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The SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus pandemic and the city’s spatial policy directions

Author(s): Sylwia Dudek-Mańkowska,Mirosław Grochowski / Language(s): English Publication Year: 0

The chapter discusses various issues of spatial policy in cities in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. It presents a historical perspective of the impact of epidemics on the functioning of cities, public interventions taken to counter them, as well as challenges they pose for modern cities. Spatial policy is not an autonomous policy in the sense of being abstract from social, economic, and spatial conditions. It is the result of an integrated approach to development planning. Its effectiveness depends on the applied instruments, which nowadays go beyond the traditional spatial planning tools. It is important to develop urban management principles for a city resilient to the COVID-19 pandemic and to future outbreaks. This requires reformulating existing unsustainable urban patterns and tackling social inequalities. Cities need new health policies and efficient approaches to environmental sustainability and “green” economic recovery.

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Active recreation as leisure activity of inhabitants of large cities in Poland during the COVID-19 pandemic. An attempt at a qualitative approach

Author(s): Małgorzata Durydiwka,Renata Krukowska,Alina Zajadacz / Language(s): English Publication Year: 0

The article discusses the patterns of the use of free time during the COVID-19 pandemic which the inhabitants of large cities in Poland devoted to active recreation. The analysis of changes – taking into account indoor and outdoor activities – was carried out in four time periods: before the pandemic, under the first lockdown, during the summer holidays, and under the second lockdown. The study used results of a structured interview, including self-reporting, and a narrative interview. The research has shown an increase in interest in outdoor recreation during the pandemic and fluctuations in recreational activities at home and in facilities. The respondents expressed varied opinions on changes in the possibilities of undertaking various activities in the field of physical recreation. Changes in the scope of indoor recreation were assessed as negative, but some of the opinions on changes in the scope of outdoor recreation were positive, resulting from the adoption of the ‘sweet lemons’ rationalisation.

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Habitability and gastronomic gentrification of public space in the times of COVID-19. The case of La Condesa neighbourhood in Mexico City

Author(s): Alberto Javier Villar Calvo,Yadira Contreras Juárez,Luis Arturo Cruz García / Language(s): English Publication Year: 0

In the context of contemporary urban processes, among which gentrification appears as the one with the greatest impact on Mexican cities, the COVID-19 pandemic has decisively in fluenced the dynamics of the use and occupation of public spaces, as well as their habitability conditions. In the case of Mexico City, the return to social and productive activities after the COVID-19 lockdown stage was supported by an urban policy aimed at intensifying the use of public spaces to meet the needs of economic reactivation while ensuring adequate sanitary conditions and social distancing. The implementation of this policy decisively affected the intensity and diversification of the use of public spaces, which came to be occupied and modified in terms of habitability by economic actors from the catering services sector, affecting the living conditions of the common residents.

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The impact of the COVID-19 epidemic on the change of Warsaw information layout illustrated by the examples of the PGE Narodowy Stadium and the tenement house at 37 Tamka Street

Author(s): Jan Zygmunt Kowalski / Language(s): English Publication Year: 0

The purpose of this study is to prove the thesis about the influence of the COVID-19 pandemic on the information structure of the city, seen through changes and modifications of its signs and symbols. The analysis concerns two selected elements of the city’s information layout, which are names of objects and urban art. Two objects in Warsaw have been chosen as examples in the discussion: the PGE Narodowy Stadium and a mural on the wall of the tenement house at 37 Tamka Street. In order to analyse the studied issues, the article opens with providing definitions of a sign, a symbol, urban space, and the information layout of the city. Discussion of each case study is preceded by an explanation of the importance of naming conventions and urban art in the city’s information layout on the basis of both secondary sources and the author’s own conclusions, and supported by a short presentation of foreign examples.

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The concept of the compassionate city as a response to the demographic and social challenges of European cities. A comparative analysis of Berlin and Warsaw

Author(s): Jan Goliński,Wojciech Dziemianowicz / Language(s): English Publication Year: 0

The demographic transition and the aging process will be big challenges for urban centres in the Global North. It is necessary to consider how to prepare cities for the coming transformations. One of the solutions may turn out to be the concept of the compassionate city, created by Allan Kellehear. It assumes remodelling the functioning of urban centres to accommodate the most vulnerable – seniors, children, people with disabilities. The empirical part of the article examines Berlin and Warsaw. It presents the results of the analysis at two scales – macro (strategy documents) and micro (district). The strategy documents are analysed for the presence of elements of the compassionate city concept. The study examines districts where spatial analyses of the proposed indicators of the compassionate city were carried out. Finally, a comprehensive measure for assessing the level of development of compassionate city elements is proposed.

