Author:
Miles Sam,Coffin Jack,Ghaziani Amin,Hess Daniel Baldwin,Bitterman Alex
Abstract
AbstractBeginning in 2020, COVID-19 produced shock-shifts that were felt across the globe, not least at the level of the local neighborhood. Some of these shifts have called into question the role of physical places for face-to-face gatherings, including those used by LGBTQ+ people. Such open questions are a key concern for a book on gayborhoods, so this chapter engages in three analytic tasks to provide preliminary reflections on how pandemics problematize places. While acknowledging a range of threats and challenges that the pandemic poses to the future of LGBTQ+ spaces, this chapter focuses on the potential opportunities and unexpected benefits that COVID-19 can create, running counter to more pessimistic predictions that abound in popular discourse. First, the chapter contextualizes how the COVID-19 pandemic is reminiscent of the HIV/AIDS pandemic, allowing the gayborhood to be well-equipped to respond with grassroots activism, particularly in the face of government inaction or apathy. Second, the chapter explores trends that can ensure the future vitality of LGBTQ+ spaces, including (i) the potential of mutual aid networks, (ii) the power of institutional anchors in LGBTQ+ placemaking efforts, (iii) urban changes related to homesteading and population shifts, (iv) innovations in the interior design of physical spaces, and (v) opportunities to enhance social connections through augmented virtual engagements. Far from signaling the death knell of LGBTQ+ spaces, these trends demonstrate the enduring appeal provided by neighborhoods and communities. Third, the cognitive schemas of lockdowns, re-closeting, and digitalscapes are identified as unique expressions of the shifting spatialities of sexuality in post-pandemic urban space. The chapter concludes by arguing that place will still matter for LGBTQ+ people in a post-COVID-19 era, albeit with altered meanings and material expressions. The socio-spatial consequences of the novel coronavirus will be a confluence of positive and negative developments, and while some will be reversed as soon as an effective vaccine is found, others will linger indelibly in bodies and the built environment for years to come.
Publisher
Springer International Publishing
Reference53 articles.
1. Andersson J (2009) East end localism and urban decay: Shoreditch’s re-emerging gay scene. The London J 34:55–71
2. Andersson J (2019) Homonormative aesthetics: AIDS and ‘de-generational unremembering’ in 1990s London. Urban Stud 56:2993–3010
3. Bain A, Podmore JA (2020) Relocating queer: comparing suburban LGBTQS activisms on Vancouver’s periphery. Urban Stud. https://doi.org/10.1177/0042098020931282
4. Batty D (2020a) Lockdown having ‘pernicious impact’ on LGBT community’s mental health. https://www.theguardian.com/society/2020/aug/05/lockdown-having-pernicious-impact-on-lgbt-communitys-mental-health. Accessed 5 Aug 2020
5. Batty D (2020b) ‘I had to hide myself again’: young LGBT people on their life in UK lockdown. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/aug/05/i-had-to-hide-myself-again-young-lgbt-people-on-their-life-in-uk-lockdown. Accessed 5 Aug 2020
Cited by
8 articles.
订阅此论文施引文献
订阅此论文施引文献,注册后可以免费订阅5篇论文的施引文献,订阅后可以查看论文全部施引文献