Contagion and local fragilities in Bergamo and the Seriana Valley

This paper investigates how the housing and functional complexity of territory impacted the intensity of infection in Bergamo and especially in the Seriana Valley, where the first Covid-19 outbreak was recorded. The underlying assumption of our research is that living patterns in the current mobile and urbanized world lead to overcrowding and reticular contacts which facilitate viral spread. Digital mapping is used to demonstrate that in the province of Bergamo and, most notably, the Seriana Valley a set of factors exist which favor contagion, such as: population density caused by conurbation in the Lower Valley; strong school and work commuting; a dense industrial production network with national and international import–export links; a high number of elderly people and the substantial presence of Nursing and Residential Care Facility (RSAs).