Espacio vivido (y limitado): Estudio mixto sobre espacio público, género y pandemia en Talca, Chile

Abstract

The context of the COVID-19 pandemic has limited access to and use of urban public spaces because of the confinement measures implemented to prevent contagion. However, this limitation was not homogeneous because it presented different characteristics between men and women. In this sense, this study seeks to identify the role of gender in the experiences of young people in urban public spaces in the city of Talca, Chile, during the COVID-19 pandemic. A mixed methodology was used to collect and analyze both quantitative and qualitative data from surveys and semi-structured interviews. The main results highlight the following: i) there were differences at the level of practices, that is, in the attendance and types of ac tivities carried out by young men and women; ii) these differences in practices are based on urban imaginaries that, in the case of young women, are characterized by feelings of fear; and iii) the context of COVID-19 made visible and intensified such imaginaries and certain practices of caution in urban public spaces. Thus, it is concluded that there are gender-differentiated urban spatial experiences revealed by the pandemic, which respond to sociocultural contexts and influence the way of (co)-living in a given space.