González, J F and Gongal, A (2021) Unidirectional pedestrian circulation: Physical distancing in informal settlements. Buildings & Cities, 2(1), pp. 655-665. ISSN 2632-6655
Abstract
The COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in a wide range of spatial interventions to slow the spread of the virus. The spatial limitations of narrow public circulation spaces within informal settlements, which house over 1 billion people around the world, make it impossible for pedestrians to practice physical distancing (or social distancing). A flexible mathematical method, the Cluster Lane Method, is proposed for turning a planar circulation network of any size or complexity into a network of unidirectional lanes. This makes physical distancing possible in narrow circulation spaces by limiting face-to-face interactions. The opportunities and challenges are discussed for the implementation of this cost-efficient, low-tech solution. New notions and theorems are introduced for oriented graphs in graph theory. PRACTICE RELEVANCE A new approach based on graph theory is used to address the problem of COVID-19 contagion in the narrow public circulation networks of informal settlements. The Cluster Lane Method shows how to convert a planar circulation network of any size or complexity into a network of unidirectional lanes. This makes physical distancing possible in narrow circulation spaces by limiting face-to-face interactions between pedestrians. By involving the inhabitants of the informal settlement throughout the process, more adequate orientations of the lanes can be found.
| Item Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | circulation; cities; COVID-19; graph theory; informal settlements; public health; urban planning |
| Index terms: | circulation, COVID-19, pandemic, public health, face, social distancing, informal settlement, complexity, pedestrian, implementation, interaction, graph theory, urban planning |
| Subjects: | urban planning, psychology, contractual arrangements, theoretical framing, health risk and incident analysis, urban design, sociology, housing and residential development, systems engineering, behavioral psychology, environmental health |
| Topics: | Organizational Design, Urban Studies, Stakeholder Management, Governance, Sustainability, Procurement, Health and Safety, Engineering Principles, Research Practice |
| Descriptive scope: | 4 PCTA |
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