Mapping the urban and rural planning response paths to pandemics of infectious diseases

Modern urban and rural planning has a long history in terms of epidemics. However, contemporary urban and rural planning lacks a comprehensive response map for the prevention and control of infectious diseases. As the process of comprehensive policies making for social issues, a bridge between urban and rural development and the prevention and control of infectious diseases must be established. This research sorts out the academic literature that studies the relationship and logic between epidemic infectious diseases and urban and rural physical environments. This research constructed links between issues of urban and rural planning and the means of prevention and control of epidemic infectious diseases, and drew them to form a comprehensive map which illustrates the logic paths between 12 issues of urban and rural planning and intricate factors of epidemic infectious diseases. The atlas provided in this study shows that planners could have a simplified, without missing key points, way to make, examine, and evaluate planning strategies from limited perspectives such as pathogen exposure opportunities, pathogen resistance, hosts, travel, and trade, when addressing pandemic issues.

Haozhe Zhang, Jinyi Li