The Effect of COVID-19 on Academic Social Life in Riyadh with a Focus on the Outdoor Environment

On 18 March 2020, the World Health Organization announced that the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic had reached global pandemic status. The Ministry of Health in Saudi Arabia implemented a COVID-19 lockdown that lasted for four months. After the period of restrictions ended, people were supposed to return to their normal social lives; however, the lockdown had a psychological impact on people without them being aware of it. This research aimed to study the effect of COVID-19 on social life, mainly focusing on six public activities: visiting shopping malls, mosques, open spaces, interior space, psychological effect, and occupational aspects. The Method survey was distributed during lockdown including the six focus areas and collected using Google Forms. Also, a computer program simulation (ENVI-MET) was used to study and develop an outdoor environment. The research focuses on the outdoor environment to find solutions on a sample used Al Rouda Park in Riyadh. The results demonstrated that people are slowly returning to their social lives during the COVID-19 pandemic by steadily visiting shopping malls, mosques, and open spaces and half of respondents stay at home fearing COVID-19. The research concluded that people should apply health procedures during ongoing time in studied locations and should manage the elaborated psychological effects.


Introduction
Although the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) lockdown ended in June 2020, people remained at home. A small percentage of people are, however, slowly resuming their social lives. This makes studying the impact of COVID-19 on social life crucial, especially for the three main activities in Saudi Arabia: shopping at malls, praying at mosques, and visiting open spaces. Therefore, accommodations must be made (e.g., shaping the design of interiors and outdoor environments), and studying the psychological effects and occupational aspect is required.
The literature reviewed regarding the six focus areas; Echegaray, produced a report that discussed many topics, for example, the post-COVID-19 world, implementing sustainable lifestyles, work, workplaces, family, love, social life, well-being, personal health, education, training, leisure, entertainment, consumption, mobility, housing, living spaces, citizenship, interactions with the state, financial security, social equality, health care provision, and medical reassurances. Among these areas, we focused on the effect of COVID-19 on social life after the end of the lockdown, especially regarding designing interior and exterior spaces, for example, shopping malls and mosques, and its psychological effects on people (Echegaray, F., 2020). Abid, in daily life and stated that it affects social distancing with peers and family; decreases national and international travel; disrupts the celebrations of cultural, religious, and festive events; causes undue stress among the population; results in the closure of hotels, restaurants, and religious places; poor cash flow in the market (Abid Haleem, R. V., 2020). Jiang stated that social distancing involved maintaining 1.5 m between individuals, which can prevent the spread of most respiratory infectious diseases (Jiang1, Meirui, 2020). People can return to their lives by maintaining this distance and can reduce the spread of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) by wearing masks and washing hands. The aim of this study is to contextually identify and assess the consequences of SARS-Covid-19 on social life in Riyadh City by the distributed survey to academics in three universities and record their response in designing the interior space, designing the outdoor space, praying in mosques, visiting shopping malls and its psychological effect on people.  Vol. 15,N ng enjoyable th fficult to defin or the ability to individuals th r spaces, mos cted these par ciated factors, Figure 1 sho cities in Jedda mplementation a was also in s during the C mplement the I buildings (Al No. 3; hings with ne has also o be born, hat share a sques, and rameters.
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In this co would be to build a reshaped (Scott, J Xie analyzed the importance of outdoor space and stated that that urban parks and large outdoor open spaces can provide residents with a place for safe outdoor activities and social interaction in a green environment during a pandemic (Xie J., Luo S., Furuya K., & Sun D., 2020). Barbarossa examined the importance of transportation during the COVID-19 pandemic in Italy to make up for lost time and to start a green revolution that is aimed at quickly decarbonizing urban transport and enhancing cycling and walking through the city (Barbarossa L., 2020).
Hamidi highlighted the importance of counties that are tightly linked together through economic, social, and commuting relationships to reduce the number of COVID-19-related deaths (Hamidi, S., Sabouri, S., & Ewing, R., 2020).
