DPU News April 2021 Issue 68 - The DPU (post)COVID Lexicon Editors: Haim Yacobi, Jordana Ramalho, Adriana Allen, Colin Marx, with El Anoud Majali ...
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DPU News April 2021 Issue 68 The DPU (post)COVID Lexicon Editors: Haim Yacobi, Jordana Ramalho, Adriana Allen, Colin Marx, with El Anoud Majali, Harshavardhan Jatkar
The DPU (post)
COVID Lexicon
Editors: Haim Yacobi, Jordana Ramalho,
Adriana Allen, Colin Marx, with El Anoud Majali,
Harshavardhan Jatkar
Introduction
Haim Yacobi,
Jordana Ramalho, Adriana Allen
During the last year, the global discussions in this special issue of urban development planning
pandemic has affected teaching, attest, COVID-19 has exposed and addressing some of the issues
research and public engagement reinforced (rather than necessarily highlighted in this special issue
at the DPU. It has required our created) these social gaps, and (relating to land, housing, open
staff, students and partners to think uncovered the weaknesses of this spaces, transport and mobility, among
creatively about how to continue with form of urbanity, especially when others) directly and indirectly impact
their work and commitments both we talk of a ‘return to normality’. the health of urban populations.
locally and globally. In this special The accelerated urbanization As discussed in this special issue, a
issue - The DPU (post)COVID Lexicon processes of recent decades - as significant turnaround can be seen in
- we reflect on selected key terms at most of the world’s population now the role of development planning in
the core of the DPU’s work, and share live in cities - requires consideration responding to immediate challenges.
some thoughts on the related issues, and planning for the wellbeing of The diagnosis of a link between
challenges and opportunities that urban residents beyond the current poor environmental conditions in
COVID-19 has brought to the fore in health crisis. With widening social and the industrial city and epidemic
our academic and professional lives. economic gaps within and between outbreaks has harnessed planning for
The pandemic presents an opportunity cities, such questions of environmental the regulation of space, addressing
to critically revisit policies and planning and social justice increasingly shape aspects of sanitation and hygiene
approaches, as well as processes the everyday lives of urban dwellers. which are the basis of urban life.
fundamental to understanding current It is now clear that premature With the hope of returning to a
urban conditions. Generally, the last deaths and diseases resulting from ‘new normality’, we should work
few decades of urban development poor environmental conditions are towards the flattening of the already
have been characterised by the disproportionately concentrated in existing curve of spatial injustice in
domination of private (capital) interests areas where residents of certain ethnic cities. What we see from the last
versus common good in cities, and and racial groups are concentrated. year is that the effects of COVID-19
the related privatisation (of space, In recent decades, there have also vary depending on the strength
services and infrastructure) versus been voices in research and practice of the welfare system, including
the provision of means for collective that emphasize the need to move health, education and housing. The
consumption. In parallel to the away from an exclusively clinical response to the aggressive neoliberal
policy-driven commodification of approach to health towards one that policies of the last few decades
urban spaces and emerging social encompasses an understanding of is to develop urban planning that
diversity in cities, we have also the broader interconnected social will ensure greater accessibility,
witnessed rising levels of socio-spatial and spatial aspects of the city that better quality care and solidarity;
inequality, hyper-segregation, poverty affect public health. In this context, and more diverse housing, open
and homelessness. As many of the the definitions and approaches spaces, infrastructure and services.
Issue 68 2
A
Advocacy
Catalina Ortiz, Adriana Allen, Michael Walls
To ‘advocate’ means to ‘plead in planning as a symptomatic treatment, Housing rights: Looking back,
favour of’. The question then is: to question the framing of the ‘crisis’, looking forward: On 2020 World
what is the meaning and role of to trace and denounce new sites Habitat Day, DPU with the Habitat
advocacy in planning? Further- of othering. Above all, to carve new International Coalition (HIC), the In-
more: whose pleas are to be fa- pathways to re-imagine and practice ternational Institute for Environment
voured and which ones acted on? planning as an emancipatory practice. and Development (IIED) and United
Back in the 1960s, Paul Davidoff and The pandemic has demonstrated that Cities and Local Governments (UCLG)
Linda Stone Davidoff introduced the the right to housing and, more widely, brought together various commu-
notion of ‘Advocacy Planning’ as a to the city are inseparable from the nities of practice converging in the
reaction to the US planning practice of right to life. In the midst of a global defence and production of the ‘right
reproducing the structural conditions health emergency and the call to ‘stay to housing’ as the ‘right to life’. This
that produced racial inequality, while at home’, we have also witnessed event prompted a lively and ongoing
championing elite interests. In the continuous housing rights violations collective debate on how our re-
following decades, this debate was targeting informal settlements, ref- sponses to housing rights are chang-
significantly expanded in its geogra- ugees and the homeless, and the ing / need to change in the current
phy, aims and scope to encompass erosion of migrants’ rights to the city, context and beyond COVID-19.
the needs, aspirations and practices that reinforce stigmatisation, exclusion
of citizen action and social move- and marginalisation. These process- Decalogue for Participatory Slum
ments across the Global South and es, together with the retrenchment of Upgrading: DPU has championed a
North. Under the rubrics of ‘equitable’, UK international aid, the regressive call for action on neighbourhood up-
‘radical’ and ‘transformative’ plan- and insular measures exacerbated by grading based on the joint Decalogue
ning we see a common aspiration: to the so-called ‘COVID-Brexit cocktail’, for Participatory Slum Upgrading, de-
reinvent planning away from colonial, the reproduction of systemic rac- veloped in collaboration with the Glob-
patriarchal, racist and othering priori- ism and gender inequality, and the al Platform for the Right to the City
ties; and to re-politicise planning as a climate crisis, among other tangible (GPR2C), UN-Habitat Latin-America,
plural, ethical practice. We argue that challenges, prompt the building of Cities Alliance, Habitat for Humanity,
advocacy planning means practicing new horizons and more pluriversal TECHO, Habitat International Coalition
planning as advocacy, as a means forms of advocacy in which to po- (HIC), COiNVITE, United Cities and
to make planning accountable, to sition future progressive planning. Local Governments (UCLG), Red de
expose its contradictions and renew Joining forces to forge an ethic of care Investigadores de Vivienda y Habitat
its emancipatory aims by questioning and global solidarity, over the last year de las Americas (RIVHA) and Urban
what and whose pleas are favoured, the DPU staff and students have ac- Housing Practicioners Hub (UHPH).
