Care goes underground: Thinking through relations of care in the maintenance and repair of urban water infrastructures

Buser, Michael; Boyer, Kate

Abstract

This paper extends understanding of the underground city and the workings of the urban backstage through a critical analysis of water infrastructure maintenance and repair. It is based on analysis of ethnographic work undertaken with water maintenance operatives on-site at 11 water infrastructure repair jobs between 2015 and 2016 in Bristol, England. In this article we argue that water infrastructure maintenance and repair constitutes an important but largely unrecognised form of care work. We extend existing conceptual work by arguing that nonhumans can be vital participants within practices of care.

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Jun 11, 2020
• Online Publication Date: Jul 15, 2020
• Publication Date: Jan 1, 2021
• Deposit Date: Jul 8, 2020
• Publicly Available Date: Jul 16, 2020
• Journal: Cultural Geographies
• Print ISSN: 1474-4740
• Electronic ISSN: 1477-0881
• Publisher: SAGE Publications
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 28
• Issue: 1
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/1474474020942796
• Keywords: Bristol, care, infrastructure, more-than-human, water
• Public URL: https://uwe-repository.worktribe.com/output/6184156
• Publisher URL: https://uk.sagepub.com/en-gb/eur/journal/cultural-geographies