COVID-19, Density and Southern Urbanism

This chapter critically examines the intersection of COVID-19, urban density, and informality in cities of the Global South. While early pandemic responses portrayed dense informal settlements as hotspots of viral transmission, the chapter challenges this deficit-driven narrative. Tracing the colonial legacy of racialised urban planning and its persistence in postcolonial cities, the chapter argues that spatial inequality, not density alone, shaped pandemic vulnerabilities. Drawing on historical analysis and a South African case study, it reveals that self-built informal settlements—often thought to be most at risk—sometimes fared better in terms of infection rates than formal, overcrowded housing or high-rise buildings. The chapter calls for a shift from simplistic assumptions equating density with danger, towards more nuanced understandings of lived urbanism that incorporates density.