Picturing Pandemics as Urban Disaster: Enumerations of Post-Covid Life in Informal-Windhoek, Namibia

Historically, pandemics have had critical influences on the development of human societies. It can impact social cohesion, politics, economic productivity, and population growth (among many other factors). Following the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic between March 2020 and December 2021, Namibia faced a tumultuous and wide-ranging shock. Due to its high morbidity and mortality rates, curfews and states of emergency were declared in the country. Although the pandemic is now in its post-outbreak period, its effect remains poorly researched. This chapter evaluates the post-COVID situation in Namibia’s city of Windhoek. It situates the COVID-19 pandemic as a disaster combining biological threats with various vulnerabilities, such as the organizational and response capacity of socio-spatial systems, including urban informality. The chapter used visual illustrations to show Windhoek’s pandemic situation as a reflection of a one-city two-system city consisting of formal and informal experiences. It also used vignettes from Namibia’s Newspapers to depict the post-COVID life of the informal settlements of Windhoek. It prescribed measures for making COVID-stressed cities more resilient to pandemic disasters.