Infrastructure of Care in Borderlands

The city of La Línea de la Concepción, located at the crossroads of Spain and the

overseas British territory of Gibraltar, represents a complex landscape shaped by

cross-border flows between the two countries and within the larger context of the

Bay and Strait of Gibraltar. Like many other borderlands globally, La Línea is subject

to the effects of differentiated socio-economic, political, and cultural dynamics

across the border, which are spatialized into a series of specific urban conditions.

Due to the unbalanced economy across the border, the city is characterized by

the multiplication of internal boundaries and the emergence of social exclusion

patterns. This phenomenon results in a fragmented and vulnerable urban landscape

with disparate access to opportunities and resources. The thesis aims to unravel

such challenges by proposing a trans-scalar strategy and an urban design toolkit,

providing new infrastructures of care.

In the first part, the thesis proposes an understanding of socio-spatial fragmentation

inherent in borderlands by investigating global border studies. The study encourages

perceiving borderlands as laboratories of opportunities, exploring care-centric

urban design alternatives to devise tools for experimentation in urban borderlands.

The second part examines the case of La Línea by addressing its geographical,

historical, morphological, and socio-spatial conditions. Through cartographic

and spatial analysis, press media, and interviews, the thesis aims to highlight the

vulnerabilities and the sense of belonging the city provides its inhabitants. This

ambivalence is examined in two dimensions: fragmented access to opportunities,

the manifestation of urban voids and fragments arising from top-down planning

approaches, and unregulated growth in neglected peripheries.

The third section outlines the Infrastructures of Care strategy and toolbox at two

scales. On the city scale, a schematic framework is proposed, positioning care

infrastructures as catalysts to stitch the urban fabric. The thesis further delves into

a specific urban transect at the intersection of the urban core and the unregulated

periphery on the city’s northern edge. Here, a sequence of urban voids is identified

as an experimental field to test the main strategy and propose a system of local

care infrastructures. By envisioning a future scenario at the neighborhood scale,

infrastructures of care are proposed to facilitate training, create housing and

educational opportunities, provide leisure and cultural exchange occasions, and

establish dialogues across the city and its diverse populations.

The infrastructures of care aim to establish communication between the city and its

inhabitants through an ecological approach, wherein the city nurtures its inhabitants,

and the individuals, in turn, contribute to the city’s well-being, fostering a sense of

belonging in urban borderlands.