Access to urban activities during the Covid-19 pandemic and impacts on urban mobility: The Brazilian context

The pandemic of the COVID-19 disease has radically changed human lifestyle and the usage of living space, especially in cities. With the prolongation of the crisis, the effects of COVID-19 on urban spaces are becoming more noticeable, but the definite changes that can inform approaches to future development, planning, and use of urban space have not yet been determined, as evidenced by the research carried out in this study. The research revealed that there exists the consensus in terms of several new guidelines whose application in design can simultaneously increase the resilience of urban environment to future pandemics and improve the overall quality of city life. These presented guidelines show that we may expect in the future a greater integration of nature-based solutions at various scales of the city, i.e., better ventilated, and naturally lit, more spacious, mixed-use, and flexible buildings surrounded by enlarged, multiplied, and multifunctional open spaces that safely receive the users who are carrying out those activities that were moved from the inner to the outer space.

Section: Covid-19 and Life In The Citymentioning

confidence: 99%

COVID-19 and City Space: Impact and Perspectives

Glavan¹,

Nikolić²,

Folić³

et al. 2022

“…Inequitable responses to and consequences of COVID-19 have been observed in terms of income, age, race, and other socioeconomic factors [31][32][33], which might reinforce existing structural inequalities in human social and economic systems [34,35]. Additionally, COVID-19 restriction policies, such as lockdowns and social distancing [36], have raised new inequalities and injustices, due to inequitable living, working, and environmental conditions and resulting unequal access to urban services and well-being resources, such as public transport, public spaces, and digital infrastructure among different groups of the population [37][38][39][40][41][42].…”

Section: Urban Inequalities In Covid-19mentioning

confidence: 99%

Food Environment Inequalities and Moderating Effects of Obesity on Their Relationships with COVID-19 in Chicago

Huang

2022

The COVID-19 outbreak has raised challenges for people with health problems. Obesity is a global issue related to COVID-19. The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) finds that obesity worsens COVID-19 outcomes. As body mass index increases, the COVID-19 death risk increases. Additionally, due to different restriction policies, the pandemic has transformed our food environment. Thus, it is important to develop an antivirus-enabled paradigm to decrease the COVID-19 spreading rate in neighborhoods with obesity concerns and design a sustainable and healthy food environment. It is found that both COVID-19 and obesity inequalities are associated with food environment inequalities, but few studies have examined the moderating effects of obesity and food environment on COVID-19. According to the Chicago Department of Public Health, more than 30% of the Chicago adult population is obese. Additionally, Chicago has 340,676 COVID-19 cases during the period between 1 March 2020 and 26 November 2021. This study uses regression models to examine the moderating effects of obesity and food environment on COVID-19 in Chicago. Besides food environment factors, green spaces and transportation access are considered. The results show COVID-19 is concentrated in areas with a high obesity rate and low food access. A 1 percent increase in obesity rate is associated with a 2.83 percent increase in COVID-19 death rate in a community. Additionally, the moderating effects of obesity on the association between food environment and COVID-19 are shown in the results.

“…To contain the fast spread of coronavirus, non-essential movement and access to public spaces, including urban green spaces, were strictly controlled [15], leading to local residents' unequal access to urban services and well-being spaces [24,25]. Social distancing and other movement restricting policies affected the use of public transport, which impacted population groups differently [26].…”

Section: Urban Inequalities In the Covid-19 Full-scale Lockdownmentioning

confidence: 99%

Enclave-Reinforced Inequality during the COVID-19 Pandemic: Evidence from University Campus Lockdowns in Wuhan, China

Sun

Xiong

et al. 2021

The COVID-19 pandemic has impacted urban life and created spatial and social inequalities in cities. The impacts of lifting full lockdown restrictions once fast-spreading and community-acquired infection waves were under control are still not fully understood. This study aims to explore spatial inequality reinforced in the intervals between the waves of infection during the COVID-19 pandemic. Enclave-reinforced inequality resulting from enclave-based lockdown policies in Chinese cities was investigated through an analysis of the impacts of university campus enclave closures on the accessibility and crowdedness of urban green spaces. Using a modified two-step floating catchment area (2SFCA) and inversed 2SFCA (i2SFCA) method, accessibility and crowdedness were calculated and compared under two different scenarios. Additionally, the Lorenz curve, Gini coefficient, and Theil index were used to measure and compare intra-city global and local inequalities under each scenario. The results indicate that the lockdown of university campus enclaves decreased the supply of urban green spaces. Campus closures not only exacerbated the unequal distribution of urban green space, but also reduced the inequality of crowdedness in urban parks due to increased crowdedness in parks near the closed enclaves. Moreover, both accessibility and crowdedness worsened when the calculations were weighted for population size and the total supply of green space. Enclave-based lockdown in cities reinforced spatial inequality, and it is highly complex and has multidimensional impacts on urban inequalities and environmental injustice which should be considered by urban planners and decision-makers hoping to create healthy, inclusive, resilient, and sustainable cities in the “new normal” of the COVID-19 pandemic.