Caring cities strategies for feminist socialization

dossier

Rosa-Luxemburg-Stiftung: Sorgende Städte - Strategien für feministisches Vergesellschaften “The concept of “Caring Cities” creates a way out of the everyday care crisis: everyone’s (care) needs are negotiated democratically and covered through public or community-oriented offerings. A feminist-socialist local policy develops concrete projects that enable the conversion to take place. It's about feminist socialization as “revolutionary realpolitik”. (…) The concept was developed in the context of Spanish municipalism. It is no coincidence that the idea comes from movements that initially use residential areas as a field of political action, because concern also takes place in the local area. Of course, similar approaches can also be developed for rural areas. At the same time there is oneinternational networking of municipalist movements . Because one thing is clear: What is reflected locally as a crisis in everyday life often has transnational dimensions… “multilingualRosa-Luxemburg-Stiftung topic page externer Link and more about it:

International conference from September 25th to 27th. in Bochum: Feminist socialization – Give it all your life!
The International Conference 'Feminist Futures II: Socializing Feministly - Bring on the Whole Life!', from September 25th to 27th. at the RUB, would like to connect the topics of feminism and socialization. See information even on several pages:
Of the freedom to be there for each other. Caring cities: What is needed so that people can care for children, the sick and the elderly without stress
“…The example described is fictitious. However, caring cities are no longer just a utopia. In fact, there are already initial steps in this direction in many cities. In order for the personal needs and experiences of people like Anna to be met, structural conditions are needed that make this possible. Specifically: The socialization of care infrastructures is necessary for needs-oriented public services. What does that mean? It means that infrastructures such as childcare or elderly care are not private, but public property and are therefore neither subject to permanent austerity nor the logic of profit - accordingly, the work there is well compensated. This means more than expanding currently existing social systems. In Anna's city, these infrastructures are also developed and operated democratically through the participation of local people. Socialization also means the common disposition of people over the common goods of life.
But the socialization of social infrastructure also has a third aspect: namely the deprivatization of care work, which often takes place in the isolation of private households and is still predominantly carried out by women. Even with well-equipped public infrastructures, large parts of care work are still carried out in families, shared apartments or other social structures - and that's a good thing. Because when she is relieved of the pressure she is under today, caring for each other can be a beautiful thing.
It is often feared that caring for ourselves and our loved ones will have to be transferred to professional institutions. That's not what is meant. But it is important that social responsibility is taken on, i.e. infrastructures are created that extend into the home, as is the case with Anna, who knows that her father is in good hands. It's about offers that relieve the burden on those who are worried and cared for and embed them with their individual needs and life models in a social network. (…)
In fact, their story has long since become more than just a utopia, but rather a partially lived reality in many places around the world. It is worth taking a look at a specific project from Barcelona - the "super blocks" that the Barcelona en Comú movement party developed in the city under the feminist mayor Ada Colau (2015-2023). Initially it was about traffic-calmed zones that pursued climate policy goals and at the same time created public space so that neighbors could stay and meet there without stress.
The “super blocks” of Barcelona
In a next step, these were further developed into “care super blocks”: In such an urban area, in which around 30,000 people live and which can be crossed on foot in a few minutes, an outpatient care service commissioned by the city was set up, in which groups of twelve specialists are responsible for up to 50 people in need of care within this area. Short distances and small reference groups not only mean a reduction in stress for the employees, but also a closer and more personal relationship with those being cared for and their relatives, which relieves the latter and leads them out of widespread isolation.
In a further step, broader care needs were taken into account and each block was supplemented by a neighborhood care system (called “Vila Veïna”). Based on a needs assessment, a specific program was developed for the concerns in this area - from sports courses for caring relatives to self-organized child care or neighborhood kitchens. The coordinators employed by the municipality keep an overview, offer advice and information and support the further development of the individual elements of the program. In this way, tailor-made offers and spaces for self-organized activities can be created in which it is also possible to try out new - non-family-centered - care practices.
