solutions are also needed for the health and well-being of city populations. This paper examines the impact in the urban environments for London, Manchester, Newcastle, and Liverpool. This paper maps the implications of physical distancing due to Covid-19 using cases studies in three main areas: i) roads, ii) parks, and iii) retail. A matrix of urban, social, and health consequences is suggested, which will shape urban policy. It will focus on terms of access and use of urban space during the pandemic and beyond. The expected outcome of this research is to map some of the metropolitan area to demonstrate restrictions, changes in sharing behavior, and gamification opportunities of urban space. The expected outcomes will provide evidence-based scenarios for gamification technologies (for example, wayfinding, location, and character-based) of the challenged urban space in roads, parks, and retail to support change in future policy. The paper will discuss the implications of behavior change and consider so-called "gamification” practices in the urban space, using examples of social distancing, movement tracing, and techniques that add to a truly smart city. Overall, the aim is to demonstrate the spatial constraints of Covid-19;social distancing as the main challenge and to explore how the design of urban form and smart systems will provide for a healthy and resilient urban environment. This research addresses good urban health and a playful approach to the new way of urban living. © 2022 The Author(s). Published with license by Taylor & Francis Group, LLC.

EDITORIAL

The editorial to Studies in Comics 12.2 introduces the contents of the issue and offers a brief overview of the articles, interviews and reviews contained in the issue and the themes that they address. It is noted that two of the five articles in this issue take the form of comics. © (2021) 2022 Intellect Ltd Editorial. English language.

Green tourism planning for Danang City after COVID-19, vision to 2050

Danang city is known as the most attractive tourist city in Vietnam as well as in the world. Danang possesses rich and diverse natural resources, urban space facing the river, sea, alternating hilly areas creating an urban structure that is both the modern and the natural. In addition, Danang has won the Vietnam ICT Index award for 12 consecutive years because of its smart, modern, and effective digital technology system in linking and supporting tourism development with the neighboring localities. However, the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic had caused millions of deaths in the most countries worldwide since 2019. Leading to the economic activities, the trade in services, tourism, transportation, etc.. have all been seriously affected, even stopped working together for a long time. After that, the appearance of vaccines has partly controlled the epidemic situation. But people's living habits and views relating the tourism have changed significantly. Thus, the trend of 'green tourism country-slow tourism' is being strongly responded by tourists after the Covid-19 pandemic. This is explained that the tourists will travel in small groups, enjoy travel experiences close to nature, immerse themselves in the culture of indigenous people, and combine with local sports activities. Therefore, the authors propose a model of 'diffusion planning' to effectively solve the problems in 'Green tourism planning for Danang City after COVID-19, vision to 2050' to contribute to the orientation of sustainable tourism development in Danang city. © 2022 IEEE.

"Come to streets" or "stay home"?

This article addresses the use of public spaces by organized movements that led thousands of people to the streets between March 2015 and March 2016 and culminated in the President Dilma Rousseff impeachment. It starts from the premise that although the organization of these manifestations occurred through social networks, it was in the appropriation of public space by respective groups that they took place. In a timider way, due to the COVID 19 pandemic, the protesters returned to the streets in 2020. For the research, we used the theoretical contribution of urban space structuration and its symbolic dimension, followed by the compilation of information regarding protests published at major newspapers in circulation. The balance shows that the location of social manifestations followed the symbolic logic of urban space structuration, where the group opposed to the impeachment had its space of demonstration associated with the main center of cities and the groups that demanded the withdrawal of President Roussef occupied the spaces identified with the reproduction of financial capital and/or elite housing. This logic was maintained during the demonstrations that took place in 2020.

How to Evaluate Public Spaces as High-Value Impact Opportunities for the Last Generation Adaptive Cities

The utterly unpredicted advent of Covid-19 pandemic has profoundly changed human lives, not only in people habits but in their perception of related-density urban spaces and their use. Smart Cities based on technocentric efficiency are gradually replaced by a new city paradigm: the adaptive cities. The term “adaptive” inspires a new model of interaction between citizens, technology and spaces starting from urban characteristics and users’ needs towards a better accomplishment of the UN seventeen-SDG idea of inclusive, safe, resilient, and sustainable cities, thus stressing the social dimension. This scenario represents a new challenge in reshaping cities for policy makers, investors, planners and all actors involved in this innovative regeneration process that would comply with ESG criteria. A starting point of Adaptive cities is certainly represented by public spaces that have been rediscovered by people experiencing pandemic. The present paper explores under an evaluative lens the potential social impact of public spaces. Through literature and empirical evidence, it is then introduced the issue of measuring those values that pertain social and collective dimension (extra-market values). Finally, it is discussed how intangible values can be integrated with the economic and financial framework through which policy makers and investors attempt to catch the social impact values. © 2022, The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG.

