ABSTRACT
This chapter provides critical reflections on the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on the landscape of inequality embodied within the contrasting urban conditions of Southeast Asian cities. Due to the limited reach and capacity of the government, the practices of informal urbanity assumed prominent roles as social safety nets in the pandemic responses in Indonesia and Thailand. This chapter discusses the cases of the kampung's self-organised responses and scaffolding of the formal urban sector in Jakarta and the ‘pantry to share happiness’ phenomenon in Thailand in their provisions of daily essential goods and services. In both cases, it is observed that social capital is the main transactional currency expended, linked, and facilitated through social media. The daylighting of informal urbanity's fundamental roles and practices offers a rare opportunity to envision the future of cities in this rapidly urbanising region, including a rethinking of the relationships between socio-economic classes, density, and access to public open space and between virtual and real public spaces.
