Rethinking walkable city in the post-corona era

Keywords: walkability, post-corona, COVID-19, built environment
Session Type: Virtual Poster
Day: Saturday
Session Start / End Time: 4/10/2021 08:00 AM (Pacific Time (US & Canada)) - 4/10/2021 09:15 AM (Pacific Time (US & Canada))
Room: Virtual 51

Abstract

Since the 1990s, a concept of “walkability” has been discussed for the development of many cities. Within the discussions on urbanism in the post-corona era, the concept has still important for the pursuit of a healthier, safer, and lively city.
In this study, we assume that the outbreak of COVID-19 will also have long-term effects on human’s lifestyle even the outbreak is over and thus lead to a shift in human’s walking attitude and trip patterns. In other words, the concept of walkability that guides us on how to create a better walking environment may need to be updated after this pandemic. However, few studies have focused on the possible new concept of walkability in the post-corona era.
The objective of this study is to discuss the direction of the concept of urban walkability under new lifestyle in the post-corona era. In this light, we first describe and analyze the possible new walking attitude and trip patterns based on the academic and public discussions related to this subject and discuss the walking needs for the urban environment. After that, a review on the walkability index under the pre-corona era helps us to find out the gaps between the environmental factors widely used before and the ones that corresponding to the new possible walking needs in the future.
This study discusses the concept of walkability in the post-corona era and concludes that there is a need to update the concept of walkability and rethink walkable city in the post-corona era.