Abstract
This chapter explores changing experiences and meanings of home in the context of COVID-19 and widespread self-isolation. Home becomes simultaneously safe sanctuary and detention site—private yet not private as for some work and schooling move home and online, making parts of home very public. Yet paradoxically, the home may make such more private/invisible, where cases of COVID that stay (or end in death) at home are not counted or make people more isolated. Homes have “shrunk” with closure of third spaces (places that are not home, not work, such as cafes, libraries), which previously operated as places for connection. Home highlights inequities. Lack of density and good-quality homes mark out privilege in contrast to those in high-density housing or crowded homes. There is deep concern about heightened isolation and loneliness, increased home-based violence and abuse, and home as site of distress as many more households struggle to meet first-order needs for food and shelter.
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Wiles, J. (2021). Home in Context of COVID-19. In: Andrews, G.J., Crooks, V.A., Pearce, J.R., Messina, J.P. (eds) COVID-19 and Similar Futures. Global Perspectives on Health Geography. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-70179-6_29
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-70179-6_29
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