Strategies to adapt and update the existing residential building stock of Lezha region in the post Covid-19 pandemic era

Abstract

Towards sustainable solutions for post pandemic city is analyzed the city of Lezha - as case Since its beginning, the Covid-19 pandemic changed most of the aspects of human life and, specifically, has resulted in a disruptive transformation of the social interactions. As it is well known, the largest part of the built spaces has been shaped to ensure these interactions and, as consequence, sanitary prevention measures (minimum interpersonal distance of one meter and half to keep in public spaces or the attendance of school from home, working from home) have been having a disruptive impact on the spaces inhabited by humans until now. Narrowing down the field to the built environment, at the scale of the residential buildings, this article investigates how, in the of region of Lezha (Albania), both in the pandemic and post-pandemic scenario, the reconfiguration of the home spaces can play a significant role in protecting residents from the disease. In this context, the two main key aspects of the houses analyzed in the article are essential to face those transformations of built environment due to the pandemic: the spatial transformation in terms of size, adaptability, and flexibility of the layout of the dwellings and the improvement of environmental quality and comfort of the dwellings. Starting from data available from the Census 2011 for the region of Lezha, the spatial, constructive and environmental features of the most representative existing building types have been analyzed, identifying the ones that have to be improved. From the data collected by this analysis, general design support guidelines to adapt and update the existing residential Lezha region building stock to the new living needs imposed by Covid-19 pandemic have been developed, addressed mainly to local authorities and building users.