Batty considered the impact of COVID-19 on the global economy, noting it will need time to recover, maybe a generation, and highlighted the importance of using the new technology and document (Batty, M., 2020) he found that in most countries included in the analysis, park visitation had increased since 16 February 2020 compared with visitor numbers prior to the COVID-19 pandemic (Geng, D., Innes, J., Wu, W. et al., 2021). D'Ascanio highlighted the importance of using of graphic, visual, and multimedia contributions to the landscapes that have been generated in the consciousness of the inhabitants through their perceptions during the quarantine and all phases of the pandemic (D'Ascanio, R., & Mondelli, F. P. editors, 2021). Bravo collected information on this pandemic, including photos and videos. While about 40% of the global population was under coronavirus lockdown, we announced our brand new initiative called 2020: A Year without Public Space under the COVID-19 Pandemic, which was developed in the early stages to help people cope with the health emergency (Bravo, L., & Tieben, H. editors, 2020). Honey reported the importance of using public space for recovery during the pandemic, and cities will be shaped because of the social distancing in the landscape (Honey, J., 2021). Broudehoux answered the question: Will the COVID-19 pandemic prompt a shift to healthier cities that focus on wellness rather than functional and economic aspects? The report paradoxically concluded that COVID-19 may also have long-term public health benefits, promoting a more active, self-reliant, and supportive population (Broudehoux, A., 2021). Alsutan stated that the international cases of COVID-19 were high, but in Saudi Arabia, the fatality rate had been very low (about 3.8%) because of the strict measures applied by the Ministry of Health and the government, which were followed by citizens (Sultan, F. A., 2021). Abdulmajeed reported that schools and universities need guidance in implementing a clear and effective strategy for students to navigate the coming academic year and expand the academic and psychological counseling, especially for vulnerable populations (Alkhamees1, A. A., 2020). Maryam researched the COVID-19 pandemic in Saudi Arabia and noted the importance of having a research center and calling center for COVID-19 data (Awaji, M. A., 2020). Mark considered the effect of COVID-19 on education in Saudi Arabia and found that most of the schools changed to online teaching and learning; the platform, strong Internet, and mobile and computer devices all are available in Saudi Arabia to 90% of the population, contributing to the success of e-learning education in Saudi Arabia. Mark and Khogali investigated e-learning and teaching in Saudi Arabia. Mark analyzed the effect of COVID-19 on public health, the economy, and migration in Saudi Arabia (Mark, Th., 2021) and (Khogali, H., 2020).
Therefore, we believe that the consequences of COVID-19 pandemic crisis could be even more evident. This Novel research will represent new sources of information regarding the interiorspace, designing the outdoor space, praying in the mosque, visiting the shopping malls, and its psychological effect and occupational aspect on people.  (Solution, E. D., 2020). (Al-Serf, M., 2020). . (Echegaray, F., 2020). (Kukenkov, V., 2020 Passing through the literature during the last three years the researcher found that none of these researches discussed the duration time of visiting the shopping mall, visiting the park, and praying in the mosque, so at this point, this research is investigating empirical data in this area. Also, Echegaray, Abid, Jianl, Authority, Health, News investigated the health procedures in general during covid-19, (Echegaray, F., 2020), (Abid H., 2020), (Jalal, O. M., 2020). (Authority, P. H., 2021), (Health, M., 2021), and (News, A., 2021); still, this research will investigate the specific area of activities in shopping mall, outdoor space, indoor space, mosques, psychological occupation, and will discuss the health procedures applied by the government and to which extents they are applied, the smart application could be used to minimize the number of visitors toward these places, smart passport showing if the person has taken the vaccine.
Some authors like Scott and others discussed reshaping of outdoor spaces, advertisements, reducing the number of people entering the public park, transportation, global economy, global societies. This research will investigate more details in Check point should be provided, redesign the grass with social distancing, duration time, the study of the environmental issues by ENVI-MET. Simulation software (ENVI-met version 4.3, ENVI-MET, Essen, Germany).
Blue -Nile and other authors discussed the negative signs for COVID-19 such as headache, coughing, fatigue, a sore throat, and a loss of taste or smell Domestic, violence, divorce, and suicide, children's physical and mental health (Blue -Nile., 2020), (Prevention, C. O., 2020), (WHO, 2020) and (Freeman, Sh., 2020). On the other hand, this research will investigate the positive activities that could be applied at home or in the out space for better recovery of COVID-19.

Research Methodology
During the research timeframe from April 2020 to September 2021, a survey was distributed using the Google Forms software. The form recorded the responses from visitors to shopping malls, a mosque, and open spaces. The aim was to collect 282 individuals' responds as a sample for each focus area. In each focus area, there were three main questions about the duration, the health procedures, and the psychological effect of COVID-19. The survey had 15 questions in total.
mas.ccsen Simulatio Germany to study t The socia Prince Su people fro students, increase t 3) 4) The self-reported responses on changing interior spaces were collected. Of all the respondents, 94% changed their interior spaces, 36% maximized their interior spaces, and 27% opened the windows to improve ventilation. 5) People spent their time during the COVID-19 pandemic practicing their hobbies and working from home. Specifically, of all the respondents, 41% were teaching online, 38% were watching television, 41% were using social media more than usual, 30% were walking, 30% were reading, 5.5% were visiting neighbors, 2.7% were riding a bicycle, and 8% were listening to the news about COVID-19. The respondents reported substantial hope for the future in terms of the pandemic disappearing and that life would return to normal.
6) The self-reported responses on occupation 40% of the respondents were practicing teaching online post-covid-19, 20% they were practicing online webinars, also 4% were publishing books and 7.8% were publishing scientific papers, and 23% were practicing the online webinars. 3% of the respondents lost their jobs, 19% of the respondents have no financial resources.
7) The result from simulaton the solar radiation in Figure 39 presented in red is the highest temperature (22 to 25°C) between the block buildings, the orange indicates 20 to 21°C; the yellow represents 19°C to 20°C, and green is the lowest temperature, between 15°C and 19°C. The prevailing wind direction is northwest, at 8 mph, and the humidity is 30% in March. Figures 6 to 10 show the results of the survey distributed to the Academics.    Figure 10. limiting the access to activities, managing the outdoor space, and introducing mental health agencies to deal with COVID-19-related stress. We agree with all these points and we encourage checkpoints at park entrances to check the safety procedures and to encourage people to walk and practice activities in the park. (Clouston, S. A., 2021). This study suggested that outdoor transmission of COVID-19 may occur, noting that the risk of transmission of COVID-19 in the summer was highest on days when the wind was reduced. Our findings agree with this result and we encourage the use of computer programs to study environmental issues. Another study applied ENVI-MET software to study the environmental issues and the solar effects on the surrounding buildings, reporting an increase in the temperature of the building's roof and the facing elevations, suggesting a green buffer zone between buildings and parks, especially high trees. (Freeman, Sh., 2020) and (Lannoy, L. d., 2020) discussed the importance of outdoor space for children and youth, with outdoor play being important for children's physical and mental health; therefore, provincial policies related to COVID-19 and outdoor play are required. We agree with this result. Also, our study of the Al Rouda park, as an example of an outdoor environment, provides a play yard for children and youth, this research is concentrating on the duration time, how many times you visit the park (Figure 8). (Xie J., Luo S., Furuya K., & Sun D., 2020) and Barbarossa (Barbarossa L., 2020) discussed the importance of transportation during the COVID-19 pandemic in Italy to make up for lost time and to start a green revolution that is aimed at quickly decarbonizing urban transport and enhancing cycling and walking throughout the city. We agree with this result, as few people were using bicycles, highlighting the importance of walkability and riding bicycles instead of using public transportation to reduce the spread of the pandemic.

