Abstract

With the outbreak of a novel respiratory coronavirus disease (COVID-19) over the world, restriction of human mobility plays an important role to reduce the potential for the spread of virus. People are restricted for limited activities in local communities where the built environment in communities serve as a mediated pathway for the virus transmission. Our study aims to examine to what extent built environment factors explain COVID-19 transmission at the community level. Drawing on primary data collected from 648 communities in Wuhan, China, we employed a geographically weighted regression and a 3D mapping approach to examine the relationship between COVID-19 confirmed cases and three built environment factors including green coverage, property price, and underground parking. We find that green coverage and property price explain COVID-19 transmission better in communities with a larger amount of confirmed cases.

Keywords: COVID-19 transmission; Built environment; 3D visualization; Geographically weighted regression; Wuhan