The public spaces of pandemic: a case study of Vesterbro

Cakmak, Nur Ceren

4. Term

Urban, Energy and Environmental Planning, Master

2021

2021-08-20

97 pages

In the beggining of 2020 world was hit with COVID-19 pandemic and metropolitan cities were hit the hardest. Urban life had to continue under new circumstances. Countries reacted to this state of emergency differently. Denmark implemented lockdown to contain the spread of the virus by limiting gatherings to maximum 10 people, closing schools, universities, daycare, entertainment and public leisure facilities. Life in Denmark was on hold. People adapted to the new regulations and continued their life with social distance. The perception of urban life has changed and people started to avoid crowded spaces. As a result, people claimed the public spaces within their close proximity and turned local public spaces into their outdoor living rooms. This situation also shed light into vulnerabilities of dense urban areas like Vesterbro. As a district that already suffers from lack of space and increasing population, the citizens of Vesterbro felt the pressure even more. The lack of public space increased the demand on existing public spaces and the increased demand resulted with reduced the quality those public spaces. The pandemic changed the way citizens of Vesterbro evaluate their public space and unlocked their desires to have a good public space. The online survey and structured interviews with the citizens and third places allowed me to draw a general perception of public space after COVID-19. People perceived existing public spaces as crowded, dirty, loud, and small. On the other hand they also perceived it is local, friendly, and lively. Their preferences of public space was to have more open, green and active public spaces. The existing public spaces offered a lot of unique qualities that allowed users to internalize themselves with the space but they weren’t satisfying and needed improvements. Lastly these results allowed me to give my interpretation of qualities for good public space in the light of COVID-19 which are: safety, close proximity, space/attraction balance, connection with nature, engagement/comfort balance and flexible space on top of the classic pre-pandemic good public space approach from the forefathers of public space studies. This result led me to study the value of public space and conclude my research with a final remark: In order to create good public spaces we need to change the way we plan cities towards more human oriented, resilient and sustainable cities for all.

public space ; COVID-19 ; pandemic ; adaptation

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