why and with what consequences. tively practiced advocacy as planning
What does it mean then to practice by drawing from a deep commitment
planning as advocacy in COVID-19 to socio-spatial and environmental
times? Times in which we witness a justice, while relying on partnerships
pandemic objectivised as a universal with equivalence to advance a rights-
‘enemy’, while operating through the based approach. In doing so, we have
exacerbation and extension of existing repurposed our international research
social injustices, geo-political polari- to advocate against returning to the
sation and austerity. Times in which old ‘normal’ and to instead challenge
planning is called upon to deliver the financialization of housing and life
effective responses with an almost by foregrounding community-based
militaristic logic that seeks objectives practices that foster solidarity, com-
that seem antithetical to many of the moning and the strengthening of
priorities we have long espoused: infrastructures of care. Here are just
we are now to surveil, isolate, control two examples of the many ways in
and suppress. Practicing advocacy in which we have embraced advoca-
times of global crisis calls for over- cy as planning in recent months:
coming the temptation to approach
April 2021 3B
Borders Andrea Rigon, Rawya Khodor
COVID-19 has exposed the false protection of the right to health and life
security of national borders by show- has affected our ability to move, cre-
ing how a virus can travel across ating new borders. These borders are
them. Similarly, the negative impact experienced very differently depending
As new borders of climate change and the ecological on social identities, including gender,
crisis disregard borders, revealing that age, race and class. The elderly have
are emerging, security can only come from global been shielded away from society,
traditional collective action. In April 2020, while dying alone in for-profit care homes
top scholars were asking for bor- without being able to see their loved
borders can be derless collaboration, 194 countries ones. Students who travelled to uni-
transcended adopted cross-border restrictions, versities have found themselves forci-
and an increasing national competi- bly confined within these new borders.
digitally, allowing tion emerged over personal protective New boundaries have also been
new and equipment, medical machineries, created through the categories of
drugs and, more recently, vaccines. essential and non-essential workers.
sometimes more Against growing nationalism, of which Within the essential worker category
inclusive ways of Brexit is the clearest expression, there are medical doctors but also,
COVID-19 demands new transnation- more significantly, a low paid, working
working globally. al governance. However, the border class of cleaners, carers, supermar-
between the Global North and the ket workers and delivery staff. Such
Global South has never been greater. workers often come from ethnic
While things may slowly improve, at minority or migrant backgrounds, and
the end of January the WHO de- are exposing themselves to the virus
nounced that while higher-income without adequate social protection.
countries had administered more than As new borders are emerging, tradi-
39 million doses of vaccine, only 25 tional borders can be transcended
doses were administered in low- digitally, allowing new and some-
est-income countries: illustrating the times more inclusive ways of work-
growing border of global inequalities. ing globally. Academics can teach
National borders in COVID-19 times to a global class from anywhere
further affect the most marginalised. in the world, as well as conduct-
In violation of international law, some ing the fieldwork of complex global
countries are preventing asylum-seek- projects from their bedrooms.
ers and refugees from entering their This all requires a theoretical rethinking
borders. At EU borders, migrants of space. With these new boundaries,
are beaten in the Balkans, reject- what does spatial injustice mean?
ed on the Italy-French border, and How to study it? Do our methodol-
drowned in the Mediterranean Sea. ogies and research questions take
Within borders, migrants, who have these changes into account? Are they
lost jobs and income due to COV- leading to more inclusive research?
ID-19 and have become stranded as a The new de facto borders that pre-
result of travel restrictions, are increas- vent researchers from travelling offer
ingly exposed to risks of deportation, a glimpse into the future of our work:
exploitation, and often excluded by networking globally, relying heavily
COVID-19 social protection measures. on locally based researchers, and
Owing to movement restrictions reducing our ecological footprint.
and curfews, individuals are for- Academics on twitter say they miss
bidden to move beyond their local airports; they need to understand
area or municipality, or a few hun- that international travel isn’t a perk
dred meters from home. Houses of XXI century academic jobs. The
have become the borders. Borders limits to travel are here to stay,
we can only transcend digitally. should we want a just present and
This is changing our perception of a future for coming generations.
space and freedom. The collective
Issue 68 4C
Climate change
Liza Griffin
Climate change is one of humanity’s have closed their borders to air travel However, many of these laudable
greatest challenges; and it requires a during much of 2020 and 2021. One lifestyle changes have been limited to
collective effort to mitigate its effects study has shown that daily global a privileged minority. We must re-
and adapt to its consequences. It emissions levels in April 2020 were member that both COVID-19 and the
became clear during the early days of around 17% lower than in 2019. And climate crisis have underlined that the
COVID-19’s emergence that equiv- it is expected that emissions from avi- poorest and most marginalised are
alent collective energies were also ation will be up to 40% below those in always the most vulnerable and that
needed to address this developing 2019. A reduction in commuting due they usually bear the least responsi-
pandemic. In fact, there are several to widespread work from home poli- bility. For instance, according to the
intersections and parallels between cies has also played a role in reducing Lancet, the combined emissions of
these intransigent global challeng- pollutants. Research has shown that the richest one percent of the global
es, and it’s likely that they will im- air quality improved in many regions population account for more than
pact one another in ways we could of the world in 2020. According to a twice the combined emissions of
not have imagined back in 2020. report by Stanford University, just two the poorest 50 percent. And it has
Climate change may well have played months of reduced air pollution will become clear that the poorest in
a central role in the development of have saved the lives of 4000 children COVID-19 affected contexts are very
coronavirus itself. Recent research under the age of 5 and 73000 adults often those who could not work from
has shown how climate change - over the age of 70 in China alone. home, meaningfully socially distance,
including increases in temperature, However, despite this brief intermis- or access the sanitation facilities re-
sunlight, and carbon dioxide - have sion in emissions increases, the planet quired to perform basic hand hygiene.
