Urbanizing social reproduction: (Re)thinking the politics of care in capitalist urban development
Abstract
Feminist social reproduction scholarship has shown how reproductive labor is critical in understanding the evolving dynamics of global capitalism. However, more work is needed to explicate the spatial dimension of this relationship to understand the various modalities through which social reproduction is enrolled in capitalist city-making processes and how these modalities are contested. Drawing on observations from multiple sites ranging from cities in the US to Mexico, we offer three examples to highlight strategies capitalist urban development uses to make care work invisible and marginal: bantustanization, gentrification, and informalization. In light of these spatial strategies that co-opt social reproduction in capitalist accumulation projects, we aspire to rethink the work of care in urban development and the possibilities to decouple it from the drive for profits through cross-sectoral coalition building and solidarity.
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- Authors
- Miraftab, F., & Huq, E.
- Affiliations
- University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (US)
- Smith College (US)
- Corresponding author
- Miraftab, Faranak
- ORCID
- Huq, Efadul
- Venue
- Environment and Planning D: Society and Space
- Publisher
- SAGE Publications
- Published
- 2024-03-05
- Volume
- 42
- Issue
- 2
- Pages
- 234-253
- ISSN
- 0263-7758 (ISSN-L)
- 1472-3433
- OpenAlex
- W4392472198
- Cited by
- 21
- References
- 92
- Citations by year
- 2026: 9 · 2025: 10 · 2024: 2
- FWCI
- 21.37
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Environment and Planning D Society and Space (publishedVersion)
- Smith ScholarWorks (Smith College) (submittedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Urban Studies › Urban Planning and Governance
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Feminism, Gender, and Intersectionality
- Social Sciences › Economics, Econometrics and Finance › Finance › Housing, Finance, and Neoliberalism
- Keywords
- social reproduction, care work, feminist political economy, gentrification, informalization, politics of care, coalition building, solidarity, invisible work
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