Shaping caring cities: A study of community-based mutual support networks in post-pandemic Madrid

Abstract

ABSTRACT This study examines the role of community-based mutual support networks in shaping caring cities. Taking four neighborhoods in Madrid as a case study, we investigate the dynamics, organization, and impact of these networks in addressing vulnerabilities and fostering resilience within the city. In Madrid, community support networks, herein also referred to as “care networks,” emerged as key actors in mitigating the impact of the COVID-19 crisis on vulnerable populations. We document how they establish relations with the existing social services to show that public-common partnerships may be a way to tackle future crises. Politicizing care at the level of the commons helps ensure better attention is paid to vulnerability, understood as both a human condition and a political issue that must be addressed collectively. Their repertory of action, part of a micro-local geopolitics of care which ought to be care-fully described, contributes to the development of a theory of urban care in the commons.