Spatial Mapping of Gated Community-Based Housing Formations around Metro Stations at the Time of COVID-19 and a Residents’ View

At its peak period of the COVID-19 spread, this study investigates how transit-oriented sub-centered housing developments responded against the pandemic in line with the residents’ spatial experience and changing preferences. In this context, Batikent, a gated-community-based urban development and one of the successful urban residential projects realized in the 1980s in Ankara, Turkiye, was chosen as a case study. The four metro stations located on the same track in Batikent’s most densely populated areas were taken as reference points, and their surroundings, 1 km in diameter were spatially examined in terms of the housing types they host, and differences in their land coverages and building and population density, etc. A survey was carried out to examine the residents’ COVID-19 experience in line with spatial qualities. To match them against COVID-19 with the spatial patterns, both results were compared to the COVID-19 spread maps, collected for six months starting from October 2020 to March 2021. The spread risk was prominent in the places where the buildings are in closer proximity and increased interaction with the commercial networks. The results also suggest that perceived qualities of the residential environment are critical in dealing with extreme urban phenomena. Neither the spatial formation of the urban form nor the living habits change instantaneously but being aware of the capabilities of the spatial setting and properties which combat the pandemics helps with the spatial scale of the local adaptation process.