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Physical barriers constraining walkability in cities. Case study of Warsaw, Poland

Author(s): Karolina Sitnik / Language(s): English Publication Year: 0

Warsaw faces problems connected with suburbanisation, car traffic as well as physical barriers challenging the city’s walkability. Numerous monofunctional spaces play a great role in Warsaw and are significant barriers to pedestrian access to critical services, an obstacle which the citizens face each day. This paper contains a spatial GIS analysis of accessibility to critical services such as health care, education, public transport, green infrastructure, sport, and recreation as well as culture from residential buildings in the capital of Poland in the context of Carlos Moreno’s 15-minute city concept. The author indicates the main monofunctional areas in the city which are the leading physical barriers for pedestrians.

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Functional mix on a city scale. Case study of Warsaw, Poland

Author(s): Maciej Misztal / Language(s): English Publication Year: 0

Functional mix is one of the foundations of creating a city that is friendly to residents. Mixing functions allows to reduce the distances necessary to meet various needs in the city. Due to its specificity, functional mix is analysed in the literature mainly at the scale of districts or neighbourhoods. However, according to the author, examining functional mix at the scale of the entire city may show the studied phenomenon in a new light. The following article presents a new method of studying functional mix based on the use of spatial data. The results show that it is possible to create a functional mix map showing the intensity and spatial structure of the studied phenomenon at a city scale. Thanks to this, it is possible, among other things, to identify problem areas that require thorough analysis.

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“Welcome to the park!” – Management and promotion of urban green spaces through the lens of local government social media

Author(s): Sylwia Kulczyk,Kacper Kuzak,Tomasz Grzyb / Language(s): English Publication Year: 0

In this paper, we ask if the cultural ecosystem services provided by urban and suburban green spaces are noticed and managed by local governments. We respond to this question by analysing the content of the official Facebook profiles run by the local authorities of the Warsaw metropolitan zone. The number of posts focused on urban greenery was significantly smaller outside the city of Warsaw. Although none of the posts referred to cultural ecosystem services as such, recreation was a frequent topic. Local authorities actively promote environmental education and are aware of the importance of urban greenery in supporting the non-material needs of the citizens. However, they are reluctant to discuss their work and ideas. The main function of their Facebook profiles is to provide information and promote their own work. Green spaces that fall under the responsibility of local governments are subject to construction, renovation, and making green spaces user-friendly.

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Development of cities, the right to the city, and governance, as exemplified by Villavicencio, Colombia

Author(s): Mirosława Czerny / Language(s): English Publication Year: 0

In the fragmented, socially and spatially polarised cities of Latin America, there is an expectation that local authorities will engage in good governance – and appropriately distribute public services – and consequently improve the living conditions of all inhabitants, especially those in the poorest social strata. But it is the poor, marginalised districts marred by chronic underinvestment that in fact dominate urban space, which results in tangible disparities in levels of access to municipal services in certain areas. Equally, institutions responsible for planning had long failed to take account of the needs of inhabitants in poor districts, focusing their efforts rather on large new developments involving roads and power supply. This state of affairs was maintained and even entrenched by weak public participation. It only started to change for the better in the 2010s, as bottom-up initiatives began to emerge to promote change in large housing estates. Villavicencio, Colombia, can be taken as an example of cities in which influxes of migrants have engendered a rapid increase in population, to the point at which inadequate development of infrastructure started to generate many major problems. That said, the inclusion of local communities in the governance process can now be obeserved to be yielding steady improvements in the situation at hand.

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Building social capital through climate change mitigation based on the example of Warsaw, Poland

Author(s): Michelle Mbazuigwe / Language(s): English Publication Year: 0

Social capital is a key aspect in implementing sustainable development and plays a major role in the development of urban spaces. The analogy between social capital and natural capital is noticeable, but there are clear barriers complicating the study of the interaction between these fields. Natural capital, like other types of resources, can be an important factor in community development. Shaping civil society through participation, facilitating communication, and increasing the quality of education is significant, but the differences between stakeholders’ approaches to shaping city space can be an issue. It is social capital, that is a more informed, cohesive, and active society, that faces the challenge of climate change mitigation.