Modelling of Interactions Between Pedestrians and Vehicular Traffic to Promote Active Mobility: The Case of San Benedetto Neighbourhood in Cagliari (Italy)

The COVID-19 has significantly led to changes in the mobility needs and in user travel behavior, due to the measures adopted to reduce the spread of the virus. While on the one hand this has resulted in a reduction in the number of trips, on the other this has entailed an increase in the use of the private car, considered as the safest form of transportation in urban contexts. Thus, administrations and policy makers have to promote actions and strategies to encourage soft mobility (i.e. walking and cycling), viewed as solutions to reduce transport emissions and ensure social distancing. This often implies the need for a redesign of urban spaces as pedestrians experience uncomfortable or unsafe situations about the surrounding environment. Within this framework, the paper proposes a methodological framework to evaluate the interactions between pedestrians and vehicular traffic using a microsimulation approach. The analyzed case study concerns a road intersection within the S. Benedetto neighbourhood in Cagliari (Italy). A scenario assessment has been performed through the computation of several performance indicators related both to private transport (i.e. level of service and emissions) and pedestrian users (i.e. density;speed and crossing time). The comparative analysis of results demonstrates that this research approach could represent a flexible and effective tool in guiding administrations through the decision-making process during the planning and development of projects for redevelopment of urban spaces and the promotion of soft mobility. Further research will focus on an extended study area, by modelling the behaviour of different categories of pedestrians and introducing in-field data. © 2022, The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG.

Tempo-Spatial Modelling of the Spread of COVID-19 in Urban Spaces.

The relationship between the social structure of urban spaces and the evolution of the COVID-19 pandemic is becoming increasingly evident. Analyzing the socio-spatial structure in relation to cases may be one of the keys to explaining the ways in which this contagious disease and its variants spread. The aim of this study is to propose a set of variables selected from the social context and the spatial structure and to evaluate the temporal spread of infections and their different degrees of intensity according to social areas. We define a model to represent the relationship between the socio-spatial structure of the urban space and the spatial distribution of pandemic cases. We draw on the theory of social area analysis and apply multivariate analysis techniques to check the results in the urban space of the city of Malaga (Spain). The proposed model should be considered capable of explaining the functioning of the relationships between societal structure, socio-spatial segregation, and the spread of the pandemic. In this paper, the study of the origins and consequences of COVID-19 from different scientific perspectives is considered a necessary approach to understanding this phenomenon. The personal and social consequences of the pandemic have been exceptional and have changed many aspects of social life in urban spaces, where it has also had a greater impact. We propose a geostatistical analysis model that can explain the functioning of the relationships between societal structure, socio-spatial segregation, and the temporal evolution of the pandemic. Rather than an aprioristic theory, this paper is a study by the authors to interpret the disparity in the spread of the pandemic as shown by the infection data.

Married Women Migrating from Rural Uttar Pradesh and Bihar: Juggling Family Duty and Aspirations

This article traces the experiences of accompanying wives who had migrated with their husbands from southern Bihar and Uttar Pradesh and returned to their villages during the COVID-19 pandemic. It dwells on post-marriage migration and work which is an under-researched aspect of women’s migration. Our study offers insights into the ways in which married women navigate power relations within the family as well as their places of work to fulfil their family obligations and personal aspirations. The analysis shows how they juggle multiple family roles as wives, mothers, daughters-in-law and daughters in their decisions related to (im)mobility, work and earning. Theoretically, the article speaks to the production of gendered and racialised work and how these fit into capitalist accumulation, women’s productive and reproductive labour, and the tensions between family duties and personal aspirations. The women in the study were ‘factory’ workers, home-based workers and ‘homeworkers’, all with different subjectivities. Although women’s work and mobility are shaped by patriarchal norms in both states, the women in our study were pushing the boundaries of tradition and asserting their views within the family. Work in cities has given them the means of fulfilling aspirations, especially related to their children’s education.

