A sustainable strategy for Open Streets in (post)pandemic cities

Abstract Cities world-wide have taken the opportunity presented by COVID-19 pandemic to improve and expand pedestrian infrastructure, providing residents with a sense of relief pursuing long-standing goals decrease automobile dependence increase walkability. So far, due scarcity data methodological shortcomings, these efforts lacked system-level view treating sidewalks as network. Here, we leverage sidewalk from ten cities in three continents, first analyse distribution roadbed geometries, find that present an unbalanced public space, favouring automobiles at expense pedestrians. Next, connect geometries build network –adjacent, but irreducible road Finally, compare no-intervention scenario shared-effort heuristic, relation performance infrastructures guarantee physical distancing. The heuristic prevents connectivity breakdown, while preserving network’s functionality.