COVID 19—A Qualitative Review for the Reorganization of Human Living Environments

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic is changing people’s habits and behaviors and will reshape city layout and management. Among the different areas of research to be explored, the paper outlines first inputs to use the COVID-19 health crisis as a “window of opportunity” to trigger a sustainable transition of urban living environments, through actions to reshape and territorial organization after COVID-19 and in preparation for future health. Before having a vaccine or medications that ensure a non-lethal disease course, there will be a phase of responsibility and coexistence with the virus. It will be a period whose duration experts are still unable to quantify. What changes in the city organization, behaviors and uses of spaces will we observe in the living environments? Will this lead to a sustainability transition? The paper proposes a qualitative review to investigate how the droplet might travel through the air and how COVID-19 has spread in different urban contexts to outline a comprehensive reflection on the future of the city and strategies for more resilient communities and territories. To achieve this goal, the paper proposes the need of a comparison between skills related to physics aspects, such as fluid dynamics (to assess how droplets spread) and skills related to architectural, urban and territorial design (to evaluate the conditions of indoor and outdoor living environments).

Spatiotemporal Evolution and Driving Forces of Sustainable Development of Urban Human Settlements in China for SDGs

“…Therefore, the temporal and spatial dynamic evolution of urban human settlements has been the focus of research. Many scholars have considered the system coordination [11], vulnerability [12], suitability [13], wellbeing [14], satisfaction [15,16], pseudo-environment [17], and the reorganization by COVID 19 [18] of urban human settlements based on different dimensions and perspectives. Owing to the newfound focus on earth, studies on human settlements from the perspective of sustainable development have become a new research hotspot [19,20].…”

Analyzing and visualizing global research trends on COVID-19 linked to sustainable development goals

“…Accordingly, different research works proposed sustainable transition interventions post-pandemic include: energy transition (i.e., promotion of investments in clean technology in the energy sector), low-carbon innovations, digitization of works, and sustainable mobility schemes (Ranjbari et al, 2021b ). Rethinking, reassessment, and restructuring the environments of living of cities using networks of greenery and open spaces are essential toward sustainable transition and making cities more secure against potential future health crises (Pierantoni et al, 2020 ). The impacts of the pandemic crisis on health–energy–environment nexus under the different constraints of climate changes were of high concern in this cluster.…”

Housing and urban design for COVID-19 pandemic; design for prevention of virus spread

“…Public facilities should be located and designed so that they do not focus on one point. This both prevents people from concentrating in a small area, reducing the spread of the virus and reducing the distance to reach the facilities (15).…”