Care Blocks: Building Solidarity Through Public Care Infrastructure

Care Blocks: Building Solidarity Through Public Care InfrastructureSeason 2 Episode:. Demonstrates how care infrastructure creates unexpected social networks, guiding our vision of parks as sites where care is collectivized and caregivers find mutual support.Summary: Highlights Bogotá's "Care Blocks" and how public services foster support networks among women caregivers, challenging the privatization of labor.Connection: Features community kitchens, childcare areas, and tool libraries to transform care from an isolated domestic labor into a collective, visible practice.Key Takeaways: • Care infrastructure builds social capital and transforms domestic isolation into collective solidarity• Institutional support catalyzes recognition of care as valuable labor• Public spaces function as essential "third places" providing social connection and wellbeing• Pandemic exposed significant spatial inequalities in access to caring infrastructures• Mundane social interactions in public spaces serve as essential scaffolds for community life• Care infrastructure creates unanticipated social networks among caregiversKeywords: Care infrastructure, public space, pandemic, third places, Sydney, storying.Keywords: Care Blocks, Bogotá, SIDICU, care infrastructure, social capital, unremunerated care.Source: Care networks as unanticipated gains of local public policy, María José Álvarez-Rivadulla, Sebastián Orlando Espejo Fandiño, Friederike Fleischer, et al.Source: Public spaces as infrastructures of care: mundane doings of/in ordinary places, Miriam Williams, Justine Lloyd, Harriet Narwal, et al.The Feminist Park is a pioneering intersectional feminist urban initiative that reimagines public green space through the lived experiences of women, migrants, LGBTQI+ people, and racialised communities. Rooted in care ethics, anti-racism, and queer theory, the project challenges the androcentric design of cities by co-creating inclusive, safe, and ecologically regenerative parks. By combining rigorous scientific research with grassroots feminist praxis, the Feminist Park advocates for the right to the city for all bodies,particularly those historically excluded from public space. Learn more and join the movement at www.feminist-park.org.