The Role of Open Public Spaces in Social Life during the Pandemic (Covid-19)Gollopeni, Besim (Avtor) Aliu, Vlora (Avtor) Gashi, Modest (Avtor) COVID-19public spacessocial lifequarantineKosovoThe outbreak of COVID-19 pandemic in Kosovo increased citizens’ need to use open public spaces. This paper aims to investigate the importance of open public spaces in social life, and how much citizens in Kosovo used them before and during the pandemic. The study is conducted during the quarantine period (2020), through a questionnaire (N = 549) with the use of the Microsoft Forms online tool, and it involved citizens over 18 years old, from over 58 percent of municipalities from all over Kosovo. The results of the study show that during the quarantine period only 20.5% of citizens frequented public spaces every day, and that citizens mostly used them for recreation (26%), meeting with relatives or friends (31%), sports activities (23%), work and other purposes (20%). However, the fear of COVID-19 and the observance of restrictions on movement meant that 24% of citizens did not use open public spaces. Being in open public spaces gave citizens feelings of satisfaction, curiosity, optimism, and calm, and strengthened their self-confidence. Quarantine significantly increased the awareness of citizens about the lack of open public spaces in their neighbourhoods.20232026-07-08 14:43:23Delo ni kategorizirano30917slImetniki avtorskih pravic na prispevkih so avtorji. CC BY-NC 4.0