The unequal city in Palma (Majorca): Geography of confinement during the COVID-19 pandemic
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Abstract
The crisis resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic is revealing the weak structures on which the supposed economic recovery was based and the strong socio-urban inequalities on which this recovery is based. The disease is an indicator of inequality but, in the context of COVID-19, so are the measures for its containment. The aim of this article is to study urban inequality in Palma through what we have called the geography of confinement, focusing the research on one of the city's most impoverished and vulnerable neighbourhoods, son Gotleu, during the confinement stage of COVID-19. The methodology combines two types of analysis, one on a city scale and the other on a neighbourhood scale. To do this, we first drew up a social map of inequality in Palma based on a Principal Component Analysis. Second, we conducted a survey on the quality of life during confinement of residents of son Gotleu. The work concludes by stating, on the one hand, the existence of important social and economic gaps in Palma. On the other hand, the weak social, economic and housing conditions faced by son Gotleu to cope with a (health and economic) crisis of this magnitude.
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