Access to urban activities during the Covid-19 pandemic and impacts on urban mobility: The Brazilian context

Social distancing has been adopted as a strategy to contain the advance of the pandemic until specific solutions to combat the virus are available. Many economic sectors and social activities need to continue despite the viruses, and most social distancing policies disregard individual choices, resulting in greater or lesser adherence to isolation. In this paper, we characterize the differentiation of access to essential activities within Brazilian cities during social distancing and the intention to maintain behavior changes concerning these activities in the post-pandemic period. The results showed that the behavior regarding essential activities during the pandemic is not independent of variables associated with pre-pandemic travel patterns, isolation conditions, and socioeconomic factors. Post-pandemic intention proved to be statistically dependent on factors associated with the activities' characteristics and experiences during the pandemic. Accessibility-oriented planning can guide urban and transportation policies more equitably through the identification of the most affected groups by activity disruption. At the same time, the incorporation of new routines less dependent on displacement offers opportunities to review public space.