COVID-19 proliferates in extended forms of urbanization. Traditionally a metaphor of escape, the global suburb has become the epicentre of zoonotic transmission, infection through travel, and community spread. Against this background, we point out that where the virus is, you find the peripheral, in the city and in society. In this reflection, we sketch the challenges and potentialities of the landscape of care in the urban periphery in Toronto, Canada and Milan/Lombardy, Italy during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. Moving forward, we need to ask multi-scalar, cross-disciplinary questions and focus on inequities in our social and spatial peripheries.

Over the last two decades, suburban studies have emerged from a call for a new conceptual order to go beyond the traditional dichotomies of the urban realm, namely, the centre‐periphery division. Such an approach distinguishes the city and suburbs as two separate entities, which hampers a better understanding of urbanization overall. Previously, studies of suburban areas have been interested in urban growth and regional development, albeit peripheral to the core themes of the research field. Yet a continuity of studies focusing on suburbs is appearing, and a proliferation of concepts has been produced to describe the diverse suburban forms according to specific features. Furthermore, suburbanization has now assumed a global dimension, as demonstrated by several recent studies and different new urban theories including “post‐metropolis,” “planetary urbanization,” and “polycentric metropolis.” This article aims at pursuing a “suburban debate” by providing an overview of the current state of research while pointing out the main frictions and unsolved issues of this proliferating discussion. First, conceptual frictions that travel worldwide are addressed and discussed. Then, contemporary issues and challenges regarding the governance of areas at the “urban edges” are highlighted as fundamental aspects to cope with while observing the socio‐spatial and socio‐economic polarizations that are occurring in the constant (sub)urban expansion, as recently addressed by several scholars.

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According to the early transposition of the EU directives by the Italian government, this paper presents some of the outcomes of the qualitative-led applied research titled Community Energy Map, aimed at identifying the main operational models and organisational frameworks put in place for the development of renewable energy communities (RECs). In this respect, the article discusses a threefold subdivision of organisational models to implement RECs: public lead, pluralist, and community energy builders’ model. Furthermore, the paper illustrates in detail three of the nine case studies dedicated to recently launched RECs, conducted through qualitative fieldworks, to investigate the social and local implications generated by these community-led initiatives. The article stresses the relevance of both the local scale and community-led initiatives in the pathway towards a fair and just energy transition, by discussing how RECs define new organisational models of distributed energy systems.