Las características del espacio urbano como factores de exposición al COVID-19 en Ciudad de México

El artículo muestra la interacción entre las desigualdades socioespaciales acumuladas históricamente y la dinámica espacial del riesgo de contagio de COVID-19 en Ciudad de México. El objetivo es analizar la relación en el espacio urbano entre la localización de algunos factores de exposición al virus, identificados en la bibliografía especializada (vinculados con el transporte, la vivienda y el empleo) y la dinámica espacial de los contagios. Con métodos de análisis espacial, se vinculan conceptos de la ecología política y la teoría de la construcción social del riesgo. Se concluye que las condiciones de habitabilidad, el tiempo de traslado en medios de transporte colectivo y los niveles de desarrollo social son factores que determinan el comportamiento espacial de los contagios. Las periferias urbanas marginadas constituyen sitios desfavorecidos, en cuanto a las condiciones de exposición. Abstract The article shows the interaction between historically accumulated socio-spatial inequalities and the spatial dynamic of the risk of contagion of COVID-19 in Mexico City. The objective is to analyze the urban spatial relationship between the location of exposure factors to the virus, identified through literature review (associated with transport, living and employment), and the spatial dynamic of contagion. By using spatial analysis methods and techniques, concepts from political ecology and the theory of social construction of risk are connected. It is concluded that the conditions of habitability, the commuting time in public transportation and the levels of social development are determining factors of the spatial behaviour of contagion. Due to conditions of exposure, marginalized urban peripheries become disadvantaged places.

Origins and functions of climate-related relocation: An analytical review

Planned, state-led population relocation is advanced as an adaptation to climate change. Concerned that climate hazards will threaten settlement viability and provoke widespread, unplanned migration, global discourse overwhelmingly characterizes relocation as a voluntary, “last resort” effort to resettle and rebuild communities in safer areas. Over the past decade, scholars have investigated where and why climate-related relocation materializes and how it functions as an adaptation (or otherwise). This article systematically reviews the scientific literature, concluding that climate-related relocation is a more diverse and complex process than recognized within dominant research efforts and policy narratives. While climate-related relocation is sometimes a function of environmental migration pressures and adaptation imperatives, recent critical scholarship shows that climate-related relocation processes are embedded in historical responses to environment and development problems and unfold through political negotiation, discourse, and the social construction of risk and response. In practice, “adaptive relocation” frequently involves population redistribution (villagization and sedentarization) as well as resettlement, is often proactive and involuntary, and risks (re)producing maladaptive outcomes. Based on this analysis, I argue for an expanded research and policy agenda centered around a pluralistic conceptual framework that respects the diversity of relocation efforts undertaken as adaptation.

Throw me a lifeline: Articulating mobile social network dispersion and the social construction of risk in rescue communication

This research develops a model of mobile social network dispersion in rescue communication, and illustrates how people use a combination of mobile and social media, along with real-time communication, in their decision-making process. Guided by established research on smartphones, social media, and affordances, we used a qualitative approach and conducted field interviews that included photo-elicitation interview (PEI) techniques to examine participants’ private social media data. Our analysis of these rescue decisions reveals why so few people used the official 9-1-1 system. We show how rescue communication often occurs through a socially constructed assessment of risk that involves persuasion by trusted others in their network, regardless of professional qualifications. Furthermore, trusted others can function as proxies and can draw upon mobile social network affordances, helping to compensate for material limitations. The affordances people drew from can be organized into two sets: foundational and amplification. Hierarchical relationships exist among these sets of affordances, and materiality plays a pivotal role in rescue communication. Ultimately, our analysis uncovers the multimodality around people’s decisions to ask for help.

Measles, Moral Regulation and the Social Construction of Risk: Media Narratives of “Anti-Vaxxers” and the 2015 Disneyland Outbreak

This paper examines media coverage of the 2014-15 measles outbreak that began at Disneyland and spread throughout the United States and into Canada and Mexico. Specifically, it focuses on the construction of ‘anti-vaxxers’ as a central character in the outbreak’s unfolding narrative who came to represent a threat to public health and moral order. Although parents who hold strong anti-vaccine views are small in number, media representations of ‘anti-vaxxers’ as prominent figures fail to capture the broad range of views and behaviours that constitute what we today call ‘vaccine hesitancy’ and thus delimit our understanding of this increasingly complex health issue.