Impact of Covid-19 on the built environment

Purpose>This literature review paper aims to discuss the impacts and measures taken on Covid-19 with respect to architecture, built form and its allied fields along with observations from around the world with the end results of its implementation.Design/methodology/approach>Various research journals from Science Direct and Taylor and Francis among others were referred and reviewed to learn more on Covid-19 along with its impacts on people and their built environment. Keywords that aligned with the topic of interest like pandemic, Covid-19, coronavirus, urban spaces, built environment and built-up space were identified. Research papers that aligned with the scope of the paper and its keywords were found. An excel sheet with the basic data of these papers was written down. The essence of each of these articles were understood and linked with the topic in hand. A review of all these papers was written coherently to the topic. Future scope in this field of study was also identified.Findings>It discusses the various measures taken around the world in built-up spaces along with the various measures given by researchers, architects and urban planners to mitigate and reduce the transmission of Covid-19 in the built environment and urban spaces. The discussed measures along with observations from around the world have also been discussed with its end results. Discussions and conclusions on these design strategies and recommendations are made with the anticipation of a paradigm shift due to post-pandemic changes. Current scenarios of public spaces in densely populated countries are discussed. Future scope in this ongoing field of study includes measures that can be taken in specific to some particular built-up typologies like markets, theaters, parks, bazaars, etc.Research limitations/implications>The limitation of this study is the restricting of the study of Covid-19 to only architectural, urban and public realm scales. The study does not facilitate the involvement of other fields and their influence with Covid-19.Originality/value>This paper has been completely written by the author and the co-authors and has not been copied from any other sources.

Bodies: Propinquity

The chapter offers a theoretical reflection on how the ongoing pandemics enjoins the need to rethink our proxemics, our everyday ways of coexisting in urban spaces and places. In particular, the chapter proposes the observation of human bodies as the richest point of view for understanding the relations between spaces and practices in urban spaces. Focusing on philosophical literature about touch, the chapter proposes to imagine post-COVID cities as platforms in which different individuals, social groups and populations, characterized by pluralisation of forms of life, can experiment a new life in public, framing distances as a promise of encounter. © 2022, The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG.

Cities: Space/Time

The starting point of this chapter is the concept of urban rhythm as the key to understand the consequences and effects of urban space–time dynamics after pandemic. Critically analysing the international literature about the urban effects of pandemic, the chapter discusses the most relevant consequences of COVID-19 on supply and value chains, mobility, labour organisation restructuring connected with the raising of remote working. In the last part of the chapter the case of Milan is presented, with particular attention to the “15-min strategy” proposed by Milan Municipality in June 2020. © 2022, The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG.

A new perception;generating well-being urban public spaces after the era of pandemics

In the new pandemic era, the perception of urban spaces has been developed and the definition of well-being in urban public settings is ambiguous. The essay helps with theorizing the construction of urban public spaces and the health spaces influenced by green zones. We examine the relationships between public spaces and various challenges through an urban design lens, considering pandemics' involvement in the migration of urban areas as a transitional urban actor. We thoroughly map this phenomenon and assess the UN-Habitat core message on COVID-19 and public spaces, The concept of the 15 min minutes' city, and the determinants of health and wellbeing in neighborhoods. Furthermore, an imperial study was generated to find out the new stakeholders' perception for public spaces after the era of pandemics based on PESTEL analysis. Findings of Pandemics’ both negative and positive implications on different aspect, defines the new perception generating well-being urban public spaces after the era of pandemics. © 2022 The Authors

Research on Urban Spatial Planning Strategy from the Perspective of Epidemic Prevention and Control

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.

The Neighborhood Contagion Focus as a Spatial Unit for Diagnosis and Epidemiological Action against COVID-19 Contagion in Urban Spaces: A Methodological Proposal for Its Detection and Delimitation.

The concept of neighborhood contagion focus is defined and justified as a basic spatial unit for epidemiological diagnosis and action, and a specific methodological procedure is provided to detect and map focuses and micro-focuses of contagion without using regular or artificial spatial units. The starting hypothesis is that the contagion in urban spaces manifests unevenly in the form of clusters of cases that are generated and developed by neighborhood contagion. Methodologically, the spatial distribution of those infected in the study area, the city of Málaga (Spain), is firstly analyzed from the disaggregated and anonymous address information. After defining the concept of neighborhood contagion focus and justifying its morphological parameters, a method to detect and map neighborhood contagion focus in urban settings is proposed and applied to the study case. As the main results, the existence of focuses and micro-focuses in the spatial pattern of contagion is verified. Focuses are considered as an ideal spatial analysis unit, and the advantages and potentialities of the use of mapping focus as a useful tool for health and territorial management in different phases of the epidemic are shown.