altered habitats in some forest regions is still on course for a global tempera- Together, we need to think about new
creating more suitable environments ture rise in excess of 3 degrees Celsi- ways of addressing these vicious
for coronavirus-carrying bat species. us this century according to the United cycles and to learn from the past,
What’s more, those climate change Nations. Concentrations of CO2 have to meaningfully act in the future. We
contributing processes are thought continued to rise in the atmosphere must do this in ways that put social
to be the originator of this capricious, despite this brief hiatus. The period justice and environmental sustainability
novel virus. Human encroachment on from 2016 to 2020 remains likely to be at the heart of our efforts. Aligning
forests, for example, transverses the the warmest five years ever recorded. global responses to the climate crisis
so-called ‘wildlife frontier’ increasing A green recovery from COVID is and future zoonotic pandemics pre-
interactions between domestic and evidently needed. Recovery from sents an opportunity to improve global
wild animals and allowing new viruses the pandemic must be turned into health and to create a more sustain-
to ‘jump’ into human populations. an opportunity. It might well be that able future for many more of us.
Air travel is both a significant con- that environmental campaigns take
tributor of climate emissions and a on renewed vigour, in a similar way
conduit for COVID-19 infection. While to Black Lives Matters, for example.
connections across continents and It is hoped that for some citizens there
within cities enable trade and trav- could be a ‘new baseline’ for remote
el, they have also eased the spread working and education. And while
of contagion in this pandemic. tourism may bounce back, for many
Despite these adverse entanglements, of us, flying across the globe to watch
some commentators have a more a PowerPoint presentation has lost
optimistic tone, arguing that the pan- its appeal. It has been reported that
demic may paradoxically provide the some of us have developed more
space and opportunity for urgent ac- sustainable lifestyle habits over the
tion on the climate crisis. For instance, last 12 months: reducing our food
lockdowns – in both the north and waste (and using blackening bananas
south – have resulted in fewer pollut- to make bread), purchasing less stuff,
ing car journeys, and many countries or taking up cycling, for instance.
April 2021 5D
Signal in Cmbridge.
Photo Credit:
Haim Yacobi
Distance
Paroj Banerjee, Haim Yacobi
Distance is a geographical concept, a
measure of separation between two
locations. Predominantly expressed
in quantitative terms, distance pro-
vides crucial insight into the under-
standing of the world’s spatial and
social organisation. In social terms
distance underscores the relation
between people. With the outbreak
of the COVID-19 pandemic, so-
cial distance has acquired central
importance in our response. If not
total inoculation, social distance has
nevertheless been perceived to be the
antidote that protects the population.
Coronavirus has ripped through dominant stereotype that conflates
distanced geographies across the home as a safe space. Home was
globe. While mainstream media, in thus meant to be a sanitised sphere
alignment with policy directions from distant from a potentially polluting
global health organisations, circu- sphere, the street or the outside.
lated the idea of social distancing, Social distance was directly propor-
an alternative narrative that met with tional to the size of one’s home, the
severe criticism was also in circulation: number of people living in it and its
building herd immunity. In a press access to services. In other words, shelters without basic services,
briefing during the early phases of the the bigger the size of the house, the distance is a highly politicised idea.
pandemic, Boris Johnson echoed lesser the number of people, the more Distance is not neutral. Rather it is
the need for 60% of the population effective it was to social distance. political and social as we learn from
to be impacted by the virus to gain This narrow vision of distance the exponential increase in domestic
herd immunity. Herd immunity, it was invariably excluded populations who violence. Taking cognizance of the
suggested, would be achieved not did not inhabit conventional homes. emergence of this ‘shadow pandem-
through social distancing, but social Street dwellers, homeless people and ic’, as UN Women calls it, the UK
consumption. Schemes like ‘Eat Out those living in informal settlements government’s regulations regarding
to Help Out’, meant to support the were particularly impacted. COVID-19 staying home have seen a shift. Sub-
flailing economy, encouraged the pub- disproportionately harms vulnerable sequent lockdowns have made provi-
lic to consume in retail. The biopolitical individuals and communities sions for people to seek distance from
logic of maintaining and mediating including people of colour, the poor, their homes to avoid violence. While
distance thus formed an important undocumented migrants, refugees and policy and interventions regarding
tool for governing the pandemic. indigenous communities. The WHO home-based violence have considera-
This pandemic has served as a recommends that people all over the ble distances to cover, this policy shift
reminder of how systemic distanc- world self-isolate, wash their hands made a significant acknowledgment,
es have had differential impacts frequently and keep a safe social that home is not necessarily safe, and
on people. While social distancing distance. However, can one take that often physical distance from the
has been an important measure for these precautionary measures in cities, oppression of home is emancipatory.
containing the spread of the virus, the which are the most crowded places
ability to social distance has been a on earth? Social distancing in cities
matter of privilege. ‘Stay home, stay assumes some control over density,
safe’, the slogan for the pandemic distances and spatial regulations. Yet
of most governments, reinforced the for those who are living in temporary
Issue 68 6E
Economy
Naji Makarem, Le-Yin Zhang, Alexandra Panman
Over the past year, governments to a more inclusive world. Univer- Technological change, however, is
all over the world have intervened sal access to ICT will become an also ringing alarm bells as many have
radically and disruptively in societies even bigger issue for those con- low levels of trust in government
and economies in response to the cerned with inclusive development. institutions and corporations. People
pandemic. Does this mark a new The lockdown also revealed the are concerned about labour-saving
era of widely-accepted government degree to which people and busi- technological change and excessive
intervention in society and markets? nesses are resilient and adaptable forms of social control and monitoring.
