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The paper contends that the covid-19 pandemic has reconfigured how cities manage urban marginality within Zimbabwe. The pandemic enabled cities to push everyday mundane practices away from the centre of the city to the margins of the cities through securitisation and criminalising informal activities within the centre. The paper's methodological underpinnings are hinged on a six month ethnography within Bulawayo (Zimbabwe's second largest city). The paper maintains the view that managing urban marginality in the context of covid-19 must be framed within the binary of two opposing forces – governing institutions (the government and municipality) and the low-income residents. Using covid-19 as a pretext of "curbing the pandemic" governing institutions have pushed informal economic activities from the centre through employing law and force; on the other hand low-income residents have found eclectic means to counteract the measures imposed to constrain their agency. Finally, the paper suggests that covid-19 has reconfigured how cities manage urban marginality through pushing everyday informal practices to the periphery and how the low-income residents deploy their agency to counteract confinement hence managing urban marginality can be understood as a two-way process involving governing institutions and the low-income residents. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The outbreak of COVID-19 raised critical questions about the functionalities of urban infrastructures, and in particular, practices of food provision, consumption and distribution. This paper focuses on the actions of non-commercial collaborative food sharing practices in Dublin city, incorporating surplus food redistribution initiatives, community kitchens, and community gardens, during the first wave of the pandemic in 2020. Whilst initially curtailed under conditions of strict lockdowns, many of these food sharing initiatives became characterised as essential services as the crisis unfolded, offering infrastructures of mobility, accessibility and care. Focusing on urban food infrastructures, qualitative content analysis of online media debates around food sharing in Dublin during this period was conducted to explore how non-commercial food sharing initiatives have been affected by, and responded to, the COVID-19 outbreak in Dublin. The paper analyses forms of improvisation, institionalisation and impact that emerged through food sharing actions and reflects on whether food sharing initiatives prefigure more sustainable urban food systems. • Demonstrates how food sharing initiatives have been affected by, and responded to, the COVID-19 outbreak in Dublin, Ireland • Contributes to the research on critical urban infrastructures and food infrastructures in cities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper aims to analyze how the associations of built environment and usage of urban space changed due to the social restrictions during COVID-19 pandemic in the United States. A total of 57,185 census block groups (CBGs) in 459 cities were analyzed. Built environment elements including road network, green space, and land use associated with usage of urban space (measured by over two billion mobile phone data) before/during COVID-19 were evaluated at both CBG and city level. Our results showed drastic decreases of urban space usage, ranging from 0.25 % to 76.35 %, among cities during COVID-19 social restriction. Specifically, CBG-level road length-node ratio, road intersection index and land use densities contributed less to usage of urban space during COVID-19. Meanwhile, the heterogeneity of city-level road network, commercial, public places, as well as hospitals and health cares exhibited stronger relationship with usage of urban space. The heterogeneity of green space at both CBG and city level showed less associations with usage of urban space during COVID-19. The discrepancies of the built environment effects on usage of urban space between CBG and city level suggest the importance of varying-scale analysis. Future interventions should consider space usages and health inequality from a space-varying perspective for post-pandemic period. • The changing associations of built environment with usage of urban space during COVID-19 were investigated • The changing associations were evaluated based on the census-block-group (CBG) level and city level in 459 U.S. cities • CBG-level road complexity and urban facility density contributed less on the usage of urban space during social restriction • City-level built environment exhibited stronger relationship with usage of urban space during social restriction [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The outbreak of COVID-19 caused unprecedented disruptions to public transport services. As such, this paper proposes a methodology for analyzing COVID-19 impact on public transport mobility. The proposed methodology includes: (1) a new unsupervised machine learning (UML) method, which utilizes a decoder-encoder architecture and a flow property-based learning objective function, to estimate the origin-destination (OD) flows of public transport systems from boarding-alighting data; and (2) a temporal-spatial analysis method to analyze OD flow change before and during COVID-19 to unveil its impact on mobility across time and space. The validation of the UML method showed that it achieved a coefficient of determination of 0.836 when estimating OD flows using boarding-alighting data. Upon the successful validation, the proposed methodology was implemented to analyze the impact of COVID-19 on the mobility of the New York City subway system. The implementation results indicate that (1) the rise in the number of weekly new COVID-19 cases intensified the impact on the public transport mobility, but not as strongly as public health interventions; and (2) the inflows to and outflows from the center of the city were more sensitive to the impact of COVID-19. • A new methodology for analyzing COVID-19 impact on public transport mobility. • It includes a proposed unsupervised ML method to estimate public transport system OD flows from boarding-alighting data. • It includes a temporal-spatial analysis method to analyze OD flow changes before and during COVID-19. • The proposed methodology was implemented in analyzing COVID-19 impact in the New York City area. • The methodology could support analyzing the impact of natural disasters on public transport mobility across time and space. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The restrictions imposed during the COVID-19 pandemic have led to significant changes in travel behaviour and public activities, and they might have contributed to changes in residential location choices. However, research examining the relationship between residential location choice and COVID-19 is very limited. To that end, this paper focuses on how pandemic-induced changes in work patterns, travel preferences and daily activity patterns have altered residential preferences and potentially, relocation trends. The main determinants of residential location choice have been established in the literature over the past 30 years: physical attributes of the dwelling; surrounding built environment; affordability; and accessibility to transportation, workplaces, and services. However, each of these determinants are prioritised differently depending on the circumstances. Therefore, exploring how these priorities have shifted after the pandemic can pave the way for understanding how preferences for residential location choice shift as a consequence. From the review, the key findings include the decreasing importance of transport and workplace accessibility in residential location choice after the pandemic. Firstly, teleworking is becoming more prevalent within office jobs than before the pandemic, leading to less frequent trips to conventional workplaces, reducing the need to live within a commutable distance to a workplace. Secondly, trips to other activities have likewise become less frequent due to either remote alternatives (e.g., online shopping) or shifting towards services closer to home, reducing the need to travel in general. Another consequence of the pandemic is people staying at home longer than before, thus increasing the need for more desirable dwelling attributes such as larger house size and wider surrounding green space. Since these attributes are generally more affordable in areas less accessible to transport and services, this may subsequently lead to migrations to areas of lower population density, potentially decentralising urban areas. • Long-term teleworking has reduced the need to live near the workplace post-pandemic. • Residential preferences shift towards desirable dwellings at affordable prices. • Prevalence of online shopping has led to permanent changes in retail destinations. • Transport preference inclines towards car dependency over sustainable modes. • Overall findings suggest a potential shift towards urban decentralisation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Covid-19 has wreaked havoc worldwide. To mitigate the spread of the virus, societies around the world implemented various social control measures and restrictions on mobility. Traditional work practices were upended, leading to a widespread adoption of telecommuting in many cities, effectively turning urban spaces into expansive work-from-home laboratories. The exchange of digitized documents, virtual conversations, and online transactions replaced physical movements and face-to-face communication, allowing for the continuation of productive activities. This shift to telecommuting raises important questions about the impact on traditional business practices and power dynamics in the workplace. It also prompts us to examine how new communication and surveillance tools facilitate collaboration and enhance worker productivity. Furthermore, it is essential to understand how employees navigate and adapt to the opportunities and limitations presented in a teleworking environment. To gain insights into these issues, this paper focuses on the experiences of work-from-home employees in the community of Tin Shui Wai in Hong Kong, using the concept of governmobility as an analytical framework. The findings reveal that telecommuting is enabled by innovative social interaction mechanisms, changes in power dynamics, and the implementation of new discourse and surveillance methods, all of which are contingent on specific work and life conditions. The various experiences of telecommuting, such as working in a home office, in virtual workspaces, and using on-body devices, demonstrate adaptable responses to the emerging opportunities and constraints of telecommuting. These experiences illuminate the intricate ways in which work and life intertwine in both physical and temporal dimensions. • Exploring the mechanisms of governmobility in telecommuting during the Covid-19 pandemic. • Theorizing diverse telecommuting practices and experiences. • Discussing the prospects of telecommuting in the post-Covid world. