Neighborhood Effects and Urban Inequalities: The Impact of Covid‐19 on the Periphery of Salvador, Brazil

Abstract

On March 29, two weeks after the first Covid-19 case was confirmed and on the same day of the first pandemic-related death in the city, Salvador turned 471 years old. However, the streets did not showcase the celebrations that distinguish one of the most culturally active cities in Brazil. From the confinement of our homes, we witnessed an empty, suspended city. The isolation measures taken by local authorities, essential to reduce the virus' transmission, have shaken the dynamics of sociability as well as disrupted the use of public spaces in Salvador, recognized by UNESCO as the "city of music" and "national capital of Afro-Brazilian culture".Besides changing socio-cultural patterns, isolation has economic implications in a city that essentially depends on commerce, tourism and services. Commercial sector organizations estimate daily losses in the millions in a scenario in which only key services remain open.Tourist activities are paralyzed, beaches are closed, and cinemas, theaters, museums and nightclubs are suspended. At the same time, the number of flights that usually reach the

The COVID-19 pandemic: Impacts on cities and major lessons for urban planning, design, and management

“…This and other inequality issues make it difficult to socially distance, thereby undermining the effectiveness of ‘homestay’ orders for containing the spread of the virus ( Mishra et al, 2020 ). Similar issues have also been discussed in the context of some African and Brazilian cities ( Kihato and Landau, 2020 ; de Oliveira and de Aguiar Arantes, 2020 ). Conditions in slums and informal developments are further exacerbated by the lack of access to medical care (e.g., hospital beds) and basic services such as clean water to comply with hand washing recommendations ( Biswas, 2020 ; de Oliveira and de Aguiar Arantes, 2020 ).…”

“…Similar issues have also been discussed in the context of some African and Brazilian cities ( Kihato and Landau, 2020 ; de Oliveira and de Aguiar Arantes, 2020 ). Conditions in slums and informal developments are further exacerbated by the lack of access to medical care (e.g., hospital beds) and basic services such as clean water to comply with hand washing recommendations ( Biswas, 2020 ; de Oliveira and de Aguiar Arantes, 2020 ). Additionally, precarious economic conditions, and the fact that many communities (e.g., in Sub-Saharan Africa) depend on close social interactions for their livelihood make adherence to ‘stay home’ orders challenging ( Kihato and Landau, 2020 ; Finn and Kobayashi, 2020 ).…”

“…Also, unprecedented global travel restrictions and ‘stay home’ measures have created unprecedented challenges for cities relying on tourism. Globally, such cities have been particularly hit hard economically ( de Oliveira and de Aguiar Arantes, 2020 ; Earl and Vietnam, 2020 ). Rutynskyi and Kushniruk (2020) estimated that the pandemic caused a 40 to 60% fall in the number of tourists in Lviv, Ukraine.…”

Qatar, the Coronavirus, and Cordons Sanitaires: Migrant Workers and the Use of Public Health Measures to Define the Nation

“…Qatar is not alone in using public health measures to advance political goals—in using its treatment of bio‐bodies to define the geo‐body. From the United States (Chowkwanyun and Reed 2020) to Singapore (Ye 2020), from South Africa (Kihato and Landau 2020) to Brazil (de Oliveira and de Aguiar Arantes 2020), countries are using their responses to the coronavirus to define political belonging and membership and to enforce exclusion. But Qatar's actions suggest that the salient question is not whether public health measures also cause harm, but rather how they harm, and what they reveal about the use of harm to define the nation.…”

COVID‐19 Has Exposed How ‘The Other Half’ (Still) Lives

“…Besides poorly funded and fragmented healthcare systems, explanatory factors include struggling economies and ongoing sociopolitical crises, precarious living conditions, inadequate sanitation infrastructure, and vast socioeconomic inequalities (The Lancet, 2019; Burki, 2020; Kirby, 2020; World Bank, 2020). These structural issues not only help explain the limited effects of mitigation strategies but have intensified the impact of the pandemic (Abrams and Szefler, 2020; Ahmed et al, 2020; Oliveira and Arantes, 2020). We use Chile as a case study to illustrate how socio‐spatial inequalities are heavily shaping the pandemic, amplified by the fact that decision‐makers have failed to take these inequalities and marginalised livelihoods into account.…”