Urban Outdoor Seating Elements, An Assessment for the Post-Pandemic Era

Abstract

In threatening social life on a global scale, the Covid-19 pandemic epidemic made us think and experience the fragility of our cities from different aspects. The pandemic spread rapidly, feeding off the established social system of our cities. Having become crowded with population growth, urban communal areas were effective in increasing the flow of pathogens. The most intense common usage of the city is open spaces. In this article, it is aimed to determine the design-related effects of the pandemic in the urban open space. For the study, a seating element was chosen that provides contact density in the common use of urban residents in the urban open area. Following a literature review regarding urban public open spaces, the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic was investigated. In the urban open space, the effects of the pandemic are listed over the settlement, design and maintenance criteria of the seating element. The table prepared in accordance with information obtained in the article and the urban open-space seating element was discussed comparatively before and after the pandemic. In line with the findings, an attempt was made to determine the foresights that will benefit the design phenomenon for the post-pandemic era and urban open spaces in general.