Lessons from the Lockdown: Foregrounding Non-privileged Perspectives into the (Post-)COVID City Debate

This chapter draws spatial lessons from the lockdown experience for the post-COVID-19-city. It argues that it is predominantly a ‘white’ middleclass perspective that is prevailing, while the pandemic affected the urban population in very different ways, hitting vulnerable groups most heavily. How can the spatial needs of these vulnerable groups be taken into consideration? Although some changes like car-free streets and more walkable cities undoubtedly will result in more healthy and liveable cities, they also reconfirm a gentrification agenda that in all likelihood will not improve live for all urban dwellers equally.