Abstract
The unique situation caused by the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus epidemic caused us to break away from our daily routine, to a greater or lesser extent, for various reasons. This state has largely affected urban dwellers, where the risk of falling ill is high due to the large clusters of people sharing hundreds of open public spaces. In everyday rush, our spatial behaviours can be described as systematic, regular, repetitive - often to such an extent that we cease to realize their significance and the fact that they occur at all, often performing them automatically. A disorder of routine caused by a crisis concerns various aspects of our urban existence - from the way we move, by doing our job, dealing with important matters, meeting friends, ending with recreation. In cities, these activities are served by many open public spaces such as parks, squares, streets, promenades and many more. They play an extremely important role because of their functions, development, and the way they are perceived. Breaking the routine associated with an extraordinary, unusual situation also causes changes in our perception of public spaces or spatial behaviour. On the one hand, this situation requires taking actions aimed at adapting to the new reality, but it also provides academic researchers opportunity for research on urban issues and study the perception and spatial behaviour of users of urban open public spaces during the crisis, which a pandemic undoubtedly is. It turns out that perception, feelings and spatial behaviour change significantly due to the crisis caused by the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus pandemic. Many open public space users restrained or even cease activities in these spaces for very different reasons. The current socio-economic situation, imposed restrictions, personality, sense of security and place of residence have a huge impact on these changes. In addition, the future of the social functioning of urban open public spaces is unknown in the eyes of their users. This situation causes lively discussion and the need to undertake research on the social functioning of these spaces during the epidemic, comparing it to life before it and try to predict the way we will be living after it. This type of research is needed so that we can return to normality in a completely new post-COVID-19 urban world. The purpose of the presentation is to present the results of research carried out in April 2020 on the perception of urban open public spaces and the spatial behaviour of users in them before and during the epidemic. The conclusions of the study can help develop this concept not only in the economic sphere of the functioning of urban open public spaces, but especially in the social sphere.