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Honey noted the importance of using public space for recovery during the pandemic, and that cities will be shaped because of applying social distancing (Bravo, L. & Tieben, H. editors, 2020). Our findings agree with this result, and we encourage people to practice their activities at home, such as sporting, reading, dancing, painting, watching TV, playing games, and spending time with family. Geng stated that the results for most countries included in their analysis showed that park visitation increased since 16 February 2020 compared with visitor numbers before to the COVID-19 pandemic (Geng, D., Innes, J., & Wu, W., 2021). D'Ascanio stated that it is important to ask whether the COVID-19 pandemic will prompt a shift to healthier cities that focus on well-being rather than function and economic aspects (D'Ascanio, R. & Mondelli, F P. editors, 2021). We agree with this researcher regarding this study's focus on health factors in five areas: interior spaces, outdoor spaces, shopping malls, mosques, and psychological effects.
COVID-19 affecting our routine in visiting the park, the research found that most of the respondents reported were never visited the park because they were afraid of contracting SARS-CoV-2. While few reported they visited the park daily. People are encouraged to visit the park and apply the safety procedures. A quarter reported no control point at the park entrances and exits to measure body temperature or check compliance with the health procedures. Figure 8 shows the respondents' responses regarding visiting parks during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Case Study sample in an Outdoor Environment (Al Rouda Park) in Riyadh
Al Rouda Park, with an area of about 3200 m 2 , is in the middle of Riyadh.

Environmental Issues
This section discusses the wide-area hourly average wind vector (speed and direction) at 10 m above the ground. The wind experienced at any given location is highly dependent on the local topography and other factors, and instantaneous wind speed and direction vary more widely than hourly averages.
The hot season in Riyadh lasts for 4.3 months, from 13 May to 23 September, with an average daily high temperature above 25°C to 44°C in July. The cool season lasts for 3.0 months, from 26 November to 26 February, with an average daily high temperature below 22°C to 7°C Figure 38. The coldest day of the year is 11 January.
The average hourly wind speed in Riyadh displays mild seasonal variation over the year. The windier part of the year lasts for 2.9 months, from 22 May to 17 August, with average wind speeds of more than 8.7 m/s per hour. The windiest day of the year is 4 July, with an average hourly wind speed of 10.0 miles per hour. The calmer time of year lasts for 9.1 months, from 17 August to 22 May. The calmest day of the year is 8 October, with an average hourly wind speed of 7.4 m/s per hour.
This section also discusses the total daily incident shortwave solar energy reaching the ground over a wide area, considering seasonal variations in the length of the day, the elevation of the Sun above the horizon, and absorption by clouds and other atmospheric constituents. Shortwave radiation includes visible light and ultraviolet radiation. The average daily incident shortwave solar energy displays significant seasonal variation over the year.
The brighter period of the year lasts for 3.5 months, from 12 May to 30 August, with an average daily incident shortwave energy per square meter above 7.4 kWh. The brightest day of the year is 21 June, with an average of 8.3 kWh. The darker period of the year lasts for 2.8 months, from 9 November to 2 February, with an average daily incident shortwave energy per square meter below 5.0 kWh. The darkest day of the year is 10 December, with an average of 4.2 kWh. We based the humidity comfort level on the dew point because it determines whether perspiration evaporates from the skin, thereby cooling the body. Lower dew points feel drier, and higher dew points feel more humid. Unlike temperature, which typically varies significantly between night and day, the dew point tends to change more slowly; thus, although the temperature may drop at night, a muggy day is typically followed by a muggy night. The perceived humidity level in Riyadh, as measured by the percentage of time in which the humidity comfort level is muggy, oppressive, or miserable, does not vary significantly over the year , remaining virtually constant at 0% throughout the year, i.e., the climate is hot and dry most of the year. Weatherspark (Park, Weather, 2021) In both summer and winter, people visit parks near their houses. Al Rouda Park is well-designed to encourage daily visitors. The most suitable time for walking, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic, is from 6:00 to 8:00 a.m. and from 4:00 to 6:00 p.m. There are no crowds at these two times. There are no checkpoints to measure personal temperature.

COVID-1 because t
Other's re visited th responden COVID-1 social media more than usual; a few took part in sports. Also, they listened to the news on the television about the COVID-19 pandemic, others reported watching movies on television, a few of the respondents said they published scientific research, and few published books.
