Pandemic geographies of physical geography

Coen, S; Cook, S; Hayes, SJ

Abstract

Public health measures implemented to control COVID-19 (e.g., lock downs, social distancing) have
dramatically changed the geographies of recreational physical activity, closing off traditional exercise
places, and pushing people both inside homes and into outdoor spaces in new ways. This chapter
problematizes geographies of physical activity in the time of COVID-19 by critically considering the
implications of these changes for inequities in physical activity participation. We ask fundamentally
whether physical activity even matters in pandemic times, and for whom? First, taking a critical public
health perspective, we illustrate how exercise is being ‘weaponized’ against COVID-19 as a tool for the
neoliberalization of health that downloads responsibility for COVID-19 prevention and management to a
moral problem for individuals. Next, we consider early evidence about the effects of the pandemic on
physical activity, which paints a mixed picture while largely indicating a continuation of inequitable
trends. Finally, we demonstrate how a pandemic geography along an indoor (private)/outdoor (public)
binary not only intensifies existing inequities in physical activity but crystallizes how participation is
interconnected with wider social injustices.

Citation

Coen, S., Cook, S., & Hayes, S. (2021). Pandemic geographies of physical geography. In G. Andrews, V. Crooks, J. Pearce, & J. Messina (Eds.), COVID-19 and similar futures : pandemic geographies (165-172). Springer Publishing. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-70179-6_21

• Online Publication Date: Jun 20, 2021
• Publication Date: Jun 20, 2021
• Deposit Date: Mar 2, 2021
• Publicly Available Date: Jun 21, 2023
• Pages: 165-172
• Series Title: Global Perspectives on Health Geography
• Book Title: COVID-19 and similar futures : pandemic geographies
• ISBN: 9783030701789-(hardback);-9783030701796-(ebook)
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-70179-6_21
• Publisher URL: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-70179-6_21
• Related Public URLs: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-70179-6; https://www.springer.com/gp/book/9783030701789