Our research on the impact of COVID-19 on cities and gentrification in two neighbourhoods in Central Lima was made possible by a Seed Grant from the Centre for Urban Studies at the University of Amsterdam (UvA). Initially, our focus was on exploring the patterns of capital accumulation through housing and urban space generated during the pandemic. However, during our research in Lima, we discovered that high-rise construction had harsher effects on residents of low-density housing due to confinement policies imposed to control the spread of the virus.