Some people have called for an in the face of crises. This is impor- The world is changing fast and
equally radical response to the twin tant to note because if, for example, change is desperately needed. This
crises of our time: inequality and the governments agree to an immediate is a time to be involved in shaping
environment. A slow shift towards ban on single use plastics and other the future, so that our economies
a Green Economy has been under- measures in pursuit of circular econ- become platforms that enable us
way for two decades. Government omies, businesses and entrepreneurs to co-create the future we want,
dictates, such as, immediate bans can be trusted to adapt and thrive. in line with our shared values.
on single use plastics; shifting agri- The other phenomena we are noticing
cultural subsidies to smaller organic is the acceleration in the development
farms; and removing subsidies from and adoption of frontier technologies
oil companies, have become more such as artificial intelligence (AI), the
conceivable and politically palatable. internet of things, digital twins, distrib-
It also seems that the lockdown ex- uted ledgers and blockchain. These
perience, unique in our lifetimes, has promise to increase the efficiency
changed how people value different of urban systems such as power,
aspects of their lives. Spending so water, infrastructure maintenance,
much time at home has arguably security, and mobility. They may
highlighted what we find precious even help us mitigate and adapt to
and sacred. Many people seem climate change and meet the SDGs
to have rediscovered the intrinsic through Smart Cities; and are trans-
values of health, clean air, nature, forming many sectors of the econo-
relationships and other aspects of my, including the creative industries
wellbeing. Will this shift the political and manufacturing, in de-industri-
landscape towards more equitable alised areas (Manufacturing 5.0).
and sustainable policy frameworks?
A widely-shared view is that we can-
not return to business as usual. The
economy must change in response to
climate change, environmental devas-
tation, poverty and inequality. Already,
new ways of working and shopping
Many people seem to have
that incur a lower carbon-footprint are rediscovered the intrinsic
emerging, and their impact on cities
may be profound. Remote working
values of health, clean air,
may offer urban folk the ability to nature, relationships and other
leave behind high-cost, high-speed
living, and the limited space in cit-
aspects of wellbeing. Will this
ies, for remote work opportunities shift the political landscape
in smaller towns and villages, es-
pecially having already gained the
towards more equitable and
skills, ideas and connections that sustainable policy frameworks?
come from several years in a city.
Online services may also make
education and healthcare more
accessible to more people no matter
where they live. This may give rise
April 2021 7F
Fieldwork
What and where is the field?
Is it a place? Ethnographers
have called into question the
traditional conception of the
Ignacia Ossul-Vermehren field site as a bounded space
“(…) the long tradition of fieldwork containing a ‘whole culture’.
must be aggressively and imagi- Instead, it has been articulated
natively reinterpreted to meet the
needs of the present” (Gupta and as a process defined by
Ferguson, 1997, p. 39–40). relations between people.
To say that COVID-19 has changed
the way we do fieldwork would be
an understatement. Fieldwork has
been at the centre of anthropologi-
cal work for more than one hundred
years. First coined by the anthro-
pologist Bronisław Malinowski, it
refers to studying away from one’s
own society. What happens when
‘being away’ is not possible? What
does this mean for research and/or place? Ethnographers have called into and strategies of engagement. The
collaborating in international devel- question the traditional conception OPE has also become an example
opment, particularly engagements of the field site as a bounded space of how Indonesian students have
that are participatory, embedded and containing a ‘whole culture’. Instead, been able to engage earlier, working
active, as DPU principles state? it has been articulated as a process alongside SDP students, widening
Whether you are a researcher, prac- defined by relations between people. their scope to two cities and facilitat-
titioner or are facilitating learning Is it bounded by time? With techno- ing a more horizontal relationship. The
through work with partners, you’ve logical progress, increasingly there is idea of developing remote research
had to deal with the logistical, an- no clear-cut distinction between the methods aligns with already-estab-
alytical and ethical implications of start and end of ‘fieldwork’, as online lished principles in disability studies:
delaying your work, shifting activities relations established with partners and that is, internet-based methods can
to online platforms, or delegating participants tend to continue remotely. respond to the needs and impair-
more actively to partners. I see this Although there is evident anxiety ments of specific participants.
as an invitation to interrogate and to around not ‘being away’, which gives The logistical challenges posed by
de-construct the notion of ‘field’. rise to the possibilities of insubstantial COVID-19 have created the con-
In the contexts of climate change and data and/or lower engagement, this ditions to act on what Gupta and
limiting international travel, recon- also presents an opportunity. It has Ferguson suggest. Now may be
figuring power relations between become clear through working on the the time to radically reimagine what
North-South and challenging colonial DPU’s AT2030 research project, as we understand as fieldwork.
legacies, as well as with the increase well as in the Overseas Practice En-
and uptake of technology: should we gagement (OPE) with students of MSc
reject the term ‘field’ all together? Social Development Practice (SDP)
Postcolonial literature argues that and the Urban Citizenship Acade-
the term is problematic as it carries my in Indonesia, that there is shift
a colonial history, in which Eurocen- in the politics surrounding research
tric views propagate an underlying and teaching engagement. Both the
exoticism in the notion of the field. In Federation of the Urban Poor in Sierra
addition, others question the use- Leone and the NGO Kota Kita in
fulness and boundaries of the term. Indonesia have had more control over
What and where is the field? Is it a their work, deciding timings, outputs
Issue 68 8G
Gender
Jordana Ramalho, Julian Walker, Caren Levy
In the year since the World Health Or- At the same time, women make up
ganisation declared COVID-19 to be a a high proportion of the low-income,
global pandemic, the unequal impacts informal economy and of domestic
of this health emergency on different care workers: both sectors that have
groups have become increasingly been greatly impacted by lockdown
pronounced. Pre-existing structural restrictions. According to a United
inequalities are deepening and being Nations policy brief, in the first month
reconfigured to produce new forms of of the pandemic informal workers
vulnerability and precarity. What has globally lost 60% of their earnings (and
become very clear is that exposure nearly 80% in Africa and Latin Amer-
Women make to COVID-19 is highly related to the ica). Key livelihoods in the informal
intersection between gender, race, economy that have been disrupted by
up a high and class in terms of occupational COVID-19, such as catering, do-
proportion of risk. In the UK the crisis in care homes mestic work, or childcare, are highly
has meant that old age and disability feminised. For example, women are
the low-income, have also become associated with the estimated to account for 70 percent
informal risk of infection. At the same time, the of health and social workers globally.
