The impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on green space use in Turkey: Is closing green spaces for use a solution?

With the advent of effects of the Covid-19 pandemic spreading far and wide throughout many countries in the world, both similar and differing measures are being taken in an effort to manage and curtail them. In addition to weekend lockdowns and closures of café’s and public meeting places throughout Turkey in the early stages of the pandemic, public coasts and urban green spaces (UGS’s) were also closed in order to maintain social distancing. The aim of the current study is to reveal the opinions of UGS users regarding the measures taken in general against the pandemic, and the measure of closing the coasts and UGS’s for use. For this purpose, the distribution of a questionnaire to 239 UGS users was coordinated. The results indicate that people do not support both pandemic measures in general, and the measure of closing the coasts and UGS’s for use. According to the findings based on the opinions of the survey participants, the Covid-19 pandemic has caused more psychological problems than physical problems. UGS’s are very important in aiding the elimination of some of the negative effects the pandemic has helped create, as well as the effects of the measures taken in general against it. Covid-19 restrictions have given rise to the need to redesign UGS’s, and the lessons learned from the pandemic and usage habits must be taken into account in new designs.