Research questions and methods
Main research Question: How has COVID19 affected accessibility and social-spatial inclusion of marginalized groups and how can their resilience be supported or improved through equitable accessibility? | ||||
Research Objective | Explanation | Sub-Research Question | Proposed research method | |
1 | To analyse the criticality of second and third order impacts due to disruptions of the functionality of infrastructure and infrastructure services on the livelihoods of marginalized groups | This objective is about understanding disruptions and its impact on various levels of economy and society (macroscopic). The approach is system driven and starts from the point of view of operators/govt. | What are the indirect effects of COVID19 on the livelihoods of the marginalized groups due to disruptions of infrastructure and services? | Criticality Assessment |
2 | To explore the impact of COVID19 pandemic on the livelihoods, mobility, and accessibility of marginalized groups in cities. | This objective is about understanding the impact of these disruptions on household level (microscopic). The approach is people driven, the marginal population | What are the direct effects of COVID19 on the livelihood and mobility of marginalized groups? | Mobility Biographies |
3 | To understand the changing roles of virtual versus physical access for urban marginalized groups in pandemic times. | This objective is about understanding the opportunities or challenges that have resulted from the optimization of internet usage and the resultant impact on the accessibility of marginalized groups | How has COVID19 changed the livelihoods and mobility of marginalized groups? What accessibility opportunities and challenges have resulted from COVID19 among marginalized urban dwellers in terms of physical access as well as virtual access? | Accessibility Mapping |
4 | To structure the impacts of COVID19 along livelihood assets and to recommend measures and policy recommendations in terms of equitable accessibility that support and improve the resilience of marginalized groups. | This objective mobilizes the livelihood framework to structure the impacts of COVID19 along livelihood assets and to identify coping strategies in order to recommend policies to support marginalised groups and enhance their resilience. | How can the resilience of marginalized groups be supported and improved through equitable accessibility including virtual access? | Livelihood Framework |
Project duration: April 2022 to March 2025
We are using various methods to achieve these goals.
Criticality assessment is a qualitative method that examines the indirect effects of the pandemic on marginalized groups - for example, the indirect effects of restricted mobility or the lockdown on individual livelihoods.
Mobility biography is a quantitative method for examining the mobility patterns of households within the three periods of the pandemic.
Accessibility Mapping uses the data obtained from the mobility biographies to map the temporal-spatial paths of household members and the changes in their areas of activity, observing the impact of digital connectivity on activities carried out in the three periods.
Livelihood Framework analyzes the impact of the pandemic on marginalized households by evaluating the data from the mobility biographies and supplementing it with a focus group discussion in each of the case study cities to identify the changes in livelihoods.
The research uses these methods to explain the diversity of the pandemic's impact on the livelihoods, mobility and access of different marginalized groups in the case study cities. Using the three cities, ICOLMA makes comparisons, not to propose a best case, but to learn from the different cases in their context and look for a wide range of variations that illuminate each city's coping mechanisms given the context and pandemic realities. The research also aims to gain new insights into the post-pandemic coping mechanisms of these cities.