How Libraries Fit into Caring Cities

A major theme in global discussions among local and regional governments in the past years has been ‘caring cities’. While it has major relevance for the place of social care policies, it also offers a framework for thinking much more broadly about how not just to design policies, but also towns and cities themselves.

Given the profile of the topic among actors in the local and regional government space, it is worth taking a look at what it means, and in particular what it means for libraries – how do libraries fit into caring cities?

A Layered Concept

Depending on who you read or listen to, the idea of caring cities will be described in different ways, often reflecting their own preoccupations. This does not mean that any approach is wrong, and indeed can be helping in trying to make sense of the idea within libraries.

One approach focuses most specifically on the importance of care workers – social workers and others – whose work is too often underappreciated, or contracted out to third-party providers whose priority is making a profit while doing the necessary to fulfil the terms of their agreement with local governments.

A broader approach – often coming from organisations and actors focused on gender equality – expands the focus to cover all people with caring responsibilities, typically unpaid. This underlines the value of this work – caring for children and older people for example, as well as for other basic goods – and the importance of making this as simple as possible.

Practically, this can influence how cities think about ensuring that those caring can easily access basic services (shops, water, culture, transport), in order to help them in these roles, to the benefit both of them and the people for whom they are caring.

Finally, there is also the broader approach that emphasises that cities should be built and run around people and their experience (rather than just focusing on specific issues, or only considering specific groups). This approach defines care as ‘our individual and common ability to provide the political, social, material and emotional conditions” for a more sustainable, connected, and caring world’.

This pushes us to think more generally about whether cities are really delivering for wellbeing and the fulfilment of rights. Narrower definitions of care are clearly part of this, but so too is ‘the physical, emotional, and social well-being of people in their everyday lives’.

This idea is close to ideas about the 15-minute city, as well as the logic of universal and multifunctional public services and universal design. It also shines a light on the need to think about intersectionality, recognising that people and their needs are more complex than any one single characteristic.

So where do libraries fit in?

Reading through the three ‘layers’ of thinking about caring cities above, it does not take much imagination to see the connection with the work of libraries.

In many cities and countries, the role of the library as a workplace for social workers is well-established, providing a space where they can engage with members of the community who most need their help.

Libraries also have a valuable role for those involved in care, from traditional roles in lending children’s books or accessible materials, to story-times, play spaces that children can use while carers take on other tasks, or activities focused on older persons allowing for a sharing of roles. Ensuring that libraries are accessible in all parts of towns and cities also contributes.

Finally, the logic of a public service that serves everyone, to achieve many different goals, is also a familiar one for libraries. We have long focused on building a service offer around what each individual needs, rather than imposing answers to questions that many simply aren’t asking. Crucially, through supporting access to and engagement with knowledge, we are helping people to find their own way, rather than telling them what to do.

This all gives libraries a strong starting point, but there is always more to do, both when thinking about what we do within our institutions, and to engage in wider discussions about caring cities.

While we should resist efforts to leave libraries to compensate for cuts to spending on social care without receiving greater support themselves, there are certainly opportunities to engage more closely with agencies and professionals in this space. Similarly, we should always be attentive to the needs of users who may have hidden caring responsibilities, and whose lives we can make easier – for example through opening at different times of day.

As for the broadest logic of care, this provides a useful framework for us to think about our own service design – are we maximising physical, emotional and social well-being? – and in thinking through how our services combine with those provided by others – could we be integrating services and support more effectively for all?

As underlined above, the logic of caring cities can both provide opportunities for libraries to highlight what they are already contributing, but also get involved in ongoing reflections on what effective universal local services could and should look like.