Even the impressive care centers in Mexico City or Bogota are not yet complete socialization. But they are entry-level projects in a gradual restructuring - because fundamental social change will not happen overnight. However, the idea of the Caring City gives us the opportunity to plan our projects in such a way that we can move closer to this goal step by step. It's about how we can achieve urgently needed improvements in people's everyday lives in the here and now, which not only alleviate symptoms, but also change the causes…”Article by Barbara Fried and Alex Wischnewski from January 1st, 2026 in ND online , see also:
Feminist Urban Planning: The Utopian “Care Cities” of Latin America
“Several Latin American metropolises are taking a pioneering role in the fair distribution of work
[Projects like the so-called "Utopias" in Mexico City - public institutions in which people who do care work are cared for themselves - sound like feminist science fiction in your description. Are these places really that utopian?]
Eugenia Testoni: If our descriptions create a utopian image, it is because of what the projects offer. In one district of Mexico City there are 14 "Utopias", each with its own special features, such as butterfly gardens, dinosaur parks or ice rinks. They are freely accessible, especially for marginalized people, and are funded by the state. That seems very special to us. Even if the meritocratic idea remains dominant in the country, these projects break with the idea of meritocracy. That's why the name "Utopia" fits so well.
[To what extent do »Utopias« break with this? So, what exactly is a feminist urban policy?]
Testoni: Feminist politics aims to democratize and expand the possibilities of citizenship. In city politics she wants to redistribute unpaid care work and the responsibility for it. She questions whether the state recognizes that care is a basic need and that it is primarily women who carry out this activity. Is it clear that this leads to inequalities between genders, between women who have or do not have money, and between white women and indigenous women? Is the state assuming its responsibility? Feminism has been the movement that has strengthened democracy in recent years. (…)
Testoni: In Chile, the progressive mayor has now lost the election against a politician from a right-wing party. He stopped the care project immediately. It hadn't been around for long, so people hadn't yet identified with it. That would be the way to establish the measures in the longer term. In the future, people should not only use them, but also participate in decision-making and organize themselves. In this way, the community should support and defend the measures if someone wants to abolish them.
Zubcov: These projects also need a lot of support and encouragement from the local population in order to secure their financing. Many receive public money, even if they are not exclusively financed by it.
[Do other projects actually have such a big impact that the population would defend them against a possible backlash?]
Zubcov: Well, we're talking about three different countries here, and the impact evaluation is ongoing, so it's hard to say.
Testoni: There hasn't been a change of government in Colombia and Mexico yet, so it hasn't been tested yet. In Bogotá alone, more than four million cases were cared for from 2021 to 2024. That's a lot and certainly has an impact and changes society, even if we can't measure it yet.
[You write that such concepts do not work at the state level but rather on a smaller scale. Why?]
Zubcov: For policies to work, they need to be adapted to the place they are designed for. Geography, rural or urban areas and the needs there. To achieve this, the local society must be involved. This starts in smaller dimensions, such as districts. For this reason, none of the “Utopias” is exactly like the other. For example, the one located in the least marginalized area of the district does not require a public laundry facility, unlike the other centers.
Testoni: It's less a problem of size than of taking different aspects into account. This is how you do feminist politics, by working with the local population…”Interview by Sarah Yolanda Koss from December 24th, 2025 in ND online unfortunately without information about the participants from Mexico, Colombia and Chile

Basic information:

Fearless Cities
Ciudades Sin Miedo
Ciudad Futura in Rosario, Argentina
“Caring cities” in the context of the care debate.Article by Henrik Lebuhn from November 3, 2025 on theorieblog.de
Worrying cities.Article by Tania Napravnik in the magazine Frauensolidarität
theDocumentation of the conference in Bremen in January 2023 “Caring Cities: Municipal Strategies for Feminist Socialization” with some videos
Dossier “Caring Cities” the Rosa Luxemburg Foundation

The postCaring Cities – Strategies for Feminist Socializationappeared firstLabourNet Germany.