Covid-19 pandemic: Urban quality of life in neighborhoods in Porto Alegre, Brazil

Abstract 

The concept of sustainable development is the result of awareness of the global links between environmental problems, socioeconomic issues related to poverty and inequality, and concerns about a healthy future for humanity (Hopwood et al., 2005). The sustainability tripod is based on the balance between three dimensions: social, environmental and economic (Monteiro, 2020). Agenda 21 (UNCED, 1992) and Agenda 2030 (IBGE, 2015) represent important milestones in the construction of quality-of-life indicators aimed at sustainable development in cities.

In 2023, the third year of the Covid-19 pandemic, the sanitary emergency has altered the life conditions of Brazilian population in many dimensions, whether regarding the social isolation or the economic and social impact. Thus, the urban quality of ife, which is a concept related to the main characteristics of the built environment in the city, where people live and work, highlights the unequal distribution of the effects of the health emergency in the urban territory (Cocco et al., 2020). The initial “democratic character” of the pandemic came to be revealed in the form of intra-urban differences, both in social and spatial aspects, demonstrating the need for spatially located coping and recovery policies.

In the field of urban studies, the Urban Quality of Life (UQL) concept relates quality of life to environmental quality, only spatially located, referring to the urban environment and its different scales (Nahas, 2015; Monteiro, 2020). The concept focuses on the city, that is, “the quality of life that the city offers its citizens” (Nahas, 2015, p. 25), measured according to different life dimensions and their spread on the territory. In this research project the adopted concept for urban quality of life is not yet well formatted, but will include dimensions related to the Covid-19 pandemic and social isolation impact, especially those related to phisycal and mental health, economy, education and others relevant, later selected according to a systematic literature review. 

The assessment of UQL is usually carried out using subjective and objective indicators, described in the literature, and based on primary and secondary data, respectively (Lora & Powell, 2012; Monteiro, 2020; Wesz, 2021). The selection of indicators and dimensions for the evaluation of alterations in the UQL of a population tends to demonstrate the focus that the study intends to obtain, as well as the scale of analysis and particularities of each case scenario. In a given territory, the most affected and representative areas should be considered, that is the number of Covid-19 cases and deaths, alongside with the main characteristics of the population. In this research project the idea is to establish four different socioeconomic scenarios of the population in neighborhoods of Porto Alegre. In addition, Covid-19 influences the UQL especially in the perception that the inhabitants have about the city and how they feel in relation to the physical space of the city in the face of social isolation, so some primary data will be compared to secondary data to understand the changes more deeply (Wesz, 2021).

In Brazil, the evaluation of UQL indicators has a reference on the standard ISO 37120: “Sustainable Cities and Communities – Indicators for City Services and Quality of Life”. Although this norm represents an advance in terms of standardized UQL assessment, it does not consider subjective indicators, which represent an impact on UQL in the context of the pandemic. Furthermore, there is the challenge of using secondary data, produced using different methodologies and often with a volatile nature, which prevents or restricts the joint analysis of indicators; thus showing a gap in knowledge about the effects of the pandemic on UQL subjective and objective indicators. Therefore, there is a need for improvements in the process of building evaluation and monitoring models with UQL and sustainability indicators that consider the scope of ISO 37120 and the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic on urban populations, in order to fill that knowledge gap.

This research has as its central question: How did the Covid-19 pandemic change the UQL in neighborhoods of Porto Alegre, Brazil? The overall objective is to investigate how the Covid-19 pandemic has changed the UQL in neighborhoods of Porto Alegre, Brazil. The specific objectives are:

• Identify relevant criteria for selecting spatial frameworks to evaluate changes in UQL in neighborhoods of Porto Alegre, Brazil.
• Identify relevant indicators to assess the UQL in neighborhoods in the context of the Covid-19 pandemic.
• Characterize the changes in UQL related to the pandemics, using objective indicators;
• Characterize the changes in UQL related to the pandemics, using subjective indicators;
• Comparatively analyze equity in the UQL and the relationship with the Covid-19 pandemic, on a neighborhood scale.

The research strategy used is the case study (Yin, 2001; Dresch et al., 2015), which will take as an empirical object the neighborhoods of Porto Alegre, in Brazil. Secondary data will be collected to produce objective indicators of UQL and later primary data will be collected through fieldwork, using retrospective interviews, aiming in producing subjective indicators of UQL (Wesz, 2021). The neighborhood scale is relevant because existing neighborhoods in the same city are affected differently by the Covid-19 pandemic due to their socio-spatial and socioeconomic characteristics, demanding different public policies for coping and recovery. The time frame for analysis will be, provisionally, from 2010 to 2023, still depending on the feasibility analysis of the data.

The expected results consist of a theoretical-methodological contribution, covering an evaluation model with UQL indicators in a pandemic context. This model could help define urban planning policies aimed at improving the health and well-being of the population, particularly in periods of health crisis, such as pandemics. In addition, the discussion of UQL and sustainability can help direct the improvement of urban indicators that meet the SDGs, as well as guide public recovery policies, in the post-pandemic context.

Key words: Sustainable development; Urban quality of life; Covid-19 pandemic; neighborhood scale; Brazil.

References:

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