Notably, a few reported riding bicycles. This finding has two meanings: riding bicycles is uncommon in Saudi Arabia and that people spent most of their time at home.
The respondents said that they participated in webinars, taught online, and/or were playing video games, and a few were visiting neighbors. Thus, people rarely visited each other during the COVID-19 pandemic. Figure 10 shows the results of how people spent their time during the COVID-19 pandemic. They were practicing their hobbies, such as reading, sporting, walking, and writing.
When comparing the results for the five areas, more than half of the respondents reported that they were not visiting these areas because they were afraid of contracting COVID-19. Although the survey was distributed twice, in April 2020 and in March 2021, despite one year passing, the results were still the same: more than half were still afraid of contracting COVID-19. Here, we studied the psychological effects of COVID-19 on people, and it found that it has deeply affected people it constrains them to come back to their social life, most of the respondents reported that because they were afraid of being affected by the COVID-19. We encourage people to practice their hobbies in the interior space and exterior space.
The last question on the survey was an open question. People wrote their opinions on the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on social life. One respondent said: "May God keep the epidemic from us, and may God heal their patients, and have mercy on their dead ... Oh God, Amen." Others responded as noted in Figure 18.

Occupational Aspects
Regarding hypothesis 6: COVID-19 has affected the occupational aspect.
Fifty percent of the respondents reported that they were practicing teaching online post covid-19.
While about quarter they were practicing online webinars, also, few were publishing books and others publishing scientific papers, and less than quarter were practice the online webinars. When asking the respondents, why you did not visit the shopping mall? Few of the respondents reported 'Because I lose my job', other reported 'I have no money'.
COVID-19 affected the work condition for example schools and universities. During the lockdown in April to May 2020, Saudi Arabia applied e-learning in schools and universities as a special situation. Now we come back to universities and applied the blending learning from September to April 2021. This highlights the importance of applying training program to teachers to face these challenges in the accessibility, new teaching strategies in the online teaching and learning, Quality Matter principles, improvement of the Student Management system (LMS).
COVID-19 has deep psychological effect on people, half of the respondents reported they were never visiting the shopping mall, the mosques, and the park because they were afraid from covid-19, they should practice positive activities while they are staying home.
COVID-19 has deep impact on the workplace, in safety and health procedures such as social distancing, wearing the mask, measuring the temperature by smart devices. Table 4 shows the effect of COVID-19 on occupational aspect and the best practice.  • People should continue participating in activities and planning for their family and children's future.
• People should be encouraged to apply health procedures when visiting shopping malls: social distancing, using sanitizer and wearing a mask.
• People are encouraged to go outside, visit parks, and practice walking and sports while applying the health procedures.
• Additionally, this research encourages people to visit mosques or churches regularly and to apply health procedures.
• We also recommend that people think positively and manage their time at home by practicing sports, reading, writing, managing their indoor spaces by opening the windows twice per day for good ventilation, adding plants, and working at home.
• People should continue to learn the new technologies in e-learning, accessibility. Future Resources Future research is recommended in these three areas because of the lack of studies identified in the concerned literature: 1) The effect of COVID-19 on Economics.
2) The psychological effect of COVID-19 on children and students.

Conclusions
This study was conducted during the post-covid-19 period in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, to study the effect of COVID-19 on academic social life. Six focus areas were studied: shopping malls, mosques, interior spaces, exterior spaces, and the psychological effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on occupation aspect. Mosques were applying health procedures by testing temperatures near the entrance doors and applying social distancing measures, and mask-wearing was practiced by most visitors. Most respondents reported changing their interior spaces to fit their everyday activities. The research encourages people to visit the park every day, shopping mall weekly, the government should apply social distancing in seats and grass, control point to check the health procedures by smart devices, the respondents said that to increase their well-being, they practiced activities at home, listening to the news about COVID-19 on television, playing video games. Notably, the respondents rarely visited each other during the pandemic. Regarding the occupation aspect people should keep learning new skills to fulfill the new Challenges by COVID-19. We believe that much research could be done in COVID-19 in the future.