Thematic analysis of research on cities and the COVID-19 pandemic
Citation: Sharifi A. An overview and thematic analysis of research on cities and the COVID-19 pandemic: Toward just, resilient, and sustainable urban planning and design. iScience. 2022;25:105297.
Language: Abstract and full text available in EN.
Free to view: Yes.
Funding sources: Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS) KAKENHI and Toyota Foundation.
What is this? For this literature review and bibliometric analysis, the author searched for articles addressing issues associated with planning, design and management of cities during the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as lessons learned in 2020-2021. They restricted their searches to peer-reviewed articles published in 2020 or 2021 and did the search in January 2022. They included 2799 articles in the bibliometric analysis.
What was found: At the time of this review, six common issues and thematic areas of research related to cities and the COVID-19 pandemic were identified: (1) air quality, (2) meteorological factors, (3) built environment factors, (4) transportation, (5) inequalities and socioeconomic disparities, and (6) smart city solutions and technologies. The first three were the most dominant factors in 2020-21.
The main change in the literature in 2021 compared to 2020 was the expansion in the themes of transportation and smart city solutions and technologies.
Implications: The author of the review stated that further research was needed to assess whether changes in air quality were temporary during this time period; the necessary steps for sustained improvement; the impact of wind transmission of COVID-19; and the impact and influence on minorities/urban poor, different ages and genders, the waste sector, urban population dynamics and spread, governance and the economy, public transportation and data-related privacy and security issues.
Other considerations: The author of the review discussed their findings in the context of place of residence, race, ethnicity and socioeconomic status.
This summary was prepared by Yasmeen Saeed, checked by Cristián Mansilla and Jawaria Karim, and finalized by Mike Clarke.
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