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, I argue that intersectionality can benefit the study of migrant urban citizenship and that migrants' legal status affects their potential for urban citizenships. These arguments are based on life story interviews I conducted with Mongolian labour migrant women (both documented and undocumented) living and working in Seoul during the COVID-19 pandemic. Drawing from this data, I first discuss the mutual relationship between COVID-19 regulations and the specific urban spaces they affected, and second, how migrant women navigated this relationship. In practice, I categorise these pandemic-driven experiences into three specific types of spaces – spaces of escape , spaces of fear , and spaces of (potential) discrimination – which I analyse through the lenses of gender, class, and racialisation. In conclusion, I call for future research on migrant urban citizenship to critically consider the role of legal status in migrants' embodied processes of urban citizenship-making and investigate how underlying structural social and power relations shape these embodied processes. Reformulating the concept of urban citizenship in a way that explicitly informs policy making and fosters migrants' embodied experiences of urban citizenship is also needed. • Intersectionality can benefit the study of migrant urban citizenship. • Migrants' legal status affects their potential for urban citizenship. • COVID-19 regulations transformed urban spaces in Seoul into spaces of escape, fear, or discrimination. • Migrant urban citizenship needs to be reconceptualised into a policy-oriented approach. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the first 22 months of the COVID-19 pandemic, from March 2020 to December 2021, we witnessed a seismic change in the way in which work was undertaken given the restrictions implemented by government to curb the spread of the virus; most prominent has been the rise in working from home (WFH) as a more acceptable work location. In this paper, we explore preferences for and attitudes towards WFH in great detail, leveraging two waves of data to explore the remarkable and globally unique situation of three metro areas (Greater Sydney Metropolitan Area, South-East Queensland, and Melbourne) who despite entering lockdown at the same time in 2021, follow significantly different trajectories with respect to the severity and duration of the lockdowns. We find that irrespective of the degree of severity of the lockdown and the duration thereof, employee preferences for working from home, and importantly productivity, remained unchanged. Rather than diminishing the desire to WFH, evidence indicates that as periods of lockdown extend the desire to continue WFH only seems to intensify. While all workers express a preference to continue WFH in an unrestricted world, more often than they did prior to the pandemic, we further identify three broad segments of workers based primarily on how much of a balance they can strike between the benefits and challenges of WFH, which dictates how often they would like to WFH. Given that the desire to WFH more and the positive externalities of increased WFH, we argue that measures to support ongoing WFH are important to sustainable cities and the people who live in them, across several dimensions. • Three cities in Australia all initiated a lockdown at approximately the same time in 2021. • The lockdowns in each city followed different trajectories and durations. • Longer lockdowns result in greater desire to continue to WFH in the future. • Three segments of workers are revealed who wish to WFH to differing extents. • Potential implications of increased WFH for cities are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Non-commuting travel is essential for people to meet daily demands and regulate mental health, which is greatly disrupted due to the COVID-19 pandemic. To explore non-commuting intentions during COVID-19 across different groups of residents, this paper uses online survey data in Nanjing and constructs a hybrid latent class choice model that combines sociodemographic characteristics and psychological factors. Results showed that the respondents can be divided into two groups: the "cautious" group versus the "fearless" group. The "cautious" group with lower willingness to travel tend to be older, higher-income, higher-educated, female and full-time employees. Furthermore, the "cautious" group with higher perceived susceptibility is more obedient to government policies. In contrast, the "fearless" group is significantly affected by perceived severity and is more inclined to turn to personal protection against the pandemic. These results suggested that non-commuting trips were influenced not only by individual characteristics but also by psychological factors. Finally, the paper provides implications for the government to formulate COVID-19 management measures for the heterogeneity of different groups. • Using a hybrid choice model to explore residents' non-commuting travel intentions during COVID-19 outbreaks. • Perceived severity and perceived susceptibility had significant effects on non-commuting travel. • Separating residents into cautious group and fearless group based on a latent class approach. • In cautious group, those less willing to travel are older, higher paid, higher educated, female and full-time employees. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Will the COVID-19 pandemic interrupt the recent European urbanization trends – and if so – what is the magnitude of this sudden shock, and how deaths, births, and net migration contribute to this disruption? Until now, most discussions on the topic have circled either around the anecdotal evidence of city center decline, or contrarian speculations about residential inertia and the forthcoming business-as-usual. Bringing clarity to the uncertainty and confusion surrounding COVID-19, this paper seeks to detect overarching patterns in and the magnitude of its sudden shock to long-term urban trajectories, understood as a reversal of the pre-pandemic population development trend, across European cities in the early 2020s. It reveals that during the first year of COVID-19, population growth in European cities significantly slowed down to −0.3 % per annum, with 28 % of all European cities having experienced a U-turn from population growth to loss. Out-migration was the main driver of such rapid urban shrinkage, while excess mortality associated with COVID-19 has also contributed to population loss in several European city-regions; some, especially, smaller cities suffered from a significant drop in birth rates. Based on the factorial, hierarchical, and temporal dimensions of the COVID-19 crisis, the paper provides a plausible forecast about the future of Europe's post-coronavirus city. • Analyses sudden COVID-19-shock to long-term urban trajectories for European cities • For the first time detection of overarching patterns in and the magnitude of this shock • Population growth in European cities significantly slowed down in 2020. • 28 % of all cities experienced a U-turn in population trends from growth to loss. • Share of shrinking cities post-COVID-19 has reached 63 %. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents new evidence of the short-term rental market's prices and transactions from a daily time-series perspective in 39 European cities from 2015 to 2020. It uses Airbnb micro datasets to build time-series cycles by extracting the original observations containing total bookings (rent transactions), rental units supply, and asking rent, with a daily periodicity. The cycles show the periods in which short-rental activity was more relevant for each city, and the level of rents across Europe. The paper provides empirical evidence of a long-term relationship among the city variables (tested via mean and variance). Causality supporting co-movements across cities was found by estimating a short-term naïve market equilibrium model using the vector error correction model approach, supporting the hypothesis that the short-term rental market performs according to housing-market principles. Short-run elasticities among rents and contracts across the 39 cities show causal evidence of co-movements among rents and the supply and demand of properties. The market adjustment on the supply side estimates new units responding to changes in prices within 15 lags (days) and longer (350 lags) from the demand side, equivalent to eight to nine months. Evidence of the pandemic's limited effect on housing supply and prices' positive effect is also provided. A robust negative weekend impact on prices was found, suggesting stronger market relevance on weekdays. • Daily time series of short-term rental activity is built for 39 European cities, including listing, bookings, and prices. • STRM channels a large amount of uncounted transient population using public services, such as transport, health, and others. • STRM market mechanism is synchronized across cities linking European markets in the long term. • Demand for short-term rents is segmented into two groups, renting properties in advance and rent throughout the month prior. • Late tenants affect rental market prices through the supply reaction. Thus, limiting supply results in upward price pressure. • Results suggest the STRM covers accommodation needs during the week for activities other than tourism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Positive sentiments towards urban green spaces (UGS) unequivocally increased worldwide amid COVID-19. In contrast, this paper documents that views on mobility restrictions applicable to UGS are of a contested nature. That is, while residents unambiguously report positive sentiments towards UGS, they do not share views on how to administer access to UGS—which is a matter of public policy. These contesting views reflect opposite demands that managers of UGS had to balance during the pandemic as they faced the challenge of reducing risk of spread while providing services that support physical and mental health of residents. The empirical analysis in this paper relies on views inferred through a text classification algorithm implemented on Twitter messages posted from January to October 2020, by urban residents in three Latin American countries—Argentina, Colombia, and Mexico—and Spain. The focus on Latin America is motivated by the documented lack of compliance with mobility restrictions; Spain works as a comparison point to learn differences with respect to other regions. Understanding and following in real-time the evolution of contesting views amid a pandemic is useful for managers and city planners to inform adaptation measures—e.g. communication strategies can be tailored to residents with specific views. • Amid COVID-19, social media showcased contesting views on mobility restrictions applicable to UGS. • Contesting views on regulation of access hold together with unambiguous increase in positive sentiments towards UGS. • These views reflect residents' stands with respect to how UGS should be used during a pandemic event. • Social media provides unstructured information to design and communicate adaptation measures in real-time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Urban streets, especially curbside spaces, are increasingly complex and often contested. The Coronavirus pandemic created a new demand for street space to enable physical distancing. The urgency of the pandemic and the fear of covid exposure suspended traditional community engagement opportunities, opposition from residents and business owners, and considerations over the privatization of public street space. This exploratory paper uses the case studies of Toronto and Chicago to trace the past and present regulations and programs affecting curbside parking spaces. Through these cases, this paper addresses larger questions that relate the historical conceptions around curbside parking use with those put forward in response to the pandemic. Given the popularity of pandemic-related curbside space programs and their potential to become long-term interventions, this paper also raises several questions around privatization, access and social equity that must be addressed in future iterations of programs affecting curbside space. • Cities are rapidly reimagining curbside space as a result of the pandemic. • Cities are reducing barriers to accessing curbside parking space by eateries. • Shifts in curb space use raise questions around privatization, access and social equity. • Long-term curb space interventions need to be more equitable and public. