Who cares for what? Care networks and new urban activisms in Madrid: Restating solidarity

Abstract

The current COVID-19 pandemic has sparked a wave of mobilizations in Madrid that focus on providing care at the neighbourhood level. Since early March 2020, informal and horizontal care networks have provided food to thousands of people in several neighbourhoods of the Spanish capital on a weekly basis. In this paper we analyze the conceptualization of care in relation to the Spanish family-centred welfare state in a context of crisis while also examining how civil society provides care through social innovation and new forms of urban activism. We will look at how some aspects of care have reignited the commons in order to respond to a neoliberal city in crisis and assess the political emphasis on the 'City of Care' strategy developed by the previous New Municipalist local government between 2015 and 2019. In doing so, we determine the extent to which Care Networks and neighbourhood associations in Madrid are, from a social innovation point of view, the outcome of new municipalism policies. Finally, we analyze the role of participative local policies and community action in providing care during the current COVID-19 crisis.