unequal distribution of costs related The predominantly women workers
economy and to COVID-19 is associated with the in these sectors have been largely left
of domestic same intersecting set of inequalities, out of government furlough schemes
regarding disruptions to housing, or other COVID-19 related social pro-
care workers: livelihoods, schooling, and mobility. tection measures. They therefore face
both sectors These have emerged during the pro- the impossible choice of losing crucial
longed periods of enforced lockdown. income for themselves and their
that have been The centrality of social reproductive dependents, or of breaking social dis-
greatly impacted labour to the survival and resilience of tancing laws and risking exposure to
households and communities during infection if they continue to work. On
by lockdown times of hardship and uncertainly an international scale, in the context of
restrictions. has long been documented. These ‘gendered care chains’, huge numbers
largely feminised responsibilities are of mainly female migrant domestic
intensified during public health cri- workers face an intensification of the
ses, as seen in the context of HIV/ difficult working situations they were
AIDS, Ebola, and the current COV- already experiencing: more isolation
ID-19 pandemic. Women and girls are in their employers’ households where
bound by gender norms that place they work and reside, limited access
them on the front lines of caring for to labour protection, little distinction
(and home-schooling) children as well between work and leisure time as they
as tending to the needs of the sick are always on call, and longer sepa-
and elderly in their households and rations from their families and loved
communities. For women and girls ones, as travel becomes impossible.
living in crowded informal settlements Feminist advocacy organizations such
with limited access to green space, as Women in Informal Employment,
WASH infrastructure or affordable Globalizing and Organizing, or SEWA
healthcare, the health risks and chal- (the Self-Employed Women’s Associa-
lenges associated with these everyday tion) in India, and the UK Gender and
activities are heightened. We have also Development Network, have docu-
seen a huge rise in cases of domes- mented the intensification of gender
tic violence and calls to refuges and and intersecting inequalities around
support lines, as stay at home orders race, class and other identities as a
trap women and children with abusive result of COVID-19. They are driving
family members, and make it increas- forward an agenda to challenge this,
ingly difficult to move to new homes but for now, the pandemic continues
for safety as relationships break down. to intensify existing inequalities.
April 2021 9H
Housing
Camillo Boano
The V&A Museum has organized a and disciplinary declinations (of the The image of the swamp is a perfect
virtual exhibition entitled Pandemic public, health, politics, representation, metaphor for the COVID-19 reality and
Objects, collecting exhibits that have the urban, the environment), but that the exhausted capacity for thinking
taken on new meanings and purpos- exists in an eternal present that leaves about housing. Understanding the
es during COVID-19. These include room for what Donatella di Cesare swamp is to attempt a multiform epis-
masks, windows, parks, streets, (2020) called “secular and scientific temology, a space where knowledge
weather, roses, cafes, exercise books, modernity” within the body, precisely mixes to give deadly forms of coer-
Tik Tok and houses. The presence of because inside the body is where the cion: “the swamp appears to me as
the house in Pandemic Objects is cer- struggle for survival and resistance [...] a noble and lowest place, a central
tainly not as serious as it should be. to the swamp is played out to the and peripheral place, well-formed and
However, it does reposition housing end. Traveling with uncertainty over deformed, shapeless, deformed, ob-
to the centre of the question highlight- the boundless land, without histo- scene, vile, mephitic and at the same
ing structural injustices and systemic ry or time, without maps or paths, time troubled”. The current housing
paradoxes in the construction of urban where everything seems abandoned and urbanism dimensions demon-
space, inhabiting it, and in economic to decay, Manganelli’s fugitive finds strate the impossibility (conceptual
and social relations and narratives that a home in what could be the centre and ethical) of defining the housing
are both estranged and visionary. of the swamp; “It is a bare construc- object in a universally recognized way.
Homes have become interpreted tion, perhaps made of wood, and At the same time, this recalls the need
as sites of clausure, as suspension, I distinctly see the doors, all open, for redefined discourses capable of
and as a topography of simplified, indeed wide open, in an exhibitionist not obscuring and making invisible
quantified and numerical distances, way”. This perhaps has no foundation the extreme variety and complexity
suggesting alternative cues into the because it is forced to adapt to the of its own conditions, without reduc-
pandemic urban. Pandemic responses changes in the marshes. The fugitive ing, simplifying or abstracting them.
and reflections are a perfect exam- enters the house and sits on a chair COVID-19 has strongly re-proposed
ple of the saturation of the debate in the room on the ground floor after the violence of universalism of colonial
around the urban and simplification opening the only, empty wardrobe. modernity, but also re-proposed the
in how knowledge is construed and On the table are some papers that he centrality of the home and the prac-
framed. A new universalism has been explores, asking himself many ques- tices of living as fundamental for care
presented in respect to the policies tions about the nature and essence and for the construction of commons.
and strategies of social distancing, of this strange, almost impossible It is no coincidence that the centrality
and out of housing discourses seems construction that seems “completely of the house in the swamp of Manga-
to have emerged a new modern incompatible with the nature of the nelli evokes an epistemology of living
sanitary imagination that has been swamp” but being careful to “dom- where one can feel “a profound sense
presented as being able to chal- inate my speculative anxiety”. of rest, as if the fatigue of the future
lenge the urban spread of the virus. dissolved into a contrary procedure, as
Let me use a literary reflection from a if yesterday, the uninterrupted yester-
book that to my knowledge has not day would give refreshment to all to-
been translated into English, Giorgio morrows, the impossible tomorrows”.