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in cities implementing lockdown measures, causing unprecedented disruption (e.g. school/shop/office closures) to urban life often extending over months. With the spread of COVID-19 now being relatively contained, many cities have started to ease their lockdown restrictions by phases. Following the phased recovery strategy proposed by the UK government following the first national lockdown, this paper utilises Greater London as its case study, selecting three main reopening measures (i.e., schools, shops and hospitality reopening). This paper applies sentiment analysis and topic modelling to explore public opinions expressed via Twitter. Our findings reveal that public attention towards the reopening measures reached a peak before the date of policy implementation. The attitudes expressed in discussing reopening measures changed from negative to positive. Regarding the discussed topics related to reopening measures, we find that citizens are more sensitive to early-stage reopening than later ones. This study provides a time-sensitive approach for local authorities and city managers to rapidly sense public opinion using real-time social media data. Governments and policymakers can make use of the framework of sensing public opinion presented herein and utilise it in leading their post-lockdown cities into an adaptive, inclusive and smart recovery. • Twitter data timely capture the public opinion regarding reopening policies. • Sentiment analysis reveals public attitudes to reopening measures. • Topic modelling was utilised for exploring topics about reopening. • Urban citizens are more sensitive to the earlier lockdown lifting measures • Public attention to announcements provides early feedback to implementation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although studies have explored the travel behavior of residents in informal housing communities in recent years, few have been conducted in the context of a time series before and after the outbreak of COVID-19. This paper tracks individual-level daily mobility response for three months, using an interrupted time series (ITS) quasi-experimental design to infer daily causal effects of COVID-19 and community close-off management on individuals' daily travel distances. This study compares the mobility response to COVID-19 between people living in urban villages and commodity housing communities in Shenzhen, China. The results reveal that urban village residents reduced their travel less, with slower response and recovery rates after the COVID-19 outbreak. The community close-off management was less effective for urban village residents, with a smaller abrupt reduction in mobility and their recovery rate increasing faster during the post-lockdown period. Therefore, urban village residents may have experienced greater limitations in adjusting travel with higher exposure risks during the pandemic, compared with commodity housing residents. The variations in mobility change are significantly affected by some inherent differences between these two groups, even after controlling for their socioeconomic and built environment features. These results provide important insights for designing mobility restriction policies for different housing groups and planning more resilient neighborhoods in the post-COVID era. • Adopting an interrupted time series quasi-experimental design to infer daily causal effects of COVID-19 • Comparing mobility effects of COVID-19 in urban villages and commodity housing communities • Urban village residents reduced their travel less, with slower response and recovery rates. • The community close-off management was less effective for urban village residents. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

COVID-19 pandemic led to significant changes in domestic water use in many cities. One important question is whether and to what extent the pandemic stressed the resilience of the water supply system. Another question examined in the paper is whether changes in water use during confinement differed according to the sociospatial configuration of cities. We examine these questions in the context of a medium size city of Northern Spain characterized by a mix of residential land uses, and internal variations in education, age composition, and income, producing step gradients in water use. First, we select and analyze influencing factors in domestic water consumption. Second, using statistical regression tests, we assess whether or not and to what extent the same factors influenced consumption during the COVID 19 lockdown. Results indicate that COVID-19 related confinement increased work and study from home and reinforced WASH habits, leading to more water consumption. However, this increase was larger in medium and low-income neighborhoods than in high-income neighborhoods, showing the relevance of sociodemographic factors but also of other variables more relevant for outdoor water use such as precipitation. Despite this rise in consumption, the water supply system was able to withstand the shock caused by confinement showing a robust resilience both in physical and in social terms. However, more challenging scenarios such as the coincidence of a pandemic with a severe drought should be taken into account in future resilience development. • Sociodemographic and urban factors played an important role in explaining domestic water consumption patterns during COVID-19 lockdowns. • Households in multifamily buildings or apartment blocks with medium-low incomes and significant presence of young people recorded the largest relative increases of water consumption during these lockdowns. • Weather conditions are key in domestic water consumption during the COVID 19 lockdown especially in areas with a large presence of single houses. • The water supply system was resilient and could withstand the increase in consumption caused by confinement as well as provide for financial assistance to vulnerable households. Policies should take into account the possible coincidence in time of unexpected phenomena such as COVID-19 with droughts already stressing urban resilience. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The travel restriction leads to the enormous economic loss to the tourism industry. In this paper, the economic loss and the environmental gains (e.g., water and energy resources) from COVID-19 impact on China's tourism industry are estimated based on environmentally extended multiple regional input-output model. Results indicate that the China's tourism consumption loss triggered 921 billion US$ output loss via supply chain in 2020, which account for 7 % of GDP in 2019. Additionally, the economic loss further ripples tourism water footprint conservation of 10 billion m3 (equal to the annual water consumption of Poland) and tourism energy footprint conservation of 116 million tce (equal to the annual energy consumption of Australia). Findings reveal that regions with large tourism economic losses are not completely consistent with the regions with significant relief of water and energy pressures. Water pressure in Xinjiang (Northwest) and energy pressure in Hainan (South) have been alleviated due to reduced tourism consumption along the Southeast coast. These knock-on effects highlight a deeper internal link between the economy and the environment. The development of tourism in the post-COVID-19 era needs to reduce the direct water and energy footprint of local area by applying advanced water-saving and energy-saving technologies. • China's tourism output loss caused by COVID-19 accounts for 7 % of GDP in 2019. • 10 billion m3 of water saving equals to the annual water consumption of Poland. • 116 million tce of energy saving equals to the annual energy consumption of Australia. • Tourism activities decreasing in East relieve great water use stress in Northwest China. • Decreasing tourism demand in Southeast mitigates energy use stress in South China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines food provisioning initiatives that were implemented to reduce food insecurity during the period of the spread of Covid-19. Food insecurity increased sharply during this time, particularly among those who contracted the virus and had to remain in quarantine, and those who suddenly lost their jobs. As a possible solution to alleviate the problem, voluntary organisations collected food from stores with surplus produce (such as restaurants that were forced to close, supermarkets, etc.) and redistributed it to people in need. This redistribution occurred in several Italian cities, including Cremona, which was one of the first towns in Italy to be dramatically affected by the pandemic. Looking through the lens of social innovation theory, this paper analyses redistribution initiatives in this town and assesses their capacity to enhance their impact on social wellbeing and to involve local society in response to social challenges. Thanks to desk research and interviews with several volunteers, it demonstrates that these initiatives are good examples of social innovation, as they address emerging social challenges and generate benefits for the entire society (not just food aid recipients), reconfigure previous aid models, actively involve local population, and assume educational and social assistance purposes. • Food insecurity increased a lot at the time of the restrictions imposed to counteract Covid-19 • To alleviate it, some local voluntary organisations collected food from local stores with surplus (such as restaurants forced to close) or supermarkets and redistributed it to people in difficulty. • These initiatives are good examples of social innovation • They address emerging social challenges, and generate benefits which extend to the whole society beyond the confines of the volunteering associations and food aid recipients who are directly involved. • They reconfigure the previous aid models, involve actively more human and financial resources and assume educational and social assistance purposes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper focuses on the research pathway related to the drafting of a strategic Agri-Food Plan of Rome. The paper highlights the theoretical background and investigates the strategic vision and actions, as well as the role played by the Covid-19 Pandemic by changing priorities. The merging between two strands of study is identified: urban food strategies and sustainability in the debate on post Covid-19 food planning studies and the analysis of local agri-food systems for economic development. This work shows that in the case of urban and metropolitan areas around the Mediterranean, agriculture, the cultural dimension of food, logistics, research and innovation, and tourism marketing can be included within a single planning and policy tool. In the case of Rome, the place-based approach allowed us to consider the specificities of social and spatial contexts with interactions of market drivers with public institutions. This approach may constitute a promising path of research for the future of sustainable planning, particularly in Mediterranean cities. The results have interesting policy implications that should be more explicitly considered in addressing urban agendas, and in particular, the role of food to promote local development by integrating economic, social, and environmental and spatial values at a regional scale. • The sustainability of urban food system is a relevant issue in post Covid-19 Recovery • The agri-food systems of Southern Europe are more specialized and regionalized than those of Northern Europe • Food and agriculture shaping spatial, socioeconomic and environmental dynamics is crucial in Mediterranean cities • The case of Rome suggests that spatial planning and local development in Mediterranean cities play a crucial role in the urban agenda for the ecological transition [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

