Contesting views on mobility restrictions in urban green spaces amid COVID-19-Insights from Twitter in Latin America and Spain.

Positive sentiments towards urban green spaces (UGS) unequivocally increased worldwide amid COVID-19. In contrast, this paper documents that views on mobility restrictions applicable to UGS are of a contested nature. That is, while residents unambiguously report positive sentiments towards UGS, they do not share views on how to administer access to UGS-which is a matter of public policy. These contesting views reflect opposite demands that managers of UGS had to balance during the pandemic as they faced the challenge of reducing risk of spread while providing services that support physical and mental health of residents. The empirical analysis in this paper relies on views inferred through a text classification algorithm implemented on Twitter messages posted from January to October 2020, by urban residents in three Latin American countries-Argentina, Colombia, and Mexico-and Spain. The focus on Latin America is motivated by the documented lack of compliance with mobility restrictions; Spain works as a comparison point to learn differences with respect to other regions. Understanding and following in real-time the evolution of contesting views amid a pandemic is useful for managers and city planners to inform adaptation measures-e.g. communication strategies can be tailored to residents with specific views.

Adaptive governance of urban green spaces across Latin America - Insights amid COVID-19.

Urban green spaces' well documented role as a hub for physical and mental health was enhanced by restrictions to mobility issued worldwide as a response to COVID-19. In this context, managers of urban green spaces (UGS) were prompted to provide controlled access under impromptu safety protocols. This unprecedented challenge required planning and operational strengths reflecting flexibility, innovation and learning. These management features are essential for an adaptive governance - an underdeveloped research topic within the study of UGS. Using eighteen semi-structured interviews from six countries, we analyze adaptive governance as reflected by UGS managers' responses across Latin America - a region where access to UGS is a matter of public health and of environmental justice. We document responses that can be categorized based on the governance arrangement in place. On one hand, both polycentric and dedicated-management governances have been able to learn through piloting ideas, adapting personnel roles and the function of UGS infrastructure, and adjusting their decision-making process. On the other hand, managers within municipal public services areas - the most prevalent governance arrangement across Latin America - report difficulty to adapt - likely due to their dependence on political will, limited autonomy, insufficient budgets, absence of formal paths to self-funding, shortage of technical know-how, and insufficient citizens' involvement. We discuss implications of UGS adaptive governance in terms of capacity to deal with future public health, climate-related or other types of shocks.

Stated benefits of teleworking in Mexico City: a discrete choice experiment on office workers.

Commuting is expensive in megacities of emerging economies. By decreasing work-related trips, teleworking may reduce congestion and commuting time. Taking Mexico City's office workers' as case study, this paper reports findings from a discrete choice experiment (DCE) exploring willingness to see a cut in monthly paycheck in exchange for teleworking two days a week from a shared office. This DCE explores preferences for bike parking spaces at shared office's facilities, and walking commuting time to shared office. This design allows estimation of willingness to pay (WTP) for teleworking across commuting time scenarios. Monthly WTP for teleworking 2 days a week starts at (2019) USD 76.68-if commuting time is zero. As 1 h of commuting time is valued at USD 61.97 on a monthly basis, WTP for teleworking 30 min away from home is USD 45.69. Wealthier respondents report higher value for commuting time and WTP for teleworking. Monthly value of bike parking infrastructure is USD 14.70-reaching USD 30.98 for commuters that walk or (motor-)bike less than 50 min. We illustrate how these stated benefits can inform cost-benefit analysis of transportation, housing, and labor policies that enable teleworking and/or reduce commuting times in Mexico City.