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Impact on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

Analysis of institutional authors

Carpio-Pinedo JAuthorLamíquiz Daudén FjAuthorHigueras García EAuthor

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March 30, 2021
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When a city must be a tree: rethinking the spatial approach to fighting epidemics based on the notion of ‘intermediate confinement’

Publicated to: Urban Design International. 26 (4): 332-347 - 2021-12-01 26(4), DOI: 10.1057/s41289-021-00160-y

Authors:

Carpio-Pinedo, Jose; Pozo Menendez, Elisa; Lamiquiz Dauden, Francisco Jose; Higueras Garcia, Ester
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Affiliations

Escuela Tecnica Superior de Arquitectura, Universidad Politecnica de Madrid - Author
Univ Politecn Madrid, Escuela Tecn Super Arquitectura Madrid, Ave Juan Herrera 4, Madrid 28040, Spain - Author

Abstract

Principles of sustainability defend compactness, density and diversity as main characteristics of the optimal development of cities. These factors support public transport efficiency, economic activity, accessibility to equipments and services, proximity and walkability of streets and social exchanges in open public spaces. The Covid-19 pandemic crisis has called into question these factors perceived as booster of infections. However, dense and compact cities can also be the synonym of a more efficient provision of services, along with solidarity networks and creative solutions to fight the sanitary and economic crisis. Based on Alexander's (1965) concepts of 'tree' and 'semi-lattice', this study aims to identify areas in the urban tissue that could be self-sufficient, that is functionally autonomous to manage epidemics from the neighbourhood scale. Encouraging healthier lifestyles during lockdown is fundamental for social resilience. What alternative spatial approach to fighting epidemics could perform better? How could an intermediate confinement based on self-sufficiency and the promotion of healthier environments become a major priority for action? The analysis of Madrid (Spain) offers a suitable case study due to its density, diversity and high contagiousness during the Covid-19 crisis, revealing also some issues to apply such 'intermediate confinement' strategy, due to major spatial imbalances.
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Keywords

Covid-19Neighbourhood unitNetwork analysisPandemicsSustainable cities and communitiesUrban healthWalkable city

Quality index

Bibliometric impact. Analysis of the contribution and dissemination channel

The work has been published in the journal Urban Design International due to its progression and the good impact it has achieved in recent years, according to the agency Scopus (SJR), it has become a reference in its field. In the year of publication of the work, 2021, it was in position , thus managing to position itself as a Q1 (Primer Cuartil), in the category Urban Studies.

From a relative perspective, and based on the normalized impact indicator calculated from World Citations provided by WoS (ESI, Clarivate), it yields a value for the citation normalization relative to the expected citation rate of: 4.42. This indicates that, compared to works in the same discipline and in the same year of publication, it ranks as a work cited above average. (source consulted: ESI Nov 13, 2025)

Specifically, and according to different indexing agencies, this work has accumulated citations as of 2026-04-03, the following number of citations:

  • WoS: 8
  • Scopus: 10
  • Google Scholar: 10
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Impact and social visibility

From the perspective of influence or social adoption, and based on metrics associated with mentions and interactions provided by agencies specializing in calculating the so-called "Alternative or Social Metrics," we can highlight as of 2026-04-03:

  • The use, from an academic perspective evidenced by the Altmetric agency indicator referring to aggregations made by the personal bibliographic manager Mendeley, gives us a total of: 103.
  • The use of this contribution in bookmarks, code forks, additions to favorite lists for recurrent reading, as well as general views, indicates that someone is using the publication as a basis for their current work. This may be a notable indicator of future more formal and academic citations. This claim is supported by the result of the "Capture" indicator, which yields a total of: 103 (PlumX).

With a more dissemination-oriented intent and targeting more general audiences, we can observe other more global scores such as:

  • The Total Score from Altmetric: 3.

It is essential to present evidence supporting full alignment with institutional principles and guidelines on Open Science and the Conservation and Dissemination of Intellectual Heritage. A clear example of this is:

  • The work has been submitted to a journal whose editorial policy allows open Open Access publication.
  • Assignment of a Handle/URN as an identifier within the deposit in the Institutional Repository: https://oa.upm.es/84530/

As a result of the publication of the work in the institutional repository, statistical usage data has been obtained that reflects its impact. In terms of dissemination, we can state that, as of

  • Views: 120
  • Downloads: 1
Continuing with the social impact of the work, it is important to emphasize that, due to its content, it can be assigned to the area of interest of ODS 11 - sustainable cities and communities, with a probability of 53% according to the mBERT algorithm developed by Aurora University.
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Leadership analysis of institutional authors

There is a significant leadership presence as some of the institution’s authors appear as the first or last signer, detailed as follows: First Author (CARPIO PINEDO, JOSE) and Last Author (HIGUERAS GARCIA, ESTHER).

the author responsible for correspondence tasks has been Pozo Menéndez E.

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