ABSTRACT
The global COVID pandemic has evidenced how essential territories are in general, and mobility in particular, dealing with the current crisis. In Chile, we have observed how multiple scales and diverse territorial relations and dimensions have had a crucial role in the spread of the virus. Current mobilities, or, more precisely, the ban on movement, unveiled the multiple inequalities faced by urban dwellers; while some were able to stay at home and manage distance working, many others had to continue moving around. The latter also live in conditions that make it impossible for them to do so, either because of their income-generating activities, overcrowded living conditions or remote distances to reach infrastructures and services, among others. Amid these conditions, many of the difficulties faced during months of confinement relate with unavoidable caring responsibilities. In the Chilean context of inadequate protection provided by authorities, urban dwellers had to undertake caring responsibilities both at the individual and community levels as weeks and months went by. Under lockdown, work and health issues became intertwined with domestic chores including caring activities of relatives, friends, and neighbours. The measures taken by government authorities were insufficient to actually take care of citizens, and generated an increase in illness numbers, hunger, decrease in income, and overall malaise, which led to the emergence of neighbourhood and community support groups to take care of the uncared-for population. This chapter tries to document how these care actions emerge as a possibility for rethinking our cities for the future and discusses how we can transit from cities focused on efficiency and productivity to cities that take care of its reproduction. Recognising territories as relational and valuing the multiple knowledges present in these relations highlights the importance of care not just as private matters to be solved individually, generally by women, but instead, as a collective concern linked by mobility practices.
