Race and the infrapolitics of public space in the time of COVID‐19

Abstract

The COVID‐19 pandemic has fundamentally altered our associational life and relationship to public space, revealing deadly inequities in access to health care and other resources, particularly in communities of color. In Harlem and other areas of New York City that are experiencing neoliberal redevelopment, the response to the pandemic has also rearticulated public spaces, introducing new and diverse spatial uses and users, and providing low‐income and working‐class African American and Latinx residents with increased opportunities to contest their exclusion from public and quasi‐public spaces and the symbolic economy of gentrification. Based on ethnographic research conducted during the pandemic, I show how black and brown residents in West Harlem encountered, negotiated, and contested these race‐cum‐class–based, spatio‐symbolic exclusions through infrapolitical practices and, in the process, demanded and exercised their “right to the city.” [ race , infrapolitics , public space , gentrification , redevelopment , right to the city , COVID‐19 , Harlem , New York City ]

Urban humanities as a framework for the study of public space during the pandemic

“…Some planning authorities are formalizing 'open streets', curbside pickup areas, permanent sidewalk expansions, and street closures (NACTO 2020; Webb 2018). Others have stopped enforcing regulations, increased street vendor permitting, and lowered misdemeanour offences in minority neighbourhoods (Gregory 2022). Scholars noted an increase in pop-up interventions, flexible infrastructure, and 'tactical urbanism' (Pradifta et al 2021;Rojas-Rueda 2020;Gregory 2022, 171).…”

“…The pandemic also highlighted long-standing differences in the perception and use of public spaces: to some, public space is an exclusive destination for leisure and consumption, but for some marginalized groups, it is a place to assert ownership, survive, and be political (Flynn and Thorpe 2021). While some populations were harassed and criminalized for activities like public drinking, similar behaviour by paying customers was legalized during the pandemic (Gregory 2022). Flynn and Thorpe (2021) write about an uneven sense of ownership, where users paid for differential access to public space.…”

“…Conducting research during a pandemic presents fundamental obstacles, due in part to inaccessibility and social distancing measures. In response to pandemic-related restrictions, researchers largely avoided collecting in situ empirical data, instead employing alternative methods to engage with public spaces from afar, including theoretical speculation and personal experience (Bell 2021;Gregory 2022), online journalism (Gerbaudo 2020;Mehta 2020;Sandset 2021), and social media analysis (Cook & Thorsen 2021;Cui et al 2022; van Eck, van Melik, and Schapendonk 2020). van Eck, van Melik, and Schapendonk (2020) conducted 'fieldwork-from-a distance' by using social media to interpret the effects of the pandemic on Dutch marketplaces.…”