Paper

Public space and public health related to green space in urban landscape architecture

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Abstract

In this paper I will investigate relations between public space and public health in the context of the recent pandemic Covid-19 for the urban landscape. Goal of the research is to explore how mitigating and maybe even prevention of pandemics can be achieved through planning and design of urban public space. The main research question is how green space and greenways have been used and can be used in the creation of healthy environments for people in the times after the pandemic. The research methods are mixed, explorative and experimental. Overall the research methods are based on the principles of the case study approach. In the first part, a brief overview of existing publications will be analysed with special attention to the relation between public space and green space. In the second part the issue of public health and public space with special attention to criteria, norms and guidelines will be explored. How can use and spatial aspects of public space create conditions for improving public health? In the last part this information will be integrated into a design approach and elaborated at the scale of the neighbourhood in a case study in the city of Utrecht by explorative research and experimental design. One of the conclusions is that new approaches should be founded on the one hand on evidence-based research on the relations between pandemic and daily living environment, on the other hand on experimental design and explorative research.

Keywords: Design experiment, evidence-based design, Design knowledge, Pandemics, Neighbourhood design

How to Cite:

Toorn, M. v., (2022) “Public space and public health related to green space in urban landscape architecture”, Fábos Conference on Landscape and Greenway Planning 7(1). doi: https://doi.org/10.7275/fabos.837