The issues of care and inequality are becoming increasingly important on the global agendas. Within this context, the United Cities and Local Governments (UCLG) has launched the GOLD VII Multimedia Journal on Economies of Equality and Care.
Members of the GOLD VII Strategic Coalition met last month to share insights and determined the contents of the common work, including Cities Alliance, Fixed. Africa, Habitat International Coalition, IIED, PSI, the Guangzhou Institute for Urban Innovation, the Global Platform for the Right to the City, and the Global Alliance for Care. They emphasized that care should be a transformative principle shaping the development of future cities and discussed how care connects with critical areas like health, public services, gender equality, urban planning, time policies, social cohesion and resilience.
Credits: UCLG
Key takeaways:
- Local governments can play a crucial role in redefining care systems. They can reduce urban and territorial inequalities by prioritizing care in policy-making.
- Care is a public value rather than a private burden. By providing inclusive and accessible public services, local and regional governments can effectively recognize, redistribute, and support paid and unpaid care work.
- Transforming care systems requires “defeminizing”, democratizing, and “decommodifying” care. This approach would be able to challenge structural inequalities and foster societies that prioritize well-being over profit.
The GOLD VII Multimedia Journal is a collaborative effort that documents and promotes care-centered approaches. UCLG invites interested participants to join the upcoming Future envisioning exercise on infrastructures of care, scheduled for 27 May 2025.
For more information or to get involved in the GOLD VII process, please contact gold(at)uclg.org