The Impact of COVID-19 on Public Space: A Review of the Emerging Questions

Honey-Rosés, Jordi; Anguelovski, Isabelle; Bohigas, Josep; Chireh, Vincent Kuuteyiri; Daher, Carolyn; Bosch, Cecil C. Konijnendijk van den; Litt, Jill; Mawani, Vrushti; McCall, M.K.; Orellana, Arturo; Oscilowicz, Emilia; Sánchez, Ulises Delgado; Senbel, Maged; Tan, Xueqi; Villagomez, Erick; Zapata, Oscar; Nieuwenhuijsen, Mark

doi:10.31219/osf.io/rf7xa

Cited by 164 publications

(119 citation statements)

References 37 publications

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“…Aggregated data from multiple end-points at cityscale, which many local authorities often rely on, might inform policy from a public health perspective, but it says little about local experience and does not differentiate between contexts, which could instead be relevant for other dimensions of well-being and quality of life [41][42][43]. The advantage of such approach is that it can also give insights into how the use of open public space has changed during the COVID-19 period [44]. It is worth noting that for this specific study, the set of metrics related to sound levels still plays an important role in characterizing the observed effects of the lockdown measures on the urban acoustic environment, so it is important that such dB-based parameters are taken into account and more efforts are deployed to develop reliable soundscape (i.e., perception-oriented) indices [25,45].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Assessing the changing urban sound environment during the COVID-19 lockdown period using short-term acoustic measurements

et al. 2020

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The implementation of lockdown measures due to the COVID-19 outbreak has resulted in wide-ranging social and environmental implications. Among the environmental impacts is a decrease in urban noise levels which has so far been observed at the city scale via noise mapping efforts conducted through the framework of the Environmental Noise Directive. This study aims to understand how lockdown measures have manifested at a local level to better determine how the person-level experience of the urban soundscape has been affected and how these affects differ across urban space typologies. Taking London as a case study, a series of 30-second binaural recordings were taken at 11 locations representing a cross-section of urban public spaces with varying compositions of sound sources during Spring 2019 (pre-lockdown, N = 620) and Spring 2020 (during-lockdown, N = 481). Five acoustic and psychoacoustic metrics (LAeq, LA10, LA90, Loudness, Sharpness) were calculated for each recording and their changes from the pre-lockdown scenario to the lockdown scenario are investigated. Clustering analysis was performed which grouped the locations into 3 types of urban settings based on their acoustic characteristics. An average reduction of 5.4 dB (LAeq) was observed, however significant differences in the degree of reduction were found across the locations, ranging from a 10.7 dB to a 1.2 dB reduction. This study confirms the general reduction in noise levels due to the nationally imposed lockdown measures, identifies trends which vary depending on the urban context and discusses the implications for the limits of urban noise reduction.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Assessing the changing urban sound environment during the COVID-19 lockdown period using short-term acoustic measurements

et al. 2020

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“…It is being strongly encouraged that people stay physically active within their home environment through home exercises and other household activities. Walks in the neighborhood and parks are now allowed in some countries with COVID-19 measures of social distancing respected (e.g., Honey-Roses et al, 2020 ).…”

Section: Literature Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

COVID-19 Place Confinement, Pro-Social, Pro-environmental Behaviors, and Residents’ Wellbeing: A New Conceptual Framework

