Post-coronavirus disease 2019 opinions of landscape architects about urban open-green areas

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to find out if the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic influenced landscape architects, who have key responsibilities in the planning, design, implementation, and sustainability of public open and green spaces, to reconsider their practice in urban open and green areas. The research was conducted with the landscape architects who have membership in the Union of Chambers of Turkish Engineers and Architects and Chamber of Landscape Architects. The main materials of this study are the participants (individuals with the title of landscape architect), questionnaire forms to ascertain the participants’opinions on the use of open-green spaces following the pandemic, prior scientific research on the topic, and software such as IBM Statistical Package for Social Science Statistics, IBM Statistical Package for Social Science Amos, and Excel used to digitize the research data. The results reflect the landscape architects’ emphasis that open and green space utilization is essential to assisting public health in the fight against pandemics. Additionally, the significance of managing user density inside urban open-green areas, controlling access points into them, utilizing disease-resistant materials in urban furniture, connecting urban green spaces to nearby natural areas, and creating different areas for different age groups was emphasized. Understanding the socio-spatial consequences of the measures taken to prevent the spread of the pandemic and identifying the concepts related to emerging new lifestyles that combine work and life patterns are among the benefits to be obtained from the study. © 2024 Istanbul University-CerrahpaÅŸa. All rights reserved.