Cities and COVID-19: Tracing COVID Footprints in Greek Cities

Abstract

Cities, as the first recipients of crises, whether financial or health-related, are shaken, transformed, and survived, highlighting their resilience. The COVID-19 pandemic laid the groundwork for transforming key urban space features. For example, we can identify changes related to the use of urban space, and even the complete lack of use, the no use of urban space, as a result of government measures to limit the viral spread. Accordingly, we can outline changes related to the rapid creation of new, urgently needed infrastructure (such as hospitals) to respond to the crisis. Meanwhile, new forms of urbanity (and city models) are being created, inspired by health criteria (or principles of walkable communities), redefining how cities are perceived (people’s perception changing and actual concrete things). Greek cities, following the crisis of the pandemic, have transformed and adapted to new conditions. This article, in the first phase, reviews 1,063 articles associated with the impacts of COVID-19 on urban morphology. Then, it focuses on the Greek reality based on published material (peer-reviewed studies and articles, government documents, consumer journalism). The article aims to highlight how conditions, such as urban morphology, number, and form of open public spaces, or population density, influenced Greek cities’ resilience to the pandemic.