The Relationship between Space Quality of Public Spaces and the Pandemic: Covid-19 and Its Effects

Abstract

Many pandemics throughout human history have affected the use of space in cities due to many reasons such as the way people live with other living species, the unhealthy space arrangements in their houses, and the inadequate health regulations in cities. After the pandemics, the existing housing stocks were renewed, innovations were brought to the materials used, and it was seen that new buildings were produced in order to create healthier cities. In addition, many regulations have been made at the city scale, such as the establishment of modern urban sanitation systems in cities, the precautions taken for the cleaning of crowded slums and cities and streets.

            It is thought that Covid-19, which occurred in Wuhan, China in December 2019 and is a global pandemic, will have lasting effects on cities. Urban users, who have been trying to adapt to a life order called the 'new normal' for the last 2 years, have faced the economic, social, physical and psychological effects of this pandemic. In particular, the use of public spaces, which is a focal point that strengthens social unity, offers a wide variety of activities where individuals can socialize together, and brings different cultural communities together, has changed significantly. The centers of the cities were opened to the users in a controlled manner due to the possible crowding of people and the ways of limiting the number of people in the urban space were taken. Therefore, it is thought that the quality of the space will be affected by the change in the habitual use of the urban area. The aim of this study, which is an investigation study based on this idea; The aim of this study is to present an evaluation from the literature of the changes experienced through the four parameters (access and linkages, comfort and image, uses and activities and sociability) determined by PPS (Project for Public Spaces) determined by PPS (Project for Public Spaces) for the quality of the public space, together with the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic on daily life in the public space.