Manganelli’s La Palude Definitiva (the
definitive swamp): “a place where it
is difficult to enter and impossible to
leave” and where the paths found
there “change from day to day, or at
least from month to month; nor is it
possible to recognize them in a certain
way”. A place in which it seems inev-
itable to enter because “one notices
the swamp, only when one is inside,
too much inside”. This pandemic
resembles the swamp, a kingdom in
the making. It is a moment that does
not stick to the narrative rhetoric of the
crisis in its variegated manifestations
Issue 68 10I
Infrastructure
Rita Lambert, Pascale Hoffman, Raktim Ray
Infrastructure is predominantly under- premise is not new, the pandemic put
stood, in popular discourse, as the the spotlight on people as infrastruc-
physical structures and facilities need- ture through, for instance, the ‘net-
ed for the operation of a society or en- worked mobilisation’ of social capital.
terprise. That is, the system of pipes, Arrangements that are typically
sewers, drains, wires and highways understood to be provisional, make-
that support productive and reproduc- shift and unreliable are precisely
tive life. COVID-19 disrupts this under- those that seem to better meet
standing through our lived experienc- people’s needs. Cities with more
es. At least for some, systems of pipes decentralised systems have been
and cables might have been laid and able to keep up with the provision
roads might have been tarmacked, of essential services to their citizens
but that has not been enough to during lockdown measures. Hence
keep things flowing. The COVID-19 the pandemic not only shows us the
pandemic has shaken the fundamen- limits of certain infrastructural ideals,
tal assumptions that infrastructure but also expands our understanding
provision will automatically translate of the crucial role of people them-
into service delivery and access. First, selves in any infrastructure system.
it brought the temporariness of the COVID-19 has also demonstrated the
urban to the fore through continu- need to understand resilient infrastruc-
ous ruptures caused by uncertainty. ture as a system that is composed of
Second, it changed the socio-spatial hybrid solutions for service provision.
materiality of infrastructure due to re- This enables inhabitants to maintain
duced mobility (because of lockdown), independence, control costs, and
social-distancing and increased limit consumption. Hybrid solutions
dependency on digital infrastructure. not only better reflect the reality of the
The pandemic has further exposed majority of people in cities of the
the vulnerability and paradox of Global South, but they are also gen-
infrastructure provision through its erally more flexible, responsive, and
simultaneous presence, and absence, oftentimes better suited to support the
within cities. Specifically, it has brought shift to more environmentally friend-
into question the duality of central- ly solutions. In times of crisis, they
ised and decentralised infrastructure. provide the necessary adaptability for
Ideals of modern centralised systems survival. Furthermore, because the
dominate infrastructural development majority of residents in such contexts
and investment decisions. However, rely on heterogeneous configura-
in practice, they serve the better off tions that are built incrementally and
while lower-income residents rely through different rationalities, infra-
on various off-grid arrangements. In structure is never finished. It is always
these contexts, we find that solidarity in the making. It cannot be under-
networks have played an important stood as static or inert. Infrastructure
role helping marginalised ‘off-grid’ is a site where the social and technical
communities to deal with insufficient intersect in inextricable ways and
infrastructure provision. We can see co-construct one another. If anything,
numerous examples of solidarity COVID-19 has brought to the fore the
networks mobilising resources during notion that it is practice that defines
the pandemic to support vulnerable how accessible infrastructure is.
communities, e.g., through crowd-
funding and voluntarism. They empha-
sise how civil society self-organised
during the crisis to provide alternative
forms of infrastructure. While civil
society participation outside the state’s
April 2021 11J
Participants of the
COVID-19 research
in Solo, Banjarmasin.
Photo credit:
Nina Asterina.
Justice
Julian Walker and
Ignacia Ossul Vermehren
The COVID-19 pandemic has thrown
the existing landscapes of (in)jus-
tice in cities into relief. For disabled
people living in informal settlements,
COVID-19 has intensified existing
disability injustices. Through the DPU’s
AT2030 research project - working
with disabled people and assistive
technology (AT) users in four informal
settlements in Freetown, Sierra Leone,
and Banjarmasin, Indonesia - we have “Due to the COVID-19 outbreak and the
seen this very clearly in the redistri- social distancing measures applied, I had no
bution of resources, misrecognition clients so my income as a masseuse dropped
and stigma, and spatial injustices. significantly. No patients come to my house.
As our main research was suspend- There are no community meetings or religious
ed during the pandemic, we decided events, which also means there are no
to look at how our disabled and AT opportunities for promoting my services.”
user participants were experiencing
COVID-19 and COVID-19 respons- - Susiana, masseuse in Solo
es. Our purpose was to better un-
derstand these experiences, but
also to maintain contact with the
research participants, and to try to
use the project resources to influ-
ence local organizations involved that already exists around disability. organizations working on community
in COVID-19 relief to better include In particular, regarding public infor- COVID-19 responses, such as our
disabled people in their work. mation narratives that emphasise partners FEDURP and Kaki Kota, have
In terms of material and distribution- the importance of ‘healthy bodies’. increasingly made targeted COVID-19
al injustices, it was clear that many Regarding spatial justice, and the relief interventions (e.g., food parcels
disabled residents were dispropor- right to the city, social distancing rules and face masks, with transparent
tionately affected. In both cities, have increased the isolation of many masks for sign language users) to
disabled people’s livelihoods rely disabled people, which was already people with disabilities in low-income
more on activities which have been a problem for those confined to their communities, built accessible sanita-
made difficult, or impossible, by social homes due to stigma and inaccessible tion points, and distributed coronavi-
distancing (for example, in Indonesia, urban landscapes. COVID-19 rules rus information in a range of formats.
