Public Space and COVID-19: New Social Practices, Intensified Inequalities

Abstract

The rapidly changing context of the pandemic offers an important opportunity to revisit what constitutes public space, for whom and how, given the coexisting practices of social distancing and social uprisings. This chapter explores the complexity of negotiations and practices currently involved in the production of space in Toronto, and calls for a further consideration of public space as a socially produced space which is articulated through socio-spatial practices, such as the fast-tracking of bike lanes and the provision of outdoor patio spaces for bars and restaurants.