The Covid-19 pandemic ushered in a new thought in urban public space utility and design particularly of markets. The retail structure as a composite of four hierarchical conformations to urban public space such as the central business district plus the adjoining central markets, subsidiary markets, roadside belts and discrete shops or stores all in descending order of significance have been the statuesque especially in sub-Saharan African settlements like Enugu Nigeria. Although this characteristic retail system is still dominated by the traditional markets and particularly in the Igbo land, eastern region of Nigeria, the assortments of other modes have combined with it to offer a variety of shopping experiences with some level of modern milieu in the urban space and seeming impacts on urban land uses. The arrival of some multinational retail outlets have seemingly disrupted the urban space and retail structure occasioned by the recent arrival of some South Africa’s biggest discount stores like Shoprite as well as Game, Woolworth, and Spar among others in major Nigerian cities as Enugu for over 10-years now. In the wake of Covid-19 protocols however, there are emerging implications for design considerations for urban public market spaces and retail hierarchy as determined in this study of Ogbete Main Market and the Polo Park Shopping Mall in Enugu, Nigeria. At 100% response rate, the issues of interpersonal contacts, lockdown, sanitary and social/physical distancing were identified as issues of concerns for policy measures of government towards control and prevention of diseases outbreak.
Anierobi et al. (Thu,) studied this question.