RESEARCH PROJECT
SOCIAL INFRASTRUCTURE AND PANDEMIC RESILIENCE
About the project
Given Covid's asymmetrical effects in cities, marginalised communities have a fundamental role in building local resilience. Globally, both the pandemic and lockdown measures severely affected the ability of urban inhabitants to meet basic needs related to food security, care, and digital inclusion. This project explores the role of commmunity-based organisations in local pandemic response.
Introduction
Community-based organizations have played a decisive role in the response to the pandemic in many marginalised neighborhoods, addressing vulnerabilities by supporting residents to address their basic needs.
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Yet little is know about their enhanced role in pandemic response. Using the lens of 'social infrastructure', this project explores how community-based organisations in neighbourhoods in Cape Town and Cali addressed local residents' needs relating to food, care and digital inclusion, during the pandemic and lockdown periods.
Objectives
1. Document community-based organizations' pandemic responses, focusing on new/emerging configurations of social infrastructure in three key areas: food, care and digital inclusion.
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2. Examine the social, material and spatial implications of these practices for communities and the contextual factors that determine them.
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3. Understand how this contributes to community resilience and the capacity to cope with future pandemics.
Methodology
The project's interdisciplinary methodology connects localised, everyday experiences to broader structural factors. This includes:
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Reflexive interviews with leaders of community-based organizations in Cape Town and Cali.
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Focus groups with residents of neighbourhoods where the organizations work.
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Digital diaries with residents, exploring past and current experiences of the pandemic and local responses.
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Analysis of documentary and visual material relating to local pandemic responses.
Community-based organizations:
Universities:
Funder:
