Spaces of Social Capital across Pandemic Time: COVID-19 Responses in Ho Chi Minh City’s High-rise and Low-rise Neighborhoods

Abstract

Morphological distinctions between Ho Chi Minh City’s low-rise and high-rise residential neighborhoods make it possible to compare how residents in spatially different neighborhoods responded to the city’s strict lockdown measures during the COVID-19 pandemic. This article combines spatial analysis of COVID-19 cases with qualitative interviews conducted in different neighborhoods over the course of the pandemic to highlight observable patterns across the social responses. In the early days of the pandemic, residents in low-rise neighborhoods developed successful resilience strategies by drawing upon pre-existing relationships and forms of trust to overcome the lockdown’s shocks. Over time, however, residents in vertical high-rise communities developed even more successful strategies for managing the prolonged lockdown measures by relying on building managers and digital tools to help pool and share resources. The results show that the role of social capital in a crisis is not only impacted by spatial considerations but that it changes over time.