Relationships between building attributes and COVID-19 infection in London

In the UK, all domestic COVID-19 restrictions have been removed since they were introduced in March 2020. After illustrating the spatial-temporal variations in COVID-19 infection rates across London, this study then particularly aimed to examine the relationships of COVID-19 infection rates with building attributes, including building density, type, age, and use, since previous studies have shown that the built environment plays an important role in public health. Multisource data from national health services and the London Geomni map were processed with GIS techniques and statistically analysed. From March 2020 to April 2022, the infection rate of COVID-19 in London was 3159.28 cases per 10,000 people. The spatial distribution across London was uneven, with a range from 1837.88 to 4391.79 per 10,000 people. During the whole COVID-19 control period, it was revealed that building attributes played a significant role in COVID-19 infection. It was noted that higher building density areas had lower COVID-19 infection rates in London. Moreover, a higher percentage of historic or flat buildings tended to lead to a decrease in infection rates. The percentage of residential buildings had a positive relationship with the infection rate. Variations in the infection rate were more sensitive to building type; in particular, the percentage of residents living in flats contributed the most to variations in COVID-19 infection rates, with a value of 2.5%. This study is expected to provide support for policy and practice towards pandemic-resilient architectural design