The framework (WP1)

It is a fact that some people are affected by COVID-19 much more harshly than others. However, there are still many questions about the effects of the pandemic. For instance, what are the social and economic consequences of the pandemic? How are different populations impacted by this global crisis in the short and long term? Such are the questions that the vulnerability framework of the COVIDGI project seeks to answer.

The main objective of this framework is to establish a vulnerability model for COVID-19 that considers the pre-existing environmental conditions in tandem with the spatial and behavioral factors of the pandemic, including exposure, resistance, and resilience. This model seeks to achieve results at the intraurban scale (i.e., neighborhood or community level) by considering the spatial and behavioral components of vulnerability and by using different data sources (e.g., open, authoritative, and volunteered).

In terms of research, we aim to improve vulnerability research by investigating the effects of different spatial and temporal resolutions of the pandemic outcomes. For geography and vulnerability research, we seek to add non-linear phenomena to the vulnerability and resilience factors and potentially identify critical stages in the pandemic that allow for targeted responses. These fine-scale results would lead to the creation of policies that are more precise and that take context into consideration, avoiding the implementation of one-size-fits-all approaches that are ineffective and potentially harmful.