Streetscapes as Surrogate Greenspaces During COVID-19?

Abstract

In 2020, the spread of COVID-19 (SARS-CoV-2) globally led to severe crisis, disruption and hardship in both private and public life. In such times of distress, access to urban greenspaces is essential for physical and mental wellbeing. However, globally implemented lockdowns deprived many people of freely visiting greenspaces. Inequality in access to urban greenspaces was apparent at global scales. Consequently, many people took to streets for outdoor activities due to its easy accessibility. We, therefore, aimed to study the usage and relevance of streetscapes for outdoor activities during a crisis. We hypothesised that streetscapes supported diverse outdoor activities, functioning as surrogate urban greenspaces. We distributed an online questionnaire to over 400 international respondents. Our results clearly showed that people used streetscapes during this period for a variety of activities, many of which were also reported as their main physical activity. Walking was the most frequent activity in streetscapes globally, and independent from sociocultural characteristics. Other activities reported such as jogging and cycling also aligned generally with main physical activities of people, but differed between countries and people's sociocultural background. In summary, more than one third of respondents from lower-income countries reported not having had access to a greenspace, whereas 8% reported the same in high-income countries. Our results highlight the important role of streetscapes in facilitating people's regular physical activities during the pandemic. Recognising streetscapes as important public outdoor spaces within residential neighbourhoods could help counteract the inequality in greenspace access, an issue that seems more relevant than ever before.

Supporting biodiversity: Structures of participatory actions in urban green spaces

“…UGS are used regularly by people for various reasons such as physical activities, social activities, and restoration (Porcherie et al, 2019). According to recent studies, the usage of these areas has increased during the COVID-19 pandemic (Geng et al, 2020;Fischer and Gopal, 2021). It can be related to the measures that governments have taken to prevent the spread of the virus.…”

Street Experiments and COVID‐19: Challenges, Responses and Systemic Change

“…Open and green outdoor spaces allow for practicing different types of activities, such as playing, exercising, and socialising. The pandemic, clearly stressed the need for these types of activities and for qualitative open and green spaces (Combs & Pardo 2021 ; Fischer & Gopal 2021 ). In most parts of the world (accept for the majority of Latin American countries), there was an increase in visits to parks and green spaces during the pandemic period, in both periods of lockdown and in periods with fewer restrictions (GCCMT 2021 ).…”

“…A street experiment can respond to this imbalance by providing a more pleasant and accessible space for residents for different types of activities. Fischer and Gopal ( 2021 ) show that urban streetscapes support outdoor recreation and act as a surrogate for greenspaces. The Vakantiestraten in Amsterdam provided more space for play and socialising, and in this way provided an alternative to a holiday abroad (Gemeente Amsterdam 2020a ).…”

Urban Nature and Public Health: How Nature Exposure and Sociocultural Background Relate to Depression Risk

“…To explore our hypotheses, we assembled a three-part questionnaire available in English and German that addressed participants' (1) habits and preferences pertaining to urban nature, greenspaces and neighborhood socialization, (2) current health status and (3) information on their sociocultural background. All questions pertaining to urban greenspace, nature exposure and sociocultural background were derived from existing and previously validated questionnaires [56,57], with few changes in wording to improve clarity. Responses and comments from a small test sample (n = 10), comprising male and female participants, aged 20 to 58 years, with six different nationalities, were used to verify the clarity of the fully assembled questionnaire used in this study.…”