Abstract
The Covid-19 pandemic poses future space planning challenges. The current Covid-19 pandemic has greatly impacted everyone around the world covering all fields from health, economy, and food security, to sports, including the field of spatial planning. Control of infectious virus outbreaks must be involved in spatial planning. Spatial planning that cares about the level of human health is no longer just struggling with green open space. But there should also be space for physical distancing in public places. The purpose of this study is to analyze the spatial planning of East Java Province during the Covid-19 pandemic in supporting state defense. This paper is written based on the results of qualitative research using phenomenological research design. In this study, the data collection process was carried out using interview, observation, and documentation study methods. The data obtained is then analyzed through four stages, namely data collection, data condensation, data presentation, and drawing conclusions or verification. The results showed that spatial planning during the pandemic was carried out with four aspects, namely analyzing the Covid-19 distribution map in East Java, planning changes in policies and strategies with public health considerations, planning space structures with the addition of emergency infrastructure, and planning space patterns with the allocation of green open space. The obstacles faced in spatial planning are the restriction of working hours and the implementation of WFH for employees, and the lack of community support as an affected object. Both are overcome by implementing digitalization strategies and community participation so that the spatial planning agenda during the Covid-19 pandemic can run well. In addition, the better spatial planning during the pandemic, the better the country's defense because of the non-military threat in this case the Covid-19 virus can be well anticipated.