A Comprehensive Review on the Effects of COVID-19 Pandemic on Public Urban Spaces

COVID-19, evidently the world’s worst pandemic during the last two centuries, has predicated several challenges for urban designers, especially in their bid to find appropriate designing strategies. Even though there are umpteenth studies in the literature that have focused on the different aspects of COVID-19 related pandemics, very scant studies sought to find appropriate mitigating strategies in designing pandemic friendly urban spaces. Thus, through qualitative grounded theory as a main methodological approach, this study hypothesized that the COVID-19 induced pandemic has direct effects on the liveability of public spaces. Accordingly, by developing a comprehensive review of the literature on the environmental and socio-economic effects of the pandemic, this study proposed a comprehensive framework for understanding its side effects and a comprehensive mitigating strategy to deal with it in the short and long term of designing a healthy urban environment.