Effects of Covid-19 Pandemic on Neighborhood Perception and Satisfaction

Abstract

Neighborhoods had a prominent role in cities and people’s lives during the Covid-19 pandemic. Lockdowns, social distance, self-isolation, and stay-at-home orders have increased the time people spend in their homes and neighborhoods and changed their perception and behavior towards these areas. This study aimed to measure the change in perception of and satisfaction with the neighborhood before and during the pandemic. A neighborhood perception and satisfaction survey was conducted among residents of Karşıyaka/Izmir in February 2020 and August 2020. Results showed that the mean value of perceived neighborhood borders extended during the pandemic. In addition, 9 of 48 parameters of participants’ neighborhood satisfaction evaluations were different before and during the pandemic. Some aspects of accessibility, physical environmental quality, and social relations were evaluated better after the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic. In addition, residents revealed more tendency to move out of the neighborhood during the pandemic pointing to an expected increase in urban mobility. All these findings reflect the ambiguity and obscurity of the situation during the Covid-19 period from the perspective of the neighborhood residents. This study is significant because it provides empirical evidence on the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on neighborhood perception and satisfaction.

Keywords

• Neighborhood satisfaction
• neighborhood perception
• Covid-19 pandemic

Covid-19 Pandemisinin Mahalle Algısı ve Memnuniyeti Üzerine Etkisi

Abstract

Konut yakın çevreleri Covid-19 salgını sırasında şehirlerde ve insanların yaşamlarında önemli bir role sahip olmuştur. Sokağa çıkma yasakları, sosyal mesafe kuralları, karantina ve evde kal tedbirleri, insanların evlerinde ve mahallelerinde geçirdikleri süreyi artırmış ve bu alanlara yönelik algı ve davranışlarını değiştirmiştir. Bu çalışma, pandemi öncesi ve pandemi döneminde mahalleyle ilgili algı ve memnuniyetteki değişimi ölçmeyi amaçlamaktadır. Şubat 2020 ve Ağustos 2020'de Karşıyaka/İzmir mahalle sakinlerine “mahalle memnuniyeti” anketi uygulanmıştır. Sonuçlar, pandemi öncesine kıyasla pandemi döneminde mahalle sınırlarının daha geniş algılandığına işaret etmiştir. Aynı zamanda mahalle memnuniyetinin toplam 48 ölçütünden 9'una ilişkin değerlendirmeler pandemi öncesinde ve pandemi süresinde farklılaşmıştır. Pandeminin başlamasının ardından erişilebilirlik, fiziksel çevre kalitesi ve sosyal ilişkiler ile ilgili bazı parametreler daha olumlu değerlendirilmiştir. Ayrıca pandemi döneminde daha çok katılımcı mahalleden taşınmaya istekli olduğunu ifade ederek kent içi hareketliliğin artabileceğine işaret etmiştir. Elde edilen tüm bulgular bir arada değerlendirildiğinde, Covid-19 sürecine yönelik belirsizlik durumunun mahalle sakinlerinin mahalleye yönelik değerlendirmelerine de yansıdığı görülmüştür. Bu çalışma pandeminin mahalle algısı ve memnuniyeti üzerindeki etkisine yönelik ampirik bulgular sunması nedeniyle önemlidir.

Keywords

• Mahalle memnuniyeti
• mahalle algısı
• Covid-19 pandemisi

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