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New Urbanism in assessing sustainability of Polish and American suburbs

Author(s): Dorota Mantey / Language(s): English Publication Year: 0

While in the U.S. there are numerous suburbs entirely following the concept of New Urbanism or Food Urbanism, in Poland it is still challenging to find examples of such estates. The article is aimed at comparing two sustainable suburban neighbourhoods: Serenbe in Georgia, U.S., and Siewierz Jeziorna, Poland. It presents a new tool for evaluating suburban settlements based on LEED-ND and CNU. While in Poland we still mainly build the idea of urbanity on dense and accessible settlements that generate walking and neighbouring activities, Americans seem to be evolving towards Biophilic Design, Agrarian Urbanism, and the process of restoring human scale to cities and their suburbs based on culture and art. The broader spatial context, linkages, and location are the most neglected sustainable development elements, while the trend of urban design harmonious with nature is steadily gaining importance.

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Social representations, public space, and consumption in the city of Metepec, State of Mexico, Mexico

Author(s): José Juan Méndez Ramírez,Teresa Becerril Sánchez / Language(s): English Publication Year: 0

The article discusses changes in the social representations of the consumers of urban production in the Municipality of Metepec, Mexico. It focuses on streets and commercial plazas, public spaces in which the symbolic production of consumption takes place. In its methodology, the paper makes use of documentary techniques to identify the categories of analysis and the theoretical principles. In addition, it uses field techniques (mainly observation). The transformation in the meaning of public space and its new representation in ‘pseudo-public space’ has induced new forms of consumption among the population. It has also strengthened the appropriation of space due to the sense of security which consumers feel in these new ‘pseudo-public’ places – they perceive them as safe from risks and aggression, something that they no longer experience in traditional public spaces.

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Understanding ‘outstanding’: An urban-rural cultural landscape facing tourism development. Case study of Salento, Colombia

Author(s): Sonia Uribe,Sylwia Kulczyk / Language(s): English Publication Year: 0

This paper is a case study of the town of Salento within the context of the listing of the CCLC [Coffee Cultural Landscape of Colombia] as a World Heritage Site. We explore both the benefits provided to the social-ecological system by the increasing levels of tourism but also the threats, especially in the form of gentrification. Salento in particular has seen a rapid transformation over the past three decades, changing from a centre of agriculture, to a focus on trade, and then to a tourist destination. Without proper understanding and management, the current phase in the development of the town may potentially damage the livelihoods and traditions of the local people and lead to replacement of locals by city-dwellers and foreigners, putting at risk or potentially eliminating the system lying at the foundations of the CCLC. We recommend a deeper quantitative and qualitative analysis to understand the perspectives of the different stakeholders to preserve the culture and nature which bring both long-term and new residents to Salento, as well as working in partnership to achieve this goal.

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The city of La Plata – its development against the background of European ideas of ideal cities of the nineteenth century

Author(s): Agnieszka Dudzińska-Jarmolińska / Language(s): English Publication Year: 0

La Plata, being a satellite city of Buenos Aires, was designed from the ground up in a geometric layout which still exists today. It also has a spatial arrangement typical of many other Latin American cities, developed under the influence of European utopian projects implemented at that time. In the structure of La Plata, we can find many parallels to the European cities developing in the nineteenth century, such as Paris, Vienna or Barcelona – which proves that it was supposed to be a modern city with an international character. Over time, it turned out that the ideally designed urban layout did not translate into harmonious development of the city, which is reflected in its image today. Currently, La Plata is struggling not only with urban chaos, but also poorly functioning communication or flooding from the La Plata River and pollution produced by the refineries operating nearby.

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Urban agriculture as an element of mitigation-adaptation strategy: a response to climate and food crises

Author(s): Ada Górna / Language(s): English Publication Year: 0

In the face of accelerating urbanisation, a particularly important challenge for urban sustainability is the search for solutions which will allow the most vulnerable city dwellers to adapt to climate change and, at the same time, will curb cities’ contribution to climate change. This text shows the role of urban agriculture as an element of the mitigation adaptation strategy. It addresses the issue of climate crisis, as well as economic and food crises directly linked to it. Three terms: urban agriculture, adaptation, and mitigation are conceptualised. Then, the functions of urban agriculture are presented, broken down into adaptation and mitigation strategies. The analysis shows the importance of urban agriculture in the face of economic, environmental, and food crises. While local food production brings a number of benefits, there are also limitations to using its full potential.

