A sustainable strategy for Open Streets in (post)pandemic cities

Abstract

While public space is traditionally shared by pedestrian and cars, the distancing measures imposed by the Covid-19 pandemic have underlined the need for wider pedestrian spaces. Here, the authors take a complex network approach to analyze sidewalk data from cities across the world to evidence a strong unbalance in the space distribution between cars and pedestrian, and propose a strategy to improve urban walkability within a socially distancing context and without compromising road traffic.