it is very common for blind people to have meant that disabled people’s Hopefully, as things return to ‘normal’
work as masseurs). As well as loss of organizations (DPOs) cannot meet or this will influence future thinking about
income, many disabled people have provide in-person support, and online the injustices faced by disabled people
less access to government support, alternatives are unaffordable or inac- and how organizations working on
for example due to inaccessible bu- cessible. In terms of mobility around grassroots interventions place disabil-
reaucracy that needs to be navigated the city, signage about social distanc- ity at the centre of just and inclusive
to access social protection schemes ing is not accessible for people with approaches to urban development.
such as cash transfers. At the same visual impairments, causing greater
time, adaptations to existing public difficulties in using public space.
services have created new barriers. Additionally, concerns around COV-
For example, in Indonesia, parents of ID-19 mean that the disabled have
disabled children have found it difficult fewer offers of help from the public.
to adapt to online teaching, having However, the fact that COVID-19 has
had to modify learning materials and made many existing injustices more
cope without sign language support. extreme, and more visible, means that
In terms of misrecognition, our it has created new entry-points for jus-
participants told us that COVID-19 tice-based claims, and new collabora-
responses have reinforced the stigma tions to address injustices. As a result,
Issue 68 12K
Knowledge Co-production
Emmanuel Osuteye, Camila Cociña and Caren Levy
Knowledge co-production has be-
come increasingly central to the
design, aspirations and activities of
collaborative research projects. The
process of collaborating in research The global nature of this crisis has shown
with different actors - a diversity of that diverse local responses need to
‘knowledges’ that rely on different
practices and ‘ways of knowing’, a adapt to specific local needs, grounded
diversity of epistemologies - yields in situated understandings of existing
knowledge that is grounded and
relevant in specific socio-cultural local practices and knowledges.
and political-economic contexts in
order to better understand urban
challenges and facilitate transforma-
tive change. Opening up spaces of
engagement for knowledge gener- into question the proximities implied to overcome local digital divides and
ation with different actors serves as by ‘knowing and doing together’, to work together remotely. Remote
a targeted means of including mar- given the restrictions to movement, meetings have become ‘sites’ of
ginalised and other unheard voices assembly, and physically ‘being knowledge co-production, of solidarity
that are often invisible in ‘traditional’ together’ for research teams within and critical reflection. Through this,
planning rationalities and processes. cities, in communities and in planned teams have explored, created and
It also has the potential to confront interactions across international curated new spaces of learning, whilst
collectively held assumptions and projects. Not only is the pandemic building and sharing new capacities to
development practices that obstruct reconfiguring the face of cities and use flexible online tools, increasingly
transformative change, accelerating the outlook on urban life globally. It moving research activities into virtual
wider processes of social learning and is also exposing and exacerbating spaces. These experiences exemplify
paving the way for collective action. urban inequalities. At the same time, an exploration of ‘remote pedagogies’,
This ‘knowing and doing together’ is the need for co-produced knowledge as opportunities that can also facilitate
central to uncovering structural ob- in action to tackle these challenges ‘social proximity’ in remote learning.
stacles to urban equality and further- has become even more apparent and COVID-19 has shifted the research
ing the cause of epistemic justice. urgent in a COVID-19 afflicted world. focus of knowledge co-production
This reflection takes place within the Working through the pandemic has in some cities to support vulnerable
context of KNOW (‘Knowledge in opened up new insights and experi- urban communities and work collab-
Action for Urban Equality’, 2017-2021) ences of knowledge co-production for oratively with local organisations that
a DPU-led international, multi-partner the KNOW team. The purposive eval- provide support. The global nature of
and multi-site programme. KNOW’s uation of the changing needs and pri- this crisis has shown that diverse local
approach to knowledge co-produc- orities of partners as a collective and responses need to adapt to specific
tion goes beyond the explicit ac- caring endeavour has proven essential local needs, grounded in situated un-
knowledgement of multi-stakeholder to the long-term maintenance of trust derstandings of existing local practices
participation. It is embedded in the and reciprocal listening in co-pro- and knowledges. As the pandemic
intentional building of ‘partnerships duction processes. This involved lingers, knowledge co-production
with equivalence’. This implies a wide-ranging discussions about remains critical to both short-term
reciprocal recognition of the diverse adjustments and mutual support, and emergency interventions as well as for
capacities, knowledges and values considering the ethical implications of longer-term urban planning and policy
between partners, which directly re-planned work with communities, that shape pathways to urban equality.
contribute to the research and its local governments and other actors. This central message of KNOW is a
outcomes. It also means that relation- COVID-19 ushered in a new normal- demonstration of the value of knowl-
ships are built through mutual respect ity of remote working that caused us edge co-production in the re-imagina-
and trust, transparency and account- to reflect on the limits of what can tion of post-pandemic ‘collective life’.
ability, and a commitment to co-pro- and cannot be done remotely. This
duce knowledge and learn together. included sharing digital equipment
As the pandemic extended globally in and skills related to online tools and
space and over time, it directly called methodologies to assist city teams
April 2021 13L
Land
Colin Marx, Harshavardhan Jatkar
For many, the pandemic fundamentally ensure and sustain life by ordering it,
changed how they relate to land and then controlling the virus could not
how land relates to them. As corona- be the only condition for the pos-
virus travelled across territorial bound- sibility of ‘living well’. For instance,
aries of nation-states, land became what happens if people’s lives do
boundaryless for the virus. In a way, not fit within the vision of separate
an opportunity was presented to share land-use zones in which workplaces
a common resource in land to pro- are separate from residences? What
vide a collective, equitable and global happens if people are not resourceful
response to the impact of the virus. enough to bring work to their fixed
However, out of this blurring of home? What happens when people
territorial boundaries, a hardening do not reside within a fixed territory?
and sharpening of national territorial Since the outbreak of the pandemic,
claims emerged. The fear against many people have had to walk back to
the spread of the virus brought into their villages as the cities were locked
force regulations and restrictions down, and give up their long-estab-
on who could leave and enter dif- lished territorial claims to land. Others
ferent territories. Land was remade had to cross territories to meet with For many, the
into territories with hard boundaries. their loved ones. It is only some that
Importantly, this territorialisation of could remain within the comfortable pandemic
land was also witnessed at city and confines of their abodes and country fundamentally
neighbourhood levels. Entire cities cottages, working and living from a
were locked down as coronavirus fixed location. In effect, the control changed how
zones, while people’s movement of the pandemic through the epide- they relate to
was restricted to neighbourhoods. miological model has made the virus
Land as territory is fundamental to and us subject to land as territory and land and how
the underlying epidemiological model place. While some would self-sub- land relates
for responding to the virus’ transmis- jectify without remorse, the virus and
sion. There are two basic ways of the not-so-fortunate are forced to to them. As
understanding transmission: through disobey land’s territorial boundaries coronavirus
people and through a place. A place, and their place-based identities.
for example a crowded shopping travelled across
market, can lead to the transmis- territorial
sion of the virus; and certain people
(who are un/knowingly infected) can boundaries of
make that place a ‘hotspot’ for its nation-states,
transmission. As Foucault so vividly
shows in relation to plagues, such land became
management and control over who is boundaryless
where is a key component of biopol-
itics. Locking down ‘who is where’ for the virus.
is key to restricting vectors that drive
the pandemic. Land gives identity to
people and identity decides how land
is categorised and what restrictions
apply. Through the epidemiological
model, people became landed beings
tied to their territories as such; and
the virus was controlled to an extent.
Yet, biopolitical control only works
well if it corresponds to the vision of
life that inheres in a particular form of
‘living well’. That is, if biopolitics is to
Issue 68 14M Surveillance
Migration
in the name
of protection
Giovanna Astolfo, Camillo Boano has always
The pandemic had a massive im- has become more evident. The BLM been a feature
pact on migration flows; redefining movement has changed in many ways of migration
territories of mobility and immobility. how the racialised body of the mi-
From India to sub-Saharan Africa grant is seen. Race has moved centre management:
to Europe, millions returned home stage in the discourse on migration - now it applies
or fled the spread of the disease. even if it is not policy yet - raising the
In certain regions, the sealing of necessity of rethinking inhabitation. to everybody
borders resulted in a decrease in The pandemic has shown an ur- in the name of
migration rates globally, however, gency to govern the constitutive
the pandemic has deepened ine- tensions between the settled and public health
quality, and this in turn has generat- unsettled. The imposition of rules of and security.
ed a steep increase in migration. immobility compelled people to ‘go
Attitudes and behaviours have also underground’, as Simone put it, to
changed, with increases in restric- identify subterfuges that circumvent
tions, the criminalisation of migration, rules and police action. This resulted
colonial and racialised approach- in more mobility than before, but also
es, and racist discourses. In some in greater tracking and visibility. Such
countries, the pandemic has silenced increased visibility has pros and cons.
the debate on asylum seekers and On one side, it increases vulnera-
refugees, whereas the prominence of bility; on the other, the gaps within
migrant labour in economic and social the system of surveillance open up
life has become apparent. Workplaces opportunities for demonstrations and manising; and on the other, leading
were shut, and employees vanished. for mobilisation. In a time of intensified to the rediscovery and use of ex-
Widespread closures made evident detection, the space outside detec- isting resources and a sociality
the spectral presence of the migrant tion has become very important. that was not registered before,
as a worker. When India enforced Increased surveillance and its im- an underlaying affective mood
the lockdown, migrants turned to pact on the political, biological and as Braidotti has defined it.
refugees overnight; while in Europe, affective lives of migrants is another A number of networks and practices
undocumented migrants ‘benefit- central debate in migration studies of mutual reliance and solidarity, self
ted’ from temporary regularisation. and practice. The pandemic has and collective care, have emerged in
The pandemic has multiplied the extended the system of surveillance many places. There have been several
number of internal and external from migrants to all urban populations. systems of support established for
borders, each performing different- In many cities, the virus response has and by migrants. The pandemic has
ly according to the crossing body. generated a tighter control of behav- acted as a portal, opening up, for a
It has also further exposed issues iours, following the need to limit or while at least, a new space to relate to
of sovereignty and governmentality justify movement, imposing curfews, others. Vulnerability and fragility link us
of migration. This was initially taken and so on. Governments have entered one another, even though we are not
in a positive manner, as an oppor- homes and the private, even sexual, in this together as we are not all equal-
tunity to change the status quo, in lives of its citizens in an unprecedent- ly expendable. For each of us the oth-
particular in relation to processes of ed way that recalls procedures of the er is both a danger and salvation. Self-
othering, populism, instrumentali- government of migration, exposing interest coincides with the common
zation of discourses around iden- their inherent paradoxes. Surveillance good. The pandemic stresses em-
tity, and orientalism of the migrant; in the name of protection has always bodiment, and interconnection acting
but now there is less optimism. been a feature of migration manage- as the source of counter knowledges,
Paradigms of inclusion/exclusion have ment: now it applies to everybody in methods, and values against Eurocen-
worsened. The pandemic has ex- the name of public health and security. tric, masculinist, anthropocentric, and
posed further existing power hierar- Yet the pandemic has little to do heteronormative epistemic violence.
chies and reinforced the presence of a with the biopolitical and the state
dominant category of human vis-a-vis of exception theories. The sover-
the less-than-human others, includ- eign is the virus, not the state. It is
ing the sexualized, racialized and the true however, that the pandemic
migrant others, as Braidotti would has gone two ways: on one side,
have it. Yet the agency of the others distancing, controlling and dehu-
April 2021 15You can also read
