Healthy Public Spaces after COVID-19

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic developed a greater awareness towards the importance of the sanitary protocol and made it clear within the population about the need for human beings to interact with others and a specific space for it. However, we ask ourselves the following questions: are our public spaces in Lima well designed? And does the design of these public spaces help create a good health prevention environment and satisfy public encounters between people? Several shortcomings were revealed at the pandemic’s beginning when the public spaces were reviewed. Sources and specific cases of public spaces were analyzed to determine how people use these places and how they could be improved or adapted. The information acquired would be complemented with the study of a case of public space in the city of Lima. For this, the opinions of some citizens on public spaces in Lima and on the Arenales Shopping Center were collected. This case revealed strengths and weaknesses that could be applied to other public areas or used to improve this studied space. The investigation hinted at the importance of human interaction and the ideal spaces for it. Of course, there may be architectural criteria to design them. However, some spaces can be adapted for this human interaction, where a community can expand its identity in that place.