IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v16y2024i8p3501-d1380511.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Social and Spatial Inequalities during COVID-19: Evidence from France and the Need for a New Sustainable Urban and Regional Development Paradigm

Author

Listed:
  • Roula Maya

    (Department of Sociology, University of Sharjah, Sharjah City P.O. Box 27272, United Arab Emirates)

Abstract

This study examines the impact of social and spatial inequalities on the spread of COVID-19 and the efficacy of lockdown measures in French regions during the third wave (22 March and 3 May 2021), with a focus on population density and poverty. It based on data from French government websites, adopting quantitative methods including the Pearson Coefficient and One-Way ANOVA. The results indicate a significant correlation between population density and COVID-19 deaths in 92 departments (R = 0.695), which is stronger than the correlation between density and infection rates (R = 0.633, p < 0.001). In the 25 most affected departments, this pattern shifts, with a weaker correlation between density and deaths (R = 0.644) compared to density/infections (R = 0.716, p < 0.001). Although insightful, these statistics do not capture regional disparities. A minor correlation between poverty and death rates was recorded in French regions. Spatial observations showed that areas exceeding the national poverty average experienced higher infection/death rates. The lockdowns were effective, leading to a reduction (51.7%) in infections. The present results showed that there is a significant need for a new social contract based on a new urban and regional paradigm focused on socio-spatial equality and Sustainable Development Goals locally and globally, a vital task for policymakers, planners, and researchers.

