Modulating Access: Contributions From Latin America to the Study of Mobility and Care in the Urban Periphery

Abstract

ABSTRACT This article examines theoretical and methodological innovations from Latin America in the study of urban mobility, exploring the relationship between access and care as experienced by domestic workers living in mass social housing projects on the outskirts of Mexico City. It proposes the modulation of barriers to access as a new analytical tool to capture the dynamic nature of the limitations these women face in accessing the city. Barriers to access are not fixed but vary over time and interact in ways which may amplify or mitigate their impact. They permeate urban space, varying in frequency and modulated by co‐presence, response and chain effects. These interactions have significant implications for care practices, leading, for example, to the adoption of technologically mediated strategies for providing care at a distance. I highlight the relational nature of urban inequalities, demonstrating how the analysis of mobility and care requires theoretical frameworks attuned to the Latin American context.