Research on the role of community action during COVID-19 to date has suggested that well-established ‘community-led infrastructure’ (CLI) – that is, networks of residents, community leadership, trust, relationships with agencies, and access to money – can make for an effective community response to COVID-19. This briefing situates CLI in a gathering conversation involving different but overlapping conceptions of infrastructure, alongside other concepts such as community capital and the social fabric. Two aspects of CLI – its focus and how it is controlled – are highlighted, which appear to be otherwise underplayed in current debates and alternative understandings of infrastructure.
Further briefings, which will share early findings and learn from others exploring similar questions, will be published through 2020 and 2021.