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Towards the construction of a territorial human development index. An approach from the metropolitan perspective

Author(s): Mónica Guadalupe González Yñigo,Arturo Venancio Flores / Language(s): English Publication Year: 0

“The true wealth of a nation is in its people” – this notion has evolved in history according to national demands and has been oriented towards empowering the population in carrying out the activities of their choice. To measure this idea, the Human Development Index (HDI) has been used as a tool of quantifying the degree to which human beings enjoy their lives, focusing on three essential elements: longevity, knowledge, and decent standards of living. Adjustments have been made to its methodology, such as putting emphasis on strategic elements and adapting it to various territorial scales. However, the development index has mostly been approached as a simple average of the available data, leaving aside the true concept of territory and territoriality, which should be the basis for the analysis of a topic as relevant as human development. Therefore, this paper proposes to analyse the human development index from a territorial perspective, discussing its importance on the example of the metropolitan areas of Mexico.

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Workers’ adaptation strategies in a highly informal labour market during the COVID-19 pandemic. The case of Metropolitan Lima

Author(s): Agnieszka Olter-Castillo,Jose Enrique Castillo Sanchez / Language(s): English Publication Year: 0

The COVID-19 pandemic has had a profound impact on labour markets worldwide. Peru emerged as one of the most severely affected countries globally, with its capital, Lima, experiencing even more substantial repercussions. In this study, we analyse the adaptation strategies of households and workers in Metropolitan Lima, focusing on those engaged in informal work before and during the COVID-19. We discovered that households in Metropolitan Lima primarily coped with income loss by reducing food consumption and depleting their savings. The COVID-19 pandemic not only led to rise in unemployment but also spurred an increase in inactivity among the working-age population, with no significant recovery noted by 2021. Workers began to engage in lower-skilled occupations within smaller firms. Ultimately, informal employment surged during the pandemic, driven mainly by an uptick in the number of workers participating in informal firms in low-skilled occupations.

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Mexico and social vulnerability to floods in 2020

Author(s): Luis Alberto Olín Fabela,Fermín Carreño Meléndez / Language(s): English Publication Year: 0

The article proposes to calculate social vulnerability to floods in Mexico with a methodology that integrates different social, economic, and environmental variables and indicators. It uses the Principal Components Analysis, the stratification developed by Dalenius and Hodges, and the Geographic Information System. The objective is to put forward an integrative approach to measuring the vulnerability associated with floods. We start with a review of methodologies proposed so far to then identify the variables and indicators needed to calculate vulnerability index for 2020. The selected variables are associated with marginalisation and the environmental dimension of floods. The elaborated index is presented in the form of degrees of vulnerability and mapped over the municipalities of Mexico, representing the social vulnerability to this hydrometeorological phenomenon in individual areas. The results show that some municipalities, despite suffering floods, are less vulnerable than others and that this degree of vulnerability corresponds to their socioeconomic status and vice versa.

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Impact of internal armed conflicts on tourism in urban centres, a context analysis

Author(s): Salvador Gerardo Gonzalez Cruz,David Horacio García Waldman,Hernando Castro Garzón / Language(s): English Publication Year: 0

The constant regional and local conflicts erupting around the world have had a direct impact on tourism, as marked social instability is a factor greatly influencing the safety, accessibility, and image of cities. The outbreak of an internal conflict directly impacts any efforts towards maintaining the sustainability of regions. The paper presents a context analysis allowing to determine the direct relationship between the condition of traditional or emerging tourist destinations and the presence of internal armed conflicts. The developed methodology can be used as a dynamic tool for the resolution of the clash between these phenomena.

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COVID-19 pandemic and geographic space in Mexico. A perspective of differences in comorbidities by sex

Author(s): Giovanna Santana Castañeda,Rebeca Angélica Serrano Barquín,Marcela Virginia Santana Juárez / Language(s): English Publication Year: 0

Given the international importance of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic, different efforts have been taken by various sectors to combat it. Contributions have also been made to analysing the spatial and temporal distribution of this disease based on the contributions converging in a single geographical area. This research analyses the role of comorbidities as factors having a differential influence on deaths from COVID-19 in a given territory and which reveal certain particularities in terms of sex. This work also analyses the geographical distribution of the data accumulated from the start of the pandemic until May 2022 in order to identify territorial disparities and differences in the impact of comorbidities by sex. The study area is Mexico, with individual states used as the spatial disaggregation scale, rendering 32 spatial units. The results are an important input for decision-makers, who can make use of them to directly affect the public health of each spatial unit.

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