How Oxford is building social capital to combat COVID-19
Over the course of the next few months, Oxford Urbanists will be publishing dispatches from around the world on what feels like an unprecedented era in modern history, both for cities and the world, during — and perhaps after — the COVID-19 pandemic. We want to know how cities are responding; what lessons we can learn for the future; and how we think cities might change indefinitely.
Case Study: Oxford, UK
Social capital has been on my mind a lot these last few weeks.
There are decades of definitions for social capital, but let us stick with Francis Fukuyama’s: the trust and cooperation that we build with our communities and institutions, which allows us to obtain resources and opportunities such as education, employment, and leisure. In other words: who we know and what we have access to as a result are essential ingredients for social sustainability. (Not to mention happiness, too.) And in times of crisis, social capital can mean survival: there is a wealth of research, for example, on the tight-knit communities that persevered through crises like Hurricane Katrina or the Chicago heat waves, compared to those that were socially, but not physically, distant from one another. In some instances, pre-existing levels of community cohesion have been better indicators of mortality rates than income.
What’s so alarming is that COVID-19, at its core, is inherently anti-social. Social distancing is a policy this time, not a consequence; it forces us to quite literally stay away from one another. Those most vulnerable to the disease are actually being told to shutter indoors. And ‘community’ has escaped online. Right now, social capital seems more important than ever.
In Oxford, we are entering the second week of lockdown here. The restaurants and pubs have emptied out; the city centre is nearly deserted; lines for grocers have two-meter gaps; and scores of students have left, leaving the streets starkly quiet for in between term time. The state-sanctioned “solitary exercise” each day has brought people to parks, which seem like the only pockets that still have pulses of life as it once was. The warming temperatures and spring blossom are now something we largely enjoy from our window sills.
But emerging from this societal disruption has been a notable sense of togetherness amongst permanent residents, frontline workers, students or faculty (both near and far), and every other actor that drives the life and economy of this city. Small groups, largely on social media, have fostered a model and space for building social capital while indoors — one that could (and should) be replicated in urban neighborhoods everywhere, as infection and death tolls rise. It involves equal doses of knowledge-sharing and community participation.
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We’ll focus on three key pillars:
Connecting residents in need.
An integral part of social capital is connecting not only people of similar backgrounds (your neighbors; your fellow classmates; your family and friends), but also, those of dissimilar backgrounds, be it socioeconomic, ethnic, or religious (people who don’t look or live like you).
One Facebook group, in particular, has been at the forefront of this community building: Oxford Covid-19 Mutual Aid. (The name itself has echoes of social capital thought.) As of this week, the group has over 4,500 members. Since it started, administrators have pinned a Google Form where people fill out the skills they have, or help that they’re looking for; it then links those parties together. Nearly every day, the creators put out calls for pharmacy runs, daily check-ins, and other tasks to aid Oxford’s most vulnerable. A recent post asked if anyone could briefly chat with a homeless woman, who simply wanted to speak with someone.
Oxford Hub — a social enterprise founded by students in 2007 that has since expanded across the south of England, and to all Oxford residents — has also been a crucial player. Their initiative ‘Oxford Together’ asks for your postcode, and then passes along contact information for your ‘local street champion.’ You can sign up to do local dog-walking; carry out deliveries to aging or disabled neighbors; or make phone calls to those in self-isolation. And although the community-building is smaller in scale, physically disconnected students and residents (of which I am personally privy to) are creating new virtual bonds through live concerts, yoga lessons, conversation groups, and other forms of interaction online.
Bolstering small businesses.
Small businesses such as eateries, off-license shops, or markets are notable hubs of social activity. It’s where we bump into our neighbors; where we socialize with our friends; and where we can put a name to a face of someone directly employed in our communities.
In the COVID-19 crisis, that significance has gained new meaning. Those allowed to stay open have dawned the moniker ‘essential services,’ which is always something they were — but now are officially recognized as such. And with face-to-face retail furloughed until further notice, small businesses may ultimately bear the economic brunt of COVID-19’s impending fallout.
In order to help out those in Oxford, Facebook and WhatsApp groups are constantly sharing updates and spreadsheets with detailed lists of independent grocers still open, as well as restaurants and pubs doing take-away or delivery. The sheets are divided by neighborhood, and anyone can edit them. It aids the community-owned spaces that have been forced to adapt; for example, my local pub has joined Deliveroo (the delivery app) for the first time, and a longtime trader down the block is now selling vegetable and fruit boxes three days a week. Beyond Oxford, whether or not the diversification of services — and perhaps newfound proclivity towards our local shops — become permanent fixtures after the pandemic remains to be seen.
Supporting those on the frontline.
If social capital promotes interaction between the different layers of communities, then there’s inevitably space for recognizing those who are arguably in defense of said communities.
Most of us have likely seen the outpouring of praise for the workers on the ‘frontline’ — which, in this case, means those who still offer some sort of physical touch — everywhere, from the balcony-fit symphony of applause for healthcare workers in Spain, the United Kingdom, and elsewhere, to this arising language around grocery store and delivery workers (‘lifeline,’ ‘keeping us alive,’ ‘unsung heroes’) keeping supply chains moving. And perhaps that recognition will garner structural change, with higher wages, improved labor protections, and the like — another post-COVID effect to monitor, of course.
But apart from gestures, which hold a different kind of social relevance, online groups are leveraging existing resources — networks; businesses; etc. — to support the institutions under siege during the pandemic. Oxford Covid-19 Mutual Aid coordinated deliveries from a local Nando’s to NHS workers, and has asked residents to donate their unused bus passes (as transport services are now mostly running for these workers anyway) to hospital employees. It’s not difficult to find photos of care packages that residents are crafting for those working at John Radcliffe Hospital, or announcements from businesses offering discounts to medical workers.
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As of this post’s publication, Oxfordshire has 121 confirmed cases of coronavirus, and current projections for the United Kingdom writ large see those numbers spiking in the coming days. What April and May will look like is unclear — not just here, of course, but worldwide. What is clear, however, is that creating the networks and pathways for strong social capital and community-building — on your block; in your neighborhood; and within your city — to fight COVID-19 must start now, wherever you may be reading this from. Especially as we brace for the apex.
John Surico is the Regional Correspondents Editor of Oxford Urbanists. He is a longtime journalist and researcher of urban affairs. Based in Oxford, he studies transport and city planning at The Bartlett, of University College London.