The suburban ethics of care: Caring for shared spaces in suburban regeneration

Abstract

The future of suburbs is a debated issue. This paper discusses the questions of care during suburban regeneration in the Nordic context, with an emphasis on shared spaces. The empirical research was conducted in the suburban housing estate of Kontula, in Helsinki, Finland. Theoretically, the study is based on the geographies of care and responsibility together with the ethics of care that is interpreted from a spatial perspective. The questions addressed are how (or if) care for shared spaces manifests in suburban strategies, plans, and regeneration projects, and how these caring notions relate to the views of the suburban care-givers interviewed in the study. As a result, the concept of the suburban ethics of care is proposed to describe how suburbs and their changing environments can be approached in a caring manner. The discussion indicates how the suburban ethics of care is a normative, relational, processual, spatial, and political concept and practice.