Caracas, City of Aftermath. Caretaking Practices After Emigration and Collapse

Main Article Content

Stefan Gzyl

Abstract

This article examines the caretaking practices of vacant domestic spaces amid a migratory crisis and generalized collapse. Caracas is conceptualized as a ‘city of aftermath’, where the material residues of modernity are reconfigured in response to the logic of crisis and the needs of migrants, re-signifying spaces and extending their life beyond the conditions of their production. The text is centered on the figure of the caretaker. Based on interviews, site visits, and photography, the article examines the daily routines of Carlos, who looks after more than twenty apartments in Caracas. His work is entwined with migrants’ trajectories and local needs, generating new economies and support networks around the maintenance and adaptation of vacant spaces. In this way, caretaking practices offer clues for a reading of the city that transcends progress/decline oppositions and their respective imaginaries: the new and the ruin.

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How to Cite
Gzyl, S. (2024). Caracas, City of Aftermath. Caretaking Practices After Emigration and Collapse. Diseña, (24), Article.3. https://doi.org/10.7764/disena.24.Article.3
Section
Original Articles (part 1)
Author Biography

Stefan Gzyl, Technische Universiteit Delft

Ph.D. Candidate in the research group Borders & Territories at Delft University of Technology. Architect, graduated from the Faculty of Architecture and Urbanism of Universidad Central de Venezuela, with a Master in Architecture from the Graduate School of Design at