COVID-19 and urban planning: Built environment, health, and well-being in Greek cities before and during the pandemic

Abstract

The coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic has led to dramatic changes in quality of life, bringing to the forefront of the debate the question of planning and design of pandemic-resilient cities. Using quasi-longitudinal survey data (via a social media campaign) and geospatial data from Greek cities, we evaluate changes in health and well-being during COVID-19 compared to the pre-COVID-19 period, and then explore in detail how specific built environment characteristics in Athens and Thessaloniki relate to health and well-being before and during COVID-19. Results suggest that overall health, life satisfaction, happiness, personal relationships satisfaction, leisure satisfaction, satisfaction with income, and satisfaction with vacations all decreased during COVID-19, while anxiety and back pain increased during COVID-19. The role of the urban built environment in health and well-being was found to differ considerably for the COVID-19 period compared to pre-COVID-19. Proximity to large parks, proximity to numerous local facilities, lower neighborhood density, living further from the city center, and living in a larger dwelling were associated with better health and well-being outcomes during COVID-19. Urban planning and relevant policies that cities adopt should carefully focus on mitigating implications for critical issues such as the quest for sustainable urban development and city forms.

Quality of life during the COVID-19 pandemic in Austria

“…Indeed, it has been well documented that green spaces are good for our mental health (White et al, 2021 ) and this may also be an explanation for the better QoL scores seen in rural areas in this study. In fact, a positive consequence of the pandemic may be the renewed interest in putting health and wellbeing at the forefront of urban planning (Mouratidis and Yiannakou, 2022 ) and our data support a need for this to occur. Further studies on cities with differing pandemic-restriction-compatible services, outdoor spaces, and opportunities for residents would elucidate these findings.…”

“…As such, we focused on age and gender in our analyses of changes over time. Furthermore, urban vs. countryside environments present characteristics that contribute to health and wellbeing during a pandemic, such as access to facilities, green space, and urban density (Mouratidis and Yiannakou, 2022 ). Therefore, it is conceivable that they have experienced disparate impacts on quality of life due to the pandemic.…”

Post-pandemic urban design: The equilibrium between social distancing and social interactions within the built environment

“…Regarding the pandemic implications on urban design and its impact on improving the built environment, the need for such modifications has greatly risen, which in most cases, have been adequate for providing theoretical solutions ( Megahed & Ghoneim, 2020 ; Sharifi & Khavarian-Garmsir, 2020 ). On the other hand, remarkable debates have been conducted in relation to the post-pandemic cities so far ( Banai, 2020 ; Jasiński, 2021 ; Mouratidis & Yiannakou, 2021 ). The fact remains that urban design strategies should rely on pragmatic solutions in order to figure out the problem.…”

Study of the Effect of Urban Densification and Micrometeorology on the Sustainability of a Coronavirus-Type Pandemic

“…The problem of the coronavirus in urban centers has been treated by various authors. In [14,15], several areas of action are characterized: transformations in the configuration of public spaces, transportation, urban connectivity and urban economies. The pandemic has also been studied according to a systemic approach [16][17][18][19], as a set of interrelated elements with a common goal.…”