DHUM 27A62 - Politics of Care in the City: Vulnerability, Relationality, and Urban Space

This course examines the political life of cities through the lens of care, vulnerability, and relationality. It asks: What does it mean for a city to care? Who is cared for, and who is neglected or excluded? How are power, infrastructure, and identity entangled in the everyday experiences of urban life? Drawing on urban geography, feminist philosophy, political theory, and postcolonial studies, this course offers a critical framework to understand how cities are not neutral containers of human life, but also affective and relational spaces. Students will engage with contemporary case studies from cities around the world, and will be asked to apply theoretical and empirical insights to imagine what a “caring city” might look like.

We begin with foundational theoretical approaches to the ethics and politics of care, considering care not only as a moral obligation or private responsibility, but as a fundamental organizing principle for political life. We will then turn to the concept of vulnerability—how it is produced, distributed, and politicized—and how relational interdependence challenges dominant notions of autonomy and citizenship. We analyze how urban infrastructures can either support or marginalize those who are structurally vulnerable. Particular attention is given to how bodies navigate and inhabit space differently, and how cities can be reimagined through inclusive and caring policies and practices.