The Resilience Principles of the Built Environment in Light of Climate Change and the Post-pandemic Era

Several challenges and emerging opportunities were already confronting cities at the time of the COVID-19 outbreak, including climate change, digital transformation, sustainable mobility, regenerating degraded areas, redefining public spaces, promoting social inclusion, and integrating the city. Nevertheless, the immediate pandemic crisis has had a significant impact on the lives of people worldwide. Human wellbeing is adversely impacted by cross-infection, both psychologically and physically. Therefore, private and public spaces for living, working, resting, and travelling have changed drastically. During this time of reopening buildings, neighbourhoods, cities, and countries, it is essential to continue to focus on flattening the curves for energy use and CO2 emissions. The purpose of this chapter is to provide architects or designers with an understanding of the environmental and health issues associated with COVID-19, as well as the high risk of indoor airborne disease transmission. Due to the complexity of the problem and the need for interdisciplinary research, engineering controls, design strategies, and passive architecture techniques should be integrated. This will enable better indoor air quality. Post-coronavirus cities will be built on the foundation of many changes, from the construction materials to the mobility of the citizens. Because neighbourhoods play a crucial role in meeting the needs of their residents under the current pandemic restrictions, they are receiving increasing attention. An important finding in this chapter is the new perspectives for building a healthy environment by combining innovative techniques with passive features of architecture. Meanwhile, this perspective will allow the decision-makers to rethink how they perceive the built environment in light of climate change and the post-pandemic era. To achieve this vision, different disciplines will need to collaborate, and decision-makers will need to participate. The sequence and role of each player in society will change the entire image of the resilience of built environment across the whole world.