Impacts of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Urban Planning, Design, and Management

Dear Colleagues,

The COVID-19 pandemic which started in 2020 brought enormous disruption to our everyday lives and plunged the world into an unprecedented health, economic, social and geopolitical crisis (Schmidt 2021). Drastic measures including lockdowns, staying at home, restricting movement in public spaces as well as social distancing were temporarily adopted to stop the transmission, which directly or indirectly put pressure on our urban way of life. With half of the world's population asked to stay at home at certain moments, the world witnessed the striking images of empty city streets and public gathering places in dense international metropolitan regions and smaller cities and towns. Urban functions with large-scale gatherings, such as tourism, sport and cultural events and short or long-distance travelling were cancelled or postponed. Various technical and management measures were explored to address the transmission risks and allow urban activities to resume (Chen 2022). Virtual interaction and digital infrastructure became necessary means for working, education and even communication in urban life.

In the academic world, the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic not only prompted a critical review of the current urban system but also a renewed interest in current planning, design and management of the urban environment. Some studies, for example, recognized the limitations of current design in housing, green space, land use and mobility to adapt to the pandemic situation and protect public health (Askarizad and He 2022; Nosczyk et al. 2022; Corazz et al. 2021). Given that knowledge has been accumulated to deal with risks during the pandemic, it is critical to explore the connection between the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and the vulnerability of the urban system in our society and the inequality exposed in the distribution of space resources within society. Moreover, the COVID-19 pandemic also stimulates the exploration of innovative thinking and advanced technological adaptation from diverse societal forces to create a more sustainable and inclusive living environment in the post-pandemic world. This new development could be accelerated by COVID-19 or become more important under the new complex context, although transitions may have begun a long time before the pandemic.

Every crisis in history has represented an opportunity for change. To prepare for the change, it is essential to have a deeper understanding of the impacts the current health crisis brought to society and the built environment, the adaptive strategies to cope with the pandemic, the vulnerability of the current urban system and what opportunities can be explored to create a more sustainable, healthier and more inclusive built environment.

Therefore, this Special Issue welcomes research that explores the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on urban planning, design and management in terms of creating, constructing, developing and transforming the urban environment from a range of perspectives and focuses, including:

• The impact of the pandemic on the design, planning, development, construction and management of the urban environment
• The challenges of climate change, economic crisis, and current geopolitical struggle intertwined with the drawn-out pandemic and their influence on the use, design, planning, development and change of the urban environment.
• The change in societal perception of the sustainable development of the urban environment before, during, and after the COVID-19 pandemic
• How do architects, planners, developers, city managers and societal forces address these challenges, and foster innovation in the daily use of public space and the built environment?
• Various technology-driven and intelligent elements of transition or innovation related to the built environment that help cope with the pandemic crisis
• Governance and institutional issue related to planning, design, development and management of urban space that deal with the health crisis
• Citizen participation and co-production/co-creation in the built environment and in the post-pandemic era

In this Special Issue, original research articles and reviews are welcome. Specific themes this Special Issue hopes to investigate in the context of urban planning, design and management in the built environment include, but are not limited to, the following:

• Healthy city, sustainable city, smart city and eco-city
• Sustainable development of urban environment
• Land, financialization and spatial resource distribution
• Spatial inequality, gentrification and segregation associated with pandemic
• Housing for vulnerable groups, housing affordability
• Public space in post-pandemic
• Energy transition
• Megaprojects
• Mega events and event-led urban development
• Digitalization

We look forward to receiving your contributions.

Reference:

Askarizad, R. and He, J. Post-pandemic urban design: The equilibrium between social distancing and social interactions within the built environment, Cities 2022, 124, 103618, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cities.2022.103618.

Burnett, H.; Olsen, J.R.; Mitchell, R. Green Space Visits and Barriers to Visiting during the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Three-Wave Nationally Representative Cross-Sectional Study of UK Adults. Land 2022, 11, 503; https://doi.org/10.3390/land11040503.

Chen, Y. The future of mega events, post-COVID-19 pandemic: the resilient path towards legacy creation? International Review for Spatial Planning and Sustainable Development 2022 , 10, p. 168-178, http://dx.doi.org/10.14246/irspsd.10.2_168.

Corazza, M.V.; Moretti, L.; Forestieri, G.; Galiano, G. Chronicles from the new normal: Urban planning, mobility and land-use management in the face of the COVID-19 crisis, Transportation Research Interdisciplinary Perspectives 2021, 12, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.trip.2021.100503

Dr. Yawei Chen
Dr. Tong Wang
Dr. Yunqing Xu
Dr. Yan Liu
Guest Editors

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• COVID-19 pandemic
• spatial redistribution
• public space
• inequality
• inclusiveness
• resilience
• digitalization
• drive/catalyst for innovation
• knowledge
• co-creation