COVID-19 policy outcomes are influenced by urban policy and governance. The goal of this paper is to navigate the sustainable solution of the COVID-19 pandemic using evidence-based research for cities. The number of deaths from COVID-19 is one good indicator to evaluate the results of individual policies by country, state and cities. A policy assessment of urban agglomerations is essential to scientific research. Scoring policies with a single determinant is calculated by dividing the number of deaths by the population in millions. The lower the score, the better the policy. The score monotonically increases so that policymakers can suppress it, but they cannot improve or decrease it. Thus, mistakes by policymakers cannot be corrected and are fatal forever. Many countries have used a pharmacological approach alone such as vaccination with boosting, not sustainable, but their scores are poor and their policies are not effective against the pandemic. Sustainable and optimal policies to mitigate the pandemic were discovered by sorting the scores. This paper introduces two new policy scoring tools such as scorev and usscore. Both tools revealing sustainable approaches are designed for policy-poor states or urban agglomerations to learn the good strategies from countries with excellent scores. • Scoring on the COVID-19 can help persuade policymakers to update current policies. • The COVID-19 policy scoring tools allow policymakers to learn good strategies. • The number of deaths per population is a validated good indicator of policy outcomes. • The PyPI tools on scoring policies have been downloaded by many users in the world. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study aims to better understand retailers' resilience by conducting a micro-level analysis of retailers against the backdrop of the current Covid-19 crisis. Focusing on e-commerce strategies, the paper reveals that for a better understanding of retailer's resilience it proves helpful to analytically differentiate subjective and objective aspects that influence the personal 'capacities to respond', leading to more or less (pro)active reactions (absorptive, adaptive, transformative) to the crisis. This results in the differentiation of four broad response, respectively retailer types. As such, the paper contributes to existing research frameworks by providing analytical categories for defining subjective and objective aspects of resilience as well as by applying this framework to an empirical study on retailers (and urban) resilience during the Covid-19 pandemic. A mixed method approach is applied, which includes a survey as well as expert interviews with retailers located in the German city centre of Würzburg. For urban policy makers the results provide an opportunity to redefine retail policy frameworks contributing to retailers' and urban resilience alike. • The paper contributes to existing research frameworks by providing analytical categories for defining subjective and objective aspects of resilience. • A mixed method approach is applied, which includes a survey as well as expert interviews with retailers located in the German city centre of Würzburg. • The paper reveals the differentiation of four broad response, respectively retailer types. • For urban policy makers the results provide an opportunity to redefine retail policy frameworks contributing to retailers' and urban resilience alike. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The COVID-19 pandemic and lockdown in Spain during Spring 2020 resulted in a ban on most uses of public space, producing a social redefinition of not only public spaces, but also private spaces such as homes. This paper examines the discourses related to balconies that appeared at this time on Twitter (X), an intermediate microspace and hybrid between the public and private. The study uses data from tweets posted in Spain during the strictest phase of the lockdown (from 15 March to 1 May 2020). Based on a descriptive analytical approach – both quantitative and textual – the study applies text content analysis and natural language processing to identify and analyse the main topics of conversation related to the use of balconies. The study brought to light two primary and complementary results. Firstly, the balcony during the pandemic became a revitalized space in an exceptional situation, partially adapting to the most common practices characteristic of public space and thus reaffirming the importance of the existence of public spaces for citizen encounters. Secondly, the various uses of balconies received different types of attention and generated stronger or weaker interactions on social networks, demonstrating the complexity and diversity of relationships with public spaces. • The impossibility of using public spaces multiplied the importance of balconies • Using Twitter data, we studied the use of balconies in Spain in the spring of 2020 • Balconies became a public microspace through their use towards the outside • Technology did not isolate citizens but was key for the promotion of the new uses • We found important differences by use in attachments to the tweets and interactions [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Compound and shared low-income houses in Ghana have economic, social, cultural, and familial advantages. Yet, COVID-19 and its related lockdown and home confinement in two urban cities, Accra and Kumasi, raised questions about the appropriateness of staying in a compound house while observing the COVID-19 protocols. Whereas a few studies have underscored the ineffectiveness of COVID-19 protocols in low-income shared houses, these assume a homogeneity of such households without reflecting on the diversities that exist among and between the different categories of low-income households and the imperative nuanced implications for the spread of infectious diseases. Against this backdrop the paper employed qualitative methodologies of in-depth interviews and non-participant observations to interrogate the experiences of low-income households' utilisation of space as they observed COVID-19 protocols. Drawing respondents from four low-income communities in Accra, the authors examined how traditional family households and non-traditional family households implemented the safety protocols and their implications for shared housing. Issues of sharing inadequate communal facilities and public health concerns as well as lack of access to inadequate water and living spaces impacted the respondents' COVID-19 experience. The study discovered that households' socioeconomic status is directly related to the management of epidemics in urban spaces in Ghana. • Over-crowding and sharing of communal facilities in compound houses raised public health concerns. • A renewed sense of communalism and bonding resulted among households in compound houses during the pandemic. • Existing social networks in houses increased conviviality and psychological resilience for people to deal with lockdown. • Implementing COVID-19 lockdown directives did not take into consideration the socioeconomic status of urban communities. • Efficient planning should be people-centered as local communities become partners and agents of transformation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The COVID-19 pandemic lasting for several years brings huge challenges to the bike-sharing system and even society structure. It is urgent to explore the pandemic impacts on mobility patterns through outbreak and recovery stages from network perspective. This paper proposed a comprehensive approach to investigate the bike-sharing mobility patterns with the case in Washington D.C., which is also new perspective for human mobility patterns. Multiple-source data, including bike-sharing trip information, COVID-19 information, geographic and POI information, were collected. Although the total bike-sharing trips decreased significantly in spatial-temporal analysis, the trips made by casual users gradually increased through outbreak and recovery of pandemic, indicating the change of travel habits. In addition, the docking stations and trips from 2019 to 2022 were utilized to construct the bike-sharing network. The results present that major network properties, such as connectivity, clustering coefficient, and accessibility, experienced significant decrease in 2020 and strong recovery in 2021 and 2022, which demonstrated the well resilience of bike-sharing system. Moreover, through the detection of community with modularity method, the evolution of community structure in response to the outbreak and recovery of pandemic was captured. Although the travel distance and time for bike-sharing trips changed from 2019 to 2022, the basic three community layout are still stable. To better understand the community structure, the POI (Point of Interests) auxiliary analysis was conducted and central community was found to have similar proportion of POIs even during the pandemic. These results provide references for bike-sharing management and operation policy through outbreak and recovery of pandemic. • The trips completed by casual riders are found to be gradually increased through the COVID-19 outbreak and recovery stages. • From the network perspective, the indicators for bike-sharing system are resilient. • Community detection approach can capture the evolution of community layout and structure. • POI auxiliary analysis provides deep understanding of community structure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Besides the physical and mental health problems it brought, the COVID-19 pandemic impinged on economic and social aspects of people's lives, threatening economic security and interpersonal relationships, aspects that are major determinants of perceived subjective well-being. We investigate the relationship between individual life satisfaction, and relational and material goods under the exceptional circumstance of the pandemic and lockdown in Italy. Unlike other studies, this paper examined whether COVID-19 infection and deterioration of economic and relational circumstances caused by COVID-19 can predict changes in individual life satisfaction, controlling for other contextual factors. The results suggest that the pandemic threatened the life satisfaction of respondents and the main predictor of this deterioration was related to the effect of the pandemic and lockdown on social relations. Aspects like gender, type of city and dwelling also emerged to be important predictors of LS. These findings have implications for social policies and urban planning, and offer additional insight in the research on LS. • It studies the link between changes LS, and relational and material goods under COVID-19. • The goal was to detect what factors best explain changes in LS in two Italian cities. • It records the changes in LS and in peoples' income and social relations caused by COVID-19. • It runs an Ordered Logit regression model. • It shows that the decay on social relations best predict variation in LS. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Density has gained considerable attention in policy and scientific discourses since the emergence of COVID-19. In the early days, density was blamed as a negative factor that accelerates the transmission of coronavirus in urban areas. Following this, many studies have examined the impact of density on the spread of COVID-19. This offers a good opportunity to examine and synthesize the insights reported in the literature to understand how density affected the spread of the virus. To do so, we have conducted a systematic literature review of 134 papers, which around 58 % of them found density as a positive predictor. However, we found that the relationship between density and the spread of the virus is complex and mediated by factors such as scale, context, methods used for analysis, and other built environment factors. Hence, we assert that the relationship between density and infection rate is not straightforward, and assertions about the effects of density on COVID-19 transmission can only be made with caution. Comprehensive analyses taking into account multiple complex and interrelated factors need to be carried out before any conclusions regarding this issue can be drawn. Therefore, it is advisable to refrain from making premature statements due to their potential adverse effects on efforts toward the development of cities that are resilient to climate change and contribute to achieving sustainable development goals. • The effect of density on the spread of COVID-19 is widely studied in the literature. • We review the literature on the relationship between density and the pandemic. • Contrasting results have been reported in the literature. • We highlight issues related to context, scale, and methods used in the literature. • We argue that premature conclusions about the effect of density should be avoided. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The migration determinants of graduates are of particular importance for the analysis of regional activities and thus influence city resilience in areas after the COVID-19 pandemic. By constructing a unique dataset from an online recruiting platform , we introduce a new measure of mobility intentions. We also apply the stacked difference-in-differences model to tackle the limitation of staggered treatments with a non-absorbing state brought about by lockdown policies. By comparing intention changes in cities with lockdown regulations to those without such regulations, we conclude that lockdown does influences the decisions of graduates and alter the attractiveness of cities mainly through panic job searching and recruiting digitalization. In a big picture, lockdown causally reduces graduates' mobility intentions by 0.7 %, but this intention increases by 1.2 % after lockdown is lifted. Lockdown policies also affect non-lockdown cities, particularly in cities that are less competitive and those that are in close geographical proximity. We further estimate the effects of lockdown duration and intensity on graduates' mobility intentions and find that full-scale lockdown increases intentions by 2.5 %, whereas partial lockdown increases intentions by only 0.9 %. This study fills the gap between the mobility literature and the COVID-19 literature by establishing the clean lockdown effects on graduate mobility intentions. • Lockdowns change the attractiveness of no locked-down cities to graduate migrants • New graduates cope with the anxiety from lockdowns by engaging in panic job searching • Graduates boost online job searches to offset lost offline recruitment during lockdowns • A data-driven analytical paper uses the large-scale human behavior data to quantify migration intention [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The unexpected outburst of the COVID-19 pandemic brought with it several challenges to many throughout the world, a health crisis that severely affected not only how we live but also work. Whereas all populations are affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, their impacts on vulnerable populations appear greater. However, the relationship and consequences of COVID-19 on vulnerable populations in informal settlements in Ghana remain largely unknown. In this paper, we examine the consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic on vulnerable populations in Ghanaian informal settlements. We sample 2697 households from 100 informal settlements across eleven administrative regions of Ghana. The findings indicated an inverse relationship among all the individual domain vulnerability measures, total vulnerability, and COVID-19 exposure. Again, the findings showed that informal settlements populations' exposure to COVID-19 is not limited to their vulnerability although their computed vulnerability indices suggest higher exposure. Based on the findings, it is recommended that COVID-19 support initiatives should not just be limited to persons that might be deemed vulnerable by living in informal settlements. • 2697 households from 100 informal settlements in Ghana responded to the survey. • We observe an inverse relationship among individual domain vulnerability measures, total vulnerability, and COVID-19 exposure. • Exposure to COVID-19 is not limited to vulnerability although computed vulnerability indices suggest higher exposure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cities' planned and built environments are key to healthier communities. The Covid-19 pandemic challenged this relationship, when the issue of communities' compliance with government restrictions to mitigate the spread of the pandemic became apparent. Despite the growing literature on the relationship between communities' characteristics and Covid-19 throughout the pandemic, little attention has been paid to the drivers of compliance at the city and community levels. Our paper addresses this lack through the Bourdieusian concept of communities' capital resources. Using Israel as a test case, we explore how the economic, social and cultural capital of urban communities affected compliance with Covid-19 related restrictions. The analysis reveals how the spatial dispersion of the components of these forms of capital explains the likelihood of communities' level of compliance. In particular, it shows how the accumulation of various forms of capital increased compliance with health regulations. The study highlights the explanatory power of local resources in collective spatial behavior patterns, as well as the possibility of exacerbating existing injustices. • The social space of urban communities affects the health of their members. • Communities' adherence to Covid-19 preventative measures varies. • Communities' economic, social, and cultural capital forms promote urban compliance. • Capital forms affect urban compliance depending on cities' cultural-ethnic makeup. • Compliance enforcement is linked to communities' capital and cultural-ethnic makeup. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines how the economies of old industrial cities in Northeast China respond to the on-going COVID-19 pandemic crisis. The notion of resistance in regional economic resilience is used to explore what impact factors shape the response to the early stage of the crisis. The analysis reveals significant differences in terms of regional economic impact between COVID-19 and the 2008 financial crisis. We find that large cities are more vulnerable and exposed to the pandemic at its early stage, state agency plays a crucial role in shaping the economic resistance in most cities. Going beyond the existing 2008 financial crisis-induced account on regional economic resilience, this paper argues that regional resistance amid COVID-19 is not merely shaped by economic structural factors but also influenced by state agency in terms of economic restriction and restoration measures. The study suggests that the nature of COVID-19 as a particular context of crisis itself needs to be taken seriously when exploring the determinants and outcomes of regional economic resilience. • This paper in investigates regional economic resilience under COVID-19 by studying the resistance of Northeast China in the first quarter of 2020. • This paper finds that secondary industry structure, overall variety, innovation, specialization, openness and state agency are the main factors shaping regional resistance. • Local state agency on containing COVID-19 plays a key role in shaping regional resistance and recovery. • The study suggests that the crisis nature of COVID-19 itself needs to be taken seriously when exploring the determinants of regional economic resilience. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Premature obsolescence of existing buildings is a significant challenge for sustainable regeneration in cities internationally. Adaptive reuse is one approach to address obsolescence in cities globally. High vacancy can be a crucial predictor of obsolescence, but vacancy is poorly understood and can be 'hidden'. This paper presents a novel quantitative method, called Vacancy Visual Analytics Method (VVAM), to identify vacancy in city populations. VVAM permits detailed visualisation of the location and quantity of vacancy, including Greyspace, a form of hitherto undetectable vacancy. To test VVAM, this paper reports its application to a population of office buildings (n =118) in Adelaide, an Australian city reporting high office building vacancy. VVAM revealed the vacancy distribution did not lend itself to whole building adaptive reuse, despite the universal advocacy for greater adaptive reuse globally. This finding implies whole building adaptive reuse may not be appropriate to address vacancy in all cities. This study recommends policy formation should involve a thorough examination of vacancy across building populations to ensure policy efficacy. VVAM presents a useful tool to critically understand vacancy and inform policy to address urban vacancy, including cities affected by COVID-19 office building vacancy. • Vacancy data is useful for evaluating urban regeneration. • Whole building adaptive reuse not always found to be a good fit for urban vacancy. • a novel, replicable method quantifying vacancy in building stocks • visualises greyspace, a hidden phenomenon affecting urban vitality [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Large-scale and diffuse population flow amplifies the localized COVID-19 outbreak into a widespread pandemic. Network analysis provides a new methodology to uncover the topology and evolution of the population flow and understand its influence on the early dynamics of COVID-19 transmission. In this paper, we simulated 42 transmission scenarios to show the distribution of the COVID-19 outbreak across China. We predicted some original (Guangzhou, Shanghai, Shenzhen) had higher total aggregate population outflows than Wuhan, indicating larger spread scopes and faster growth rates of COVID-19 outbreak. We built an importation risk model to identify some major cities (Dongguan and Foshan) with the highest total importation risk values and the highest standard deviations, indicating the core transmission chains (Dongguan-Shenzhen, Foshan-Guangzhou). We built the population flow networks to analyze their Spatio-temporal characteristics and identify the influential sub-groups and spreaders. By removing different influential spreaders, we identified Guangzhou can most influence the network's topological characteristics, and some major cities' degree centrality was significantly decreased. Our findings quantified the effectiveness of travel restrictions on delaying the epidemic growth and limiting the spread scope of COVID-19 in China, which helped better derive the geographical COVID-19 transmission related to population flow networks' structural features. • 42 transmission scenarios were simulated to test contribution of different original epicenters to seeding COVID-19 in China. • An importation risk model was built to test contribution of population flow among multiple epicenters to spreading COVID-19. • A population flow network was built to capture evolution of COVID-19 transmission and identify influential spreaders. • This paper quantified the effectiveness of travel restrictions on reducing the numbers of confirmed COVID-19 cases in China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Due to COVID-19, Macao established a prolonged tourism lockdown for over half a year. With no COVID-19 cases for 3 months, the lockdown and resilient measures provided the ability to recover, becoming the first city globally to reopen travel borders to all of China. Using the case of Macao during a real-time pandemic crisis we develop a conceptual framework on economic resilience and tourism recovery. We propose for the first-time, destination vulnerabilities as a consequence of recovery and resilient actions. Contrary to government direction that Macao diversify beyond gaming revenues after COVID-19, our study affirms this is unlikely, as casino companies focus on recuperating revenue losses. Our theoretical assertions have wider implications as tourism cities globally look at COVID-19 exit strategies. The short-term resilient endeavors taken now by cities may have longer-term consequences on their 'reset' milieu. With the challenges of vaccination rollout, a COVID-19 exit will be prolonged further with continued economic and tourism recovery challenges for cities, giving greater significant the study's theoretical assertions. • Due to COVID-19, Macao became one of the first cities outside Mainland China to go into lockdown. • The paper examines Macao's resilience throughout the half-year lockdown, with substantial government subsidies provided. • After over 3 months COVID-19 free in Macao, the city reopened to all of China, signaling the city's recovery phase. • With the 'how to' recover largely absent from the literature this paper developed a tourism resilience and recovery model. • The paper showed consequences to recovery measures, an important reference to global cities looking to exit COVID-19. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The COVID-19 pandemic has severely impacted human activities in a way never documented in modern history. The prevention policies and measures have abruptly changed well-established urban mobility patterns. In this context, we exploit different sources of urban mobility data to gain insights into the effects of restrictive policies on the daily mobility and exhaust emissions in pandemic and post-pandemic periods. Manhattan, the most densely populated borough in New York City, is chosen as the study area. We collect data generated by taxis, sharing bikes, and road detectors between 2019 and 2021, and estimate exhaust emissions using the COPERT (Computer Programme to calculate Emissions from Road Transport) model. A comparative analysis is conducted to identify important changes in urban mobility and emission patterns, with a particular focus on the lockdown period in 2020 and its counterparts in 2019 and 2021. The results of the paper fuel the discussion on urban resilience and policy-making in a post pandemic world. • A comparative analysis is conducted to identify important changes in urban mobility and emission patterns due to the COVID-19. • Remarkable reductions in taxi trips and exhaust emissions are witnessed during the lockdown period. • The need for social distancing has encouraged the utilization of bike-sharing services. • Evidence on the resilience of bike sharing systems during this pandemic has been found. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the spatial structure of urban agglomerations, well-developed transportation networks and close economic ties can increase the risk of intercity transmission of infectious diseases. To reveal the epidemic transmission mechanism in urban agglomerations and to explore the effectiveness of traffic control measures, this study proposes an Urban-Agglomeration-based Epidemic and Mobility Model (UAEMM) based on the reality of urban transportation networks and population mobility factors. Since the model considers the urban population inflow, along with the active intracity population, it can be used to estimate the composition of urban cases. The model was applied to the Chang-Zhu-Tan urban agglomeration, and the results show that the model can better simulate the transmission process of the urban agglomeration for a certain scale of epidemic. The number of cases within the urban agglomeration is higher than the number of cases imported into the urban agglomeration from external cities. The composition of cases in the core cities of the urban agglomeration changes with the adjustment of prevention and control measures. In contrast, the number of cases imported into the secondary cities is consistently greater than the number of cases transmitted within the cities. A traffic control measures discount factor is introduced to simulate the development of the epidemic in the urban agglomeration under the traffic control measures of the first-level response to major public health emergency, traffic blockades in infected areas, and public transportation shutdowns. If none of those traffic control measures had been taken after the outbreak of COVID-19, the number of cases in the urban agglomeration would theoretically have increased to 3879, which is 11.61 times the actual number of cases that occurred. If only one traffic control measure had been used alone, each of the three measures would have reduced the number of cases in the urban agglomeration to 30.19 %–57.44 % of the theoretical values of infection cases, with the best blocking effect coming from the first-level response to major public health emergency. Traffic control measures have a significant effect in interrupting the spread of COVID-19 in urban agglomerations. The methodology and main findings presented in this paper are of general interest and can also be used in studies in other countries for similar purposes to help understand the spread of COVID-19 in urban agglomerations. • This study proposes an Urban-Agglomeration-based Epidemic and Mobility Model (UAEMM) based on the reality of urban transportation networks and population mobility factors. • We analyze case composition in cities and urban agglomerations, and to evaluate the effectiveness of traffic control measures taken. • The composition of cases in the core cities of the urban agglomeration changes with the adjustment of prevention and control measures. • The best blocking effect coming from the first-level response to major public health emergency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The recent pandemic has brought marginal territories back to the center of political and academic debates, providing an opportunity to restart territorial projects. Agro-ecosystems and their derivations (Urban gardens, local supply chains, ecosystem services, typical products, rural tourism), which involve very different areas of the territory, could act as activators for a resilient development model for fragile contexts. However, this implies connected and integrated policy and planning tools, envisioning sustainable management methods for production, and integrating them with chains and tourism economy in dialogue with a landscape design vision. Therefore, this paper is aimed to test the urban design project as a tool to integrate interventions, which especially in the rural context are characterized by overlapping objectives. An experimental attempt will be made on three landscape design projects in marginal rural areas with the integration of tangible and intangible actions and a view of a sustainable and resilient restart. The projects analyzed are not so often used as much as static best practices, but in applying the consolidated research-by-design approach. Through it, we suggested four directions to understand and intervene in co-evolutionary processes through mechanisms of composition and decomposition from the urban planning/urban design perspective. • Agroecosystems could act as activators for a post-covid development model • the urban design project has the opportunity to integrate different sectoral tools, achieving concrete sustainable and regenerating goals • the research-by-design approach can give an innovate view to understand and intervene in coevolutionary processes through mechanisms of composition and decomposition [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Understanding the processes and mechanisms of the spatial spread of epidemics is essential for making reasonable judgments on the development trends of epidemics and for adopting effective containment measures. Using multi-agent network technology and big data on population migration, this paper constructed a city-based epidemic and mobility model (CEMM) to stimulate the spatiotemporal of COVID-19. Compared with traditional models, this model is characterized by an urban network perspective and emphasizes the important role of intercity population mobility and high-speed transportation networks. The results show that the model could simulate the inter-city spread of COVID-19 at the early stage in China with high precision. Through scenario simulation, the paper quantitatively evaluated the effect of control measures "city lockdown" and "decreasing population mobility" on containing the spatial spread of the COVID-19 epidemic. According to the simulation, the total number of infectious cases in China would have climbed to 138,824 on February 2020, or 4.46 times the real number, if neither of the measures had been implemented. Overall, the containment effect of the lockdown of cities in Hubei was greater than that of decreasing intercity population mobility, and the effect of city lockdowns was more sensitive to timing relative to decreasing population mobility. • A city-based epidemic and mobility model is proposed for simulating the spatial spread of an epidemic between cities. • The effect of "city lockdowns" and "decreasing population mobility" measures were evaluated under ten scenarios. • The effect of decreasing returns to scale and distance decay of population mobility on the epidemic spread were found. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Jakarta, Indonesia's primate city and the world's second largest urban agglomeration, is undergoing a deep transformation. A fresh city profile of Jakarta is long overdue, given that there have been major events and developments since the turn of the millennium (the Asian Financial crisis and decentralisation in Indonesia, among the most important), as well as the fact that the city is a living entity with its own processes to be examined. The inhabitants of the city have also taken centre stage now in these urban processes, including the recent pandemic COVID-19 response. Our paper profiles Jakarta heuristically in two cuts: presenting the city from conventional and academic perspectives of megacities like it, which includes contending with its negative perceptions, and more originally, observing the city from below by paying attention to the viewpoints of citizens and practitioners of the city. In doing so, we draw from history, geography, anthropology, sociology and political science as well as from our experience as researchers who are based in the region and have witnessed the transformation of this megacity from within, with the idea that the portrayal of the city is a project permanently under construction. • It focuses on Indonesia's primate city and the world's second largest urban agglomeration; • Considering the work of Cybriwsky and Ford (2001) as the most recent one, the paper is meant to be a long overdue fresh city profile of Jakarta; • In their paper, the authors propose observing Jakarta as a living entity with its own processes to be examined; • The authors profile the Indonesian capital in two cuts: conventional perspectives of megacities like it, and more originally, observing the city from below through the viewpoints of its citizens and practitioners. • The profile draws from the social sciences as well as the authors' experiences as researchers who are based in the region, with the idea that the portrayal of the city is a project permanently under construction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper we investigate the public transport trip frequency variations, as well as the reasons that led to the shift away from public transport means, due to the COVID-19 pandemic. We studied relevant data from the Moovit platform, and we compared operational and trip frequency characteristics of public transport systems before and after the outbreak of the pandemic in 87 cities worldwide. On average, waiting times at public transport stops/stations increased while trip distances decreased, apparently due to the mobility restriction and social distancing measures implemented in 2020. Most of the Moovit users who said that they abandoned public transport in 2020 were found in Italy and Greece. We developed linear regression analysis models to investigate (among the 35 variables examined in the study) the relationship between public transport abandonment rates and socioeconomic factors, quality of service characteristics, and indicators of pandemic's spread. Empirical findings show that public transport dropout rates are positively correlated with the COVID-19 death toll figures, the cleanliness of public transport vehicles and facilities, as well as with the income inequality (GINI) index of the population, and thus reconfirm previous research findings. In addition, the waiting time at stops/stations and the number of transfers required for commute trips appeared to be the most critical public transport trip segments, which significantly determine the discontinuation of public transport use under pandemic circumstances. Our research findings indicate specific aspects of public transport services, which require tailored adjustments in order to recover ridership in the post-pandemic period. • COVID-19 effect on public transport abandonment is studied in 87 cities worldwide. • Regression analyses assessed abandonment on socioeconomic, COVID-19 and Moovit data. • High abandonment rates were found in Thessaloniki, San Francisco, and Palermo. • COVID-19 deaths, vehicle hygiene conditions, income inequality affected abandonment. • Long waiting times at stops and higher transfer rates account for higher abandonment rates. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study presents an in-depth investigation on the transmission of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) from the urban perspective. It focuses on the "aftermath" of the outbreak and the spread of the infection among cities. Especially, this study provides insights of the fundamentals of the factors that may affect the spread of the infection in cities, where the marginal effects of some most influential factors to the virus transmission are estimated. It reveals that the distance to epicenter is a very strong influential factor, and is negatively linked with the spread of COVID-19. In addition, subway, wastewater and residential garbage are positively connected with the virus transmission. Moreover, both urban area and population density are negatively associated with the spread of COVID-19 at the early stage of the epidemic. Furthermore, this study also provides high precision estimation of the number of COVID-19 infection in Wuhan city, which is the epicenter of the outbreak in China. Based on the real-world data of cities outside Wuhan on March 2, 2020, the estimated number is 56,944.866 (mean value), which is very close to the officially reported number. The methodology and main conclusions shown in this paper are of general interest, and they can be applied to other countries to help understand the local transmission of COVID-19 as well. • This study presents an in-depth investigation on the transmission of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) from the urban perspective. • It provides insights of the fundamentals of the factors that may affect the spread of the infection in cities. • It also provides high precision estimation of the number of COVID-19 infection in Wuhan city, which is the epicenter of the outbreak in China. • The methodology and main conclusions shown in this paper are of general interest, and they can be applied elsewhere. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper we derive a theoretical model of the spread of a viral infection which we use as basis for an estimation strategy to test four interrelated hypotheses on the relationship between country-level COVID-19 mortality rates and the extent of urban development. Using data covering 81 countries we find evidence that countries with a higher population density, a higher share of the urban population living in the largest city, and countries with a higher urbanization rate had on average the same or fewer COVID-19 fatalities compared to less urbanized countries in 2020. Even though COVID-19 spreads faster in cities, fatalities may be lower, conditional on economic development, trust in government, and a well-functioning health care system. Generally, urbanization and city development are associated with economic development: with the resources urbanized countries have, it is easier for them to manage and maintain stricter lockdowns, and to roll out effective pharmaceutical interventions. • Based on a literature survey, we derive a theoretical model of the spread of a viral infection. • We use this to empirical test whether COVID-19 mortality rates were higher in more urbanized countries during 2020. • The evidence indicates that countries with a higher urbanization rate had on average the same or fewer COVID-19 fatalities. • COVID-19 fatalities may be lower conditional on economic development, trust in government, and a well-functioning health care system. • Accelerated investments and inclusive urban planning will improve cities' resilience against infectious diseases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper uses data from the United States to examine determinants of the spread of COVID-19 during three different epidemic waves. We address how sociodemographic and economic attributes, industry composition, density, crowding in housing, and COVID-19-related variables are associated with the transmission of COVID-19. After controlling for spatial autocorrelation, our findings indicate that the percentage of people in poverty, number of restaurants, and percentage of workers teleworking were associated with the COVID-19 incidence rate during all three waves. Our results also show that dense areas were more vulnerable to the transmission of COVID-19 after the first epidemic wave. Regarding the density of supermarkets, our study elaborates the negative aspects of wholesale retail stores, which likely provide a vulnerable place for virus transmission. Our results suggest that sociodemographic and economic attributes were the determinants of the early phase of the pandemic, while density showed positive association with the transmission during subsequent waves. We provide implications for regions serving as gateway cities with high density and number of population. To add, we further provide evidence that non-pharmaceutical interventions in the early stage may mitigate the virus transmission. • The determinants of the spread of COVID-19 vary in different epidemic waves. • People in poverty were vulnerable to the spread of COVID-19 during all three waves. • Socio-economic factors were related with the virus transmission in the early waves. • Density and service levels of daily facilities showed effect in subsequent waves. • Policy implications for planning and structuring anti-virus places are suggested. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The key workers, required to continue to travel for essential works during the COVID-19 pandemic, are subjected to extreme health and psychological implications along with prevailing financial hardship. This paper applies the Bayesian regression analysis to determine the factors affecting the decision of key workers and other commuters on riding public buses for essential trips during the COVID-19 restrictions on movement at Abuja and Lagos cities in Nigeria. The psychological, policy and operational effects of COVID-19 are the major factors of riding public buses for essential trips during the COVID-19 restrictions on movement. The key workers are staying out the bus routes with higher frequency of passenger boarding to avoid the COVID-19 transmission but other people were unable to avoid these busy routes because of poor accessibility to essential goods and services. The COVID-19 pandemic not only changes the travel behaviour of daily commuters and key workers but also aggravates the existing transportation problems at Lagos and Abuja cities in Nigeria. • Bayesian analysis to determine factors affecting the essential trips by public buses during COVID-19. • Higher transport cost is the most adverse impact of COVID-19 pandemic. • Psychological, policy and operational effects are influencing essential trips during pandemic. • Existing traffic congestions, costs and lack of transport services exaggerate the bus service. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Whilst there is research on how Covid-19 impacted travel demand and transport business, little attention has been paid on how Covid-19 has affected authorities' transport planning priorities and the actions taken to protect the public while travelling. This paper attempts to shed light on: a) how the transport planning priorities changed during the Covid-19 lockdowns in 2020/2021, and b) how the planning phases of the Sustainable Urban Mobility Plan (SUMP) framework can be strengthened to support a more resilient emergency planning environment. To address these questions, an online questionnaire was designed followed up by personal interviews from selected European cities. Data collection took place in November and December 2020, when most European countries were in lockdowns. Thirteen public authorities participated in the online questionnaire, while nine out of them were further interviewed. A mixed methods approach is used to analyse the quantitative and qualitative data and bring the results together to assess how SUMP priorities have changed. The results showed that the priority planning objectives were different in the period during the 2020/2021 lockdowns compared to the period before that. Public transport system planning was a priority in both periods, while planning for shared mobility and Mobility as a Service was further prioritised in the 2020/21 lockdowns. The main reasons for prioritising specific planning objectives were to secure public health, minimise environmental impact, support economic recovery and address social equity. The changes in the priority of planning objectives were also diverse between smaller and larger urban areas. Most of the actions adopted to accommodate the prioritised planning objectives were already defined before Covid-19, indicating that the lockdowns have acted as an accelerator of specific existing planning objectives. • Covid-19 had an apparent impact on the prioritisation of planning objectives. • The response to the pandemic involved mostly actions that were readily available. • The pandemic has acted as an accelerator of specific existing planning objectives. • Active travel measures were preferred over more advanced mobility solutions. • Response to the pandemic revealed lack of emergency planning and preparedness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Spanish real estate and its 'sea and sun' tourism model, were profoundly disrupted during the Great Recession of 2008–2014 As a result, hedge funds and their speculative operations have favoured an intense process of urban touristification in the largest Spanish cities, especially over the past ten years. The aim of this paper is to examine how the COVID-19 crisis has triggered shifts in the supply of short-term rentals and the type of demand of such rentals. By taking into account such changes, we will address the potential changes that the current pandemic scenario might bring between the 'classical' real estate market and short-term rentals in Spain. • Its high dependence on tourism makes Spain the best case study to analyze pandemic-related impacts on urban tourism • The exhaustion of the "Sun & Beach" tourism model had been replaced by the touristification of consolidated urban areas • Short-term rental and residential markets have redefined their complex relationship in new, uncertain directions • Platforms are the new frontier of capital accumulation in cities, anda powerful new mechanism to extract rents from housing [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The COVID-19 pandemic continues to have a significant impact on the transport sector worldwide. Lockdown and physical distancing requirements continue to be enforced in many cities leading to severe travel restrictions and travel demand reduction to limit the spread of the disease. This article provides bibliometric evidence-based insights into how the pandemic has exposed the vulnerability of established public transport systems and shared mobility solutions. It shows how some transport interventions can accelerate the shift to sustainable urban mobility practices such as micro-mobility and active transport. To accomplish this, the article examines recent studies (244 publications) from the Scopus database using a rigorous systematic literature review approach covering the period from January 2020 to February 2021. Importantly, the mapping of bibliographic coupling and co-citation analysis showed four heterogeneous clusters representing research efforts into "environment", "travel behavior and mode choice", "public transport", and "interventions". Inductive reasoning is used to analyze the disruptions that cities have encountered worldwide, the rapid interventions that were put in place, the aftershocks and the short and long-term impacts. Finally, the paper summarizes the lessons learned and opportunities ahead, and the challenges that must be overcome. The article also outlines pathways to build on the momentum of sustainable practices as part of a holistic approach for enabling resilient transport solutions for the new urban world. • A rigorous systematic literature review (SLR) approach • Identify the most active research related to the impacts of COVID-19 on transport • Main research themes identified: Environment, Travel behavior, Public transport and Interventions • Lessons learned worldwide and prospects for post-pandemic cities [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

COVID-19 has become a major global issue with large social-economic and health impacts, which led to important changes in people's behavior. One of these changes affected the way people use public transport. In this work we present a data-driven analysis of the impact of COVID-19 on public transport demand in the Community of Madrid, Spain, using data from ticket validations between February and September 2020. This period of time covers all stages of pandemic in Spain, including de-escalation phases. We find that ridership has dramatically decreased by 95% at the pandemic peak, recovering very slowly and reaching only half its pre-pandemic levels at the end of September. We analyze results for different transport modes, ticket types, and groups of users. Our work corroborates that low-income groups are the most reliant on public transportation, thus observing significantly lower decreases in their ridership during pandemic. This paper also shows different average daily patterns of public transit demand during each phase of the pandemic in Madrid. All these findings provide relevant information for transit agencies to design responses to an emergence situation like this pandemic, contributing to extend the global knowledge about COVID-19 impact on transport comparing results with other cities worldwide. • A data-driven analysis of the impact of COVID-19 on public transport demand in the Community of Madrid (Spain) is presented. • Results for different transport modes, ticket types, and groups of users are presented, covering all stages of pandemic. • Ridership has decreased by 95 % at the pandemic peak, recovering very slowly and reaching only half its pre-pandemic level. • Low-income groups are the most reliant on public transportation, observing significantly lower ridership decreases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper aims to investigate changes in travel behavior due to COVID-19 focusing in one of the most active social groups in Greece. A questionnaire survey was conducted and 306 young adults (age 18–34 years) living in various Greek cities responded. The survey collected information about travel-related preferences before, during and after the 1st lockdown and during the 2nd lockdown of the COVID-19 pandemic in Greece. City attributes of the respondent's residency location before and after the 1st lockdown were collected. The data are analyzed descriptively and through statistical modelling techniques. During the 1st lockdown an important increase in physical exercise frequency was observed, but this increase was not permanent. The COVID-19 pandemic resulted in essential reductions in the frequency of public transport use and in an increase of walking frequency. The public transport use reduction was mainly attributed to people that had access to a private car and after the 1st lockdown moved to a smaller city. On the other hand, the changes in walking frequency are closely linked to the city's attributes. Useful policy implications are being derived about how the pandemic can assist in promoting sustainable urban mobility goals. • The study surveyed 306 young adults that are living in various Greek cities • During the COVID-19 pandemic walking increased and public transport use decreased essentially • Physical exercise increased during the 1st lockdown and returned to pro-COVID levels after the 1st lockdown • Public transport usage was mainly reduced by people that had access to a private car and those moved to a smaller city • Changes in walking frequency are closely linked to city's attributes [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Traffic congestion has been a persistent problem in cities globally. Theoretically, commuting-related congestion can be relieved by promoting working from home (WFH). Amid the COVID-19 pandemic, WFH arrangement has been encouraged or enforced to reduce the spread of the coronavirus. Under these circumstances, it was reported that traffic congestion has been alleviated in many cities. However, changes in congestion patterns within a city have not been studied in-depth. In this study, we analysed the congestion index (CI) at peak hours, when commuting-related congestion is typically most serious, throughout different waves of the pandemic in Hong Kong. Results show that under WFH arrangement, peak-hour congestion has been alleviated. Within a day, morning peak congestion was more relieved. Spatially, significant drops in CI were found not only in the central business district and urban cores but also in some new town areas. This paper has significant implications for urban planners in creating more sustainable cities that duly consider the commuting needs of residents, and cautions against the optimism that WFH can relieve urban transport problems despite jobs-housing imbalance. While the WFH arrangement has potentials to ease commuting congestion, future e-working and transport measures need to take spatial and temporal dimensions into account. • Spatio-temporal dynamics of urban traffic congestion under COVID-19 were captured. • In Hong Kong, work from home had a bigger impact on morning than evening peak. • Morning peak congestion relief was not only limited to the CBD. • The two commuting peaks were identifiable even during work from home periods. • About 25% of planning units had lower peak-hour congestion under the "new normal". [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]