Abstract:Since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, authorities around the world introduced restrictions to slowdown the spread of the disease and redistributed the street space to promote physical activity and non-motorized travel while meeting the social distancing requirements. Opening the streets to pedestrians and bicyclists was intended to support both physical and mental health of individuals. While the statistics showed significant increases in walking and bicycling trips during this period, we have limited knowledge about the associations between the built environment characteristics and mental health (subjective wellbeing), and the effects of these two factors on the infection risk perception while traveling during the pandemic. This study assesses the impacts of built environment on subjective wellbeing as well as on infection risk perception while traveling during the COVID-19 pandemic. It uses data collected from the residents of Columbus, OH through a multi-wave survey conducted throughout the COVID-19 outbreak. By employing a general structural equation modeling approach, it explores the associations between subjective well-being, built environment, and perceived infection risk while using non-motorized transportation and shared micromobility options. The findings show that there is a negative association between the level of infection risk perception and subjective well-being. Our results also show that living in neighborhoods with more compact built environment characteristics has a direct positive effect on subjective well-being and a negative indirect effect on infection risk perception. The findings of our study show that built environment interventions are crucial elements of creating pandemic resilient cities in the post-COVID-19 period.