ABSTRACT
Following an ambitious urban renewal program that began in the late 1980s, Barcelona has become a major tourism destination in the Mediterranean. As an emerging global city, planners in Barcelona today are greening the city through park improvements, street re-designs and street traffic-calming initiatives. While striving to provide locals with green amenities, these beautification projects have also produced unexpected consequences, as they bring in more visitors and accelerate gentrification. Currently, few city greening projects can avoid discussions of gentrification, and neighborhood groups have begun to organize in opposition to the touristification that has made their neighborhoods unaffordable and/or exclusive. While the current COVID-19 pandemic has drastically reduced the number of visitors to Barcelona-producing a new experience for local residents-the impacts on local street life, public space, housing and gentrification trends remain uncertain. © 2022 selection and editorial matter, Isabelle Anguelovski and James J. T. Connolly.
ABSTRACT
The COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated the adoption of surveillance technologies in cities around the world. The new surveillance systems are unfolding at unprecedented speed and scale in response to the fears of COVID-19, yet with little discussion about long-term consequences or implications. The authors approach the drivers and procedures for COVID-19 surveillance, addressing a particular focus to close-circuit television (CCTV) and tracking apps. This paper describes the technologies, how they are used, what they are capable of, the reasons why one should be concerned, and how citizens may respond. No commentary should downplay the seriousness of the current pandemic crisis, but one must consider the immediate and longer-term threats of insinuated enhanced surveillance, and look to how surveillance could be managed in a more cooperative social future. © 2021 IGI Global. All rights reserved.