Transmission and territory: Urban bordering during COVID-19

Area of Science:

• Public Health
• Urban Studies
• Political Science

Background:

• COVID-19 governance involved widespread territorial practices, including border controls and intra-city movement restrictions.
• These urban territorial practices significantly shaped the biopolitics of the pandemic, necessitating critical examination.
• Focus on Australian cities Sydney and Melbourne provides a case study for analyzing these practices.

Purpose of the Study:

• To critically analyze urban territorial practices of COVID-19 suppression.
• To categorize these practices into closure, confinement, and capacity control.
• To explore more egalitarian and democratic forms of pandemic governance.

Main Methods:

• Analysis of COVID-19 suppression measures in Sydney and Melbourne.
• Categorization of practices: closure, confinement, capacity control.
• Drawing on theories of 'positive'/'democratic' biopolitics and 'territory from below'.

Main Results:

• Observed practices include 'stay at home' orders, lockdowns, premise closures, movement restrictions, and hotel quarantine.
• These measures reinforced and exacerbated pre-existing social and spatial inequalities.
• Identified the need for egalitarian approaches to pandemic governance.

Conclusions:

• Critique of state interventions is necessary, alongside exploring alternatives.
• Egalitarian pandemic governance can be achieved through 'territory from below' and democratic negotiation.
• Prioritizing equitable care requires recognizing diverse urban authorities and sovereignties in pandemic management.