Suggested Citation

  • Roula Maya, 2024. "Social and Spatial Inequalities during COVID-19: Evidence from France and the Need for a New Sustainable Urban and Regional Development Paradigm," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(8), pages 1-29, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:16:y:2024:i:8:p:3501-:d:1380511
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/16/8/3501/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/16/8/3501/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Siew Bee Aw & Bor Tsong Teh & Gabriel Hoh Teck Ling & Pau Chung Leng & Weng Howe Chan & Mohd Hamdan Ahmad, 2021. "The COVID-19 Pandemic Situation in Malaysia: Lessons Learned from the Perspective of Population Density," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(12), pages 1-21, June.
    2. M. Reza Shirazi & Ramin Keivani, 2019. "The triad of social sustainability: Defining and measuring social sustainability of urban neighbourhoods," Urban Research & Practice, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 12(4), pages 448-471, October.
    3. Marc Marí-Dell’Olmo & Mercè Gotsens & M Isabel Pasarín & Maica Rodríguez-Sanz & Lucía Artazcoz & Patricia Garcia de Olalla & Cristina Rius & Carme Borrell, 2021. "Socioeconomic Inequalities in COVID-19 in a European Urban Area: Two Waves, Two Patterns," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(3), pages 1-12, January.
    4. Meike Wolf, 2016. "Rethinking Urban Epidemiology: Natures, Networks and Materialities," International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 40(5), pages 958-982, September.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Iqbal Hamiduddin & Daniel Fitzpatrick & Rebekah Plueckhahn & Uurtsaikh Sangi & Enkhjin Batjargal & Erdenetsogt Sumiyasuren, 2021. "Social Sustainability and Ulaanbaatar’s ‘Ger Districts’: Access and Mobility Issues and Opportunities," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(20), pages 1-16, October.
    2. Michele Marra & Elena Strippoli & Nicolás Zengarini & Giuseppe Costa, 2022. "Inequalities in the Health Impact of the First Wave of the COVID-19 Pandemic in Piedmont Region, Italy," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(22), pages 1-17, November.
    3. Christoph Lambio & Tillman Schmitz & Richard Elson & Jeffrey Butler & Alexandra Roth & Silke Feller & Nicolai Savaskan & Tobia Lakes, 2023. "Exploring the Spatial Relative Risk of COVID-19 in Berlin-Neukölln," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(10), pages 1-22, May.
    4. Andrés Gómez-Lobo & Mauro Gutiérrez & Sandro Huamaní & Diego Marino & Tomás Serebrisky & Ben Solís, 2024. "Access to water and COVID-19: a regression discontinuity analysis for the peri-urban areas of metropolitan Lima, Peru," Water International, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 49(1), pages 52-79, January.
    5. Matthew Gandy, 2023. "Zoonotic urbanisation: multispecies urbanism and the rescaling of urban epidemiology," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 60(13), pages 2529-2549, October.
    6. Chich-Ping Hu, 2022. "The COVID-19 Epidemic Spreading Effects," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(15), pages 1-11, August.
    7. Isabel Aguilar-Palacio & Lina Maldonado & Sara Malo & Raquel Sánchez-Recio & Iván Marcos-Campos & Rosa Magallón-Botaya & Mª José Rabanaque, 2021. "COVID-19 Inequalities: Individual and Area Socioeconomic Factors (Aragón, Spain)," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(12), pages 1-15, June.
    8. Matthew Gandy, 2022. "THE ZOONOTIC CITY: Urban Political Ecology and the Pandemic Imaginary," International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 46(2), pages 202-219, March.
    9. Nida Rehman & Aparna Parikh & Zachary Lamb & Shruti Syal & D. Asher Ghertner & SiddhaRth Menon & Nausheen Anwar & Hira Nabi & Waqas Butt & Malini Ranganathan & Krithika Srinivasan & Harshavardhan Bhat, 2023. "SOUTH ASIAN URBAN CLIMATES: Towards Pluralistic Narratives and Expanded Lexicons," International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 47(4), pages 667-687, July.
    10. Elizabeth Giron Cima & Miguel Angel Uribe Opazo & Marcos Roberto Bombacini & Weimar Freire da Rocha Junior & Luciana Pagliosa Carvalho Guedes, 2022. "Spatial Analysis: A Socioeconomic View on the Incidence of the New Coronavirus in Paraná-Brazil," Stats, MDPI, vol. 5(4), pages 1-15, October.
    11. Nuur Hafizah Md Iderus & Sarbhan Singh Lakha Singh & Sumarni Mohd Ghazali & Cheong Yoon Ling & Tan Cia Vei & Ahmed Syahmi Syafiq Md Zamri & Nadhar Ahmad Jaafar & Qistina Ruslan & Nur Huda Ahmad Jaghfa, 2022. "Correlation between Population Density and COVID-19 Cases during the Third Wave in Malaysia: Effect of the Delta Variant," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(12), pages 1-17, June.
    12. Jian Feng & Huali Hou, 2023. "Review of Research on Urban Social Space and Sustainable Development," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(22), pages 1-26, November.
    13. Paolo Contiero & Alessandro Borgini & Martina Bertoldi & Anna Abita & Giuseppe Cuffari & Paola Tomao & Maria Concetta D’Ovidio & Stefano Reale & Silvia Scibetta & Giovanna Tagliabue & Roberto Boffi & , 2022. "An Epidemiological Study to Investigate Links between Atmospheric Pollution from Farming and SARS-CoV-2 Mortality," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(8), pages 1-12, April.
    14. Lisa Wälitalo & Merlina Missimer, 2022. "The Organization of Social Sustainability Work in Swedish Eco-Municipalities," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(5), pages 1-24, February.
    15. Sultana Razia & Siti Hajar Abu Bakar Ah, 2024. "The hidden story of megacities: revealing social sustainability status through residents’ satisfaction in Dhaka city, Bangladesh," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 26(9), pages 24381-24413, September.
    16. Hung-Ying Chen & Colin McFarlane & Priyam Tripathy, 2024. "Density and pandemic urbanism: Exposure and networked density in Manila and Taipei," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 61(8), pages 1526-1544, June.
    17. Renata Činčikaitė & Ieva Meidute-Kavaliauskiene, 2021. "Assessment of Social Environment Competitiveness in Terms of Security in the Baltic Capitals," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(12), pages 1-19, June.
    18. Willem R. Boterman, 2020. "Urban‐Rural Polarisation in Times of the Corona Outbreak? The Early Demographic and Geographic Patterns of the SARS‐CoV‐2 Epidemic in the Netherlands," Tijdschrift voor Economische en Sociale Geografie, Royal Dutch Geographical Society KNAG, vol. 111(3), pages 513-529, July.
    19. Anders Blok, 2020. "Urban green gentrification in an unequal world of climate change," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 57(14), pages 2803-2816, November.
    20. Yu Gong, 2023. "The impact of China’s financial policy on economic resilience during the pandemic period," Economic Change and Restructuring, Springer, vol. 56(4), pages 2493-2509, August.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:16:y:2024:i:8:p:3501-:d:1380511. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.