Networks of Care

Abstract

This graduation project explores how architecture can support informal care practices and foster social cohesion in urban neighborhoods. Set in Tarwewijk, Rotterdam, the project combines participatory research, feminist care ethics, and spatial analysis to understand how care manifests in public and semi-public spaces. Through interviews, observations, and mapping, the research identifies “care nodes”,  spatially defined places where informal care emerges. These findings were translated into a design proposal for a community-centered intervention, including a public square, a multifunctional building with a communal kitchen, and inclusive housing. The design emphasizes accessibility, interaction, and flexibility to facilitate everyday encounters and support care as a relational and spatial practice. Rather than treating care as a fixed program, the project approaches it as an evolving and situated form of engagement, embedded in the rituals of daily life. This work contributes to architectural discourses on care, commons, and inclusion, and proposes a methodology for designing with, rather than for, communities.