2020

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Residents’ wellbeing in the present COVID-19 global health crisis requires a deeper understanding to determine appropriate management strategies to promote sustainable behaviors and contribute to human and planetary health. Residents’ behavior can have a profound influence in contributing to personal and global community’s health by responding effectively to emergency strategies in disease outbreaks such as the Coronavirus. It is evident that an understanding of residents’ behavior(s) pre COVID-19 across fields have relied on over-simplistic models, many of which will need to be revisited. Our interaction with people and nature while respecting social distancing has profound positive impacts on our physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual wellbeing. The current health pandemic has called that people be confined in their homes across many nations as a means to control the spread of the virus and save lives. This calls for research exploring the mechanisms; this paper develops and proposes a conceptual framework suggesting that place confinement promotes pro-social and household pro-environmental behaviors which could become habitual and contribute further to our people’s and our planet’s health. The proposed model concerns socio-economically favored social sectors whose survival is not as threatened by the pandemic as the poor sectors where wellbeing (and mental health) are at high risk. Some evidence shows that human connectedness to place may contribute to engagement in desirable behaviors. Interaction with other members of the household can help create meanings leading to collective actions promoting psychological wellbeing. Promoting hygienic behaviors in the household (frequent hand washing) while at the same time being conscious not to keep the water flowing when not required would contribute to a range of benefits (health, financial, biospheric, altruistic) and promote wellbeing. Engaging in pro-social behaviors may result in positive effects on psychological wellbeing, reducing mental distress giving rise to a sense of attachment and belongingness, trust and overall life satisfaction. Engaging people in low-effort pro-environmental behavior to maintain some levels of physical activity and biological harmony with natural environmental settings (e.g., gardening) may help reduce anxiety and distress. This is the first study exploring the interplay of relationships between place confinement, pro-social behavior, household pro-environmental behaviors, place attachment as a multi-dimensional construct and presenting their relationships to residents’ wellbeing. Behavioral change interventions are proposed to promote lifestyle change for people’s wellbeing and broader societal benefits.

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“…In order to cope with the difficulties of public transportation systems, some cities currently are developing new cycle paths and adaptations of the urban space that can provide an alternative to road users [50]. These actions can be implemented by promoting the use of technologies such as APP for geo-localization or ITS systems [51].…”

Section: Covid-19 Impact On Italian Mobilitymentioning

confidence: 99%

The Impact of COVID-19 Pandemic on the Resilience of Sustainable Mobility in Sicily

et al. 2020

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The COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in unprecedented measures changing travel habits in many countries. Many users have started to prefer traveling by private cars, which is against the sustainability policies of the European cities. The necessity of gaining a deeper understanding of road users’ travel habit changes, their feelings on public transport use, and their perceptions of using sustainable urban mobility modes has emerged for future transport planning. Considering these facts, the study in this paper aimed to investigate the influence of the COVID-19 pandemic on road users’ perceptions, needs, and use of sustainable travel modes (i.e., public transport, walking, and cycling). An online survey was carried out during the period from March to May 2020 in the case study area, Sicily of Southern Italy. Regarding the population of the case study, the survey was representative, with 431 individuals. The survey included variables, namely gender, age, city of residence, private car ownership, walking and cycling frequency before and during the pandemic, public transport use frequency for leisure activities before and during the pandemic, need for remote working, and the stress and anxiety perception of using public transport during the pandemic. The analysis started with descriptive statistics and it was followed by correlation analysis in order to explore the characteristics of the dataset and relationship between variables. It was found that these were not statistically significantly correlated at a 95% confidence level. An ordinal regression model was applied for determining the predictions. The results suggested that women were less likely to walk during the pandemic than men. Participants were more likely to resume remote work even after the second phase in order to reduce their daily travel needs and keep their isolation. Participants have expressed a positive opinion on the use of micromobility during pandemic situations. These results can be considered as a basis for sustainable urban planning and a guide for decision-makers who aim to encourage the use of public transport, walking, cycling, and micromobility.

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The Impact of COVID-19 on Public Space: A Review of the Emerging Questions

Cited by 164 publications

References 37 publications

Assessing the changing urban sound environment during the COVID-19 lockdown period using short-term acoustic measurements

Assessing the changing urban sound environment during the COVID-19 lockdown period using short-term acoustic measurements

COVID-19 Place Confinement, Pro-Social, Pro-environmental Behaviors, and Residents’ Wellbeing: A New Conceptual Framework

The Impact of COVID-19 Pandemic on the Resilience of Sustainable Mobility in Sicily

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