COVID impact on usage of public spaces in Brasilia, Brazil

COVID 19 has proved to be a challenging timeworldwide. For the last three years, academics have researched its impacts through different lenses and perspectives in many significant fields. In the urban academic realm, there has been a growing debate on the potential change in behavior towards public space usage during the pandemic. After compulsory confinent, public spaces became under the mainstream debate ofthe importance of public spaces for livelihood in times of crisis. Still, assessing its impacts on public space is still not widely done, neither quantitatively nor qualitatively. This research brings Brasilia as a study case to understand whether the pandemic has affected the usage of the iconic abundance of green spaces of the capital city on the first 18 months, before the introduction of vaccination.Brasilia as agarden-city, a concept brought by the modern urban design movement, has always faced criticism for its hygienistdesignand the ample provision of green spaces. The garden-city featureswas put to a test after COVID19 through the analysis of five differenttypes of public spaces using surveys and interviews with local residents of Plano Piloto (n=147). The results showthat during the pandemic the usage of local neighborhood parks within walking distance has indeed increased. People tend to use these spaces for exercising but most importantly to socialize with friends and family.