Who Does Bogotá “Care” for? Care Blocks, Care Workers and the Sustainable Development Goals

Abstract

ABSTRACT This paper critically examines Bogotá's District Care System within the framework of urban social sustainability and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Focusing on the Care Blocks (Manzanas del Cuidado), it employs a mixed‐methods approach—legal analysis, interviews, testimonies, surveys, and InfoCuidado data—to explore the paradox of a policy that, while innovative and de‐familiarizing, simultaneously reproduces the feminization, precarity, and commodification of care. The DCS advances SDG 5 (gender equality) and SDG 11 (sustainable cities and communities), yet reinforces labor precariousness and feminization among Care Block personnel, disproportionately benefits unpaid caregivers, excluding low‐income and informal workers, especially paid domestic workers—a sector of over 14 million women across Latin America facing intersecting inequalities and double or triple work shifts. These contradictions hinder progress toward SDGs 5, 8, and 11. The study argues for expanding and restructuring Bogotá's care system to ensure fair labor integration, gender equity, and spatial justice.