Social Inequality and the Differential Impacts of COVID-19 in the Urban Periphery


Harris Ali, York University

Those in the periphery of cities played an important role in pandemic response while bearing the brunt of the impacts. This paper investigates this neglected dimension of the pandemic response and the unfolding impacts by focusing on the “forgotten densities” of those residing and working in the urban periphery. Based on sites peripheral to Toronto – residential suburbs, warehouse districts, airport areas, First Nations reserves and agricultural locales – we discuss how the adoption and implementation of outbreak control measures, were unevenly applied across these sites relative to the city core, thus leading to particular challenges and consequences for the socially marginalized.

This paper will be presented at the following session: