Adaptability of youth to the impacts of COVID-19 in vulnerable urban communities

Abstract

This work plan refers to the main objectives of the PANEX-YOUTH project, consisting of a proposal for a post-doctoral fellow to dedicate herself to leading field research activities, data collection and analysis. We focus on young people, who are not the group most affected by the disease caused by COVID-19, but represent a group strongly compromised by the disorders associated with the pandemic, such as restrictions affecting their studies, leisure and access to healthy food. With this, the research will engage with the place and living conditions of young people in urban vulnerability, applying action research to understand how young people (10-24 years old) adapted to life during and after the pandemic, investigating the tactics used to recover (both temporary and permanent), and their legacy in a post-pandemic context. The object of investigation constitutes livelihoods, leisure, and education, with a specific interest in adaptations in the built environment, potential for youth empowerment in finding new ways forward, partnerships, and "structural couplings." We seek to understand this through a dual focus: the lived experiences of diverse youth and the insights of non-profit, non-governmental organizations that focus on interacting with this age group. The fellow researcher will be engaged in the case study to be conducted in the city of São Paulo, but interacting and collaborating with related studies in the Free State in South Africa and the West Midlands in the UK. (AU)