TRANSFORMATIVE IMPACT OF COVID 19 PANDEMIC ON THE URBAN PUBLIC SPACES

Urban areas attract population influx due to central economic, social, and technological growth. However, living in the city comes with an undesirable cost due to the scarcity of land area. People are forced to live in smaller housing without personal open space and lawns. Future urban population will opt for small living spaces and indirectly increase the need for public open spaces. Unfortunately, the Covid 19 pandemic outbreaks in 2020 have forced the urban community to be confined to their own home later negatively impacting the urban population's physical and mental health. This research aims to identify the possible long-term transformative impact of the covid 19 pandemic from the space and user context. Two types of approaches were adopted by the research, the Systematic Literature Review using the PRISMA method, and the questionnaire survey analysed using SPSS. The findings from SLR are coded and categorised into three themes: transformative impact on user behaviour and perception, the planning and design of space, and the Social-Political impact. Next, the survey was developed based on the themes of transformative impact. One of the most important conclusions is that the urban public space provision and accessibility vary according to the socioeconomic background of the community. By understanding the possible transformative impact of pandemics on urban public space, better policy and guidelines for planning and managing the public space can be made where the urban public space can be fully utilised, functional safely and conveniently and accessible for all in the post-pandemic era.