Learning from caregivers: Insights from everyday lives of single parents for the design of urban spaces

Abstract

Spaces and routes of social reproduction have traditionally received little consideration in city planning and design. At the same time, the needs of caregivers have been given little attention in urban studies, except the endeavor of feminist urban researchers. In my contribution I would like to address this gap by looking at the spatial/urban aspects of caregivers’ daily lives.

One group of caregivers that is particularly dependent on infrastructures in proximity to their homes and urban space that are designed towards care obligations, are single parents (or parents who are raising their children separately). Single parents face a variety of challenges, as they have to manage work (livelihood), household/reproduction work and childcare on their own and private support networks are not always sufficiently available. This makes them depend on functioning care infrastructures in proximity of their homes and institutional offers of advice and support.

Based on empirical data from my master’s thesis 2023 on single parents in the district of Berlin-Lichtenberg, I would like to shed light on the urban and social aspects of single parents’ everyday life. What are the spaces, routes, and people of caregivers’ everyday lives? How do single parents navigate through their everyday lives and the many demands placed on them. How do they manage all the requirements of livelihood, household/reproductive work, childcare and education, appointments, caring for the children and themselves? What organizational and emotional challenges do single parents face by that?

Following this analysis of the everyday life of single parents I would like to draw conclusions for the idea of a caring city (Sorgende Stadt), as it has lately been increasingly discussed (for example at the Vergesellschaftungskonferenz in Berlin and Sorgende Städte Konferenz in Bremen) and is already being tested elsewhere (as in Barcelona, Zaragoza or Santiago de Chile).