Mercurial Images of the COVID-19 City

Abstract

This chapter is devoted to ‘mercurial’ images of the COVID-19 city, images in flux and images that convey messages. A joint composition of text and photos of Oslo’s public spaces and public transport shows how new dystopian and utopian imaginings of the city are being formed. These images therefore not only show how cities changed during the pandemic but also how we are changed by them, including our imaginings of future cities. The chapter suggests that these images are relational and influence our interactions with one another and with the city. Filtering through these images, we can also glimpse imaginings of a new city. A more hopeful and connected city, transformed to better accommodate its citizens, a place where nature takes place and community takes precedence. A more just city whose rhythms reflect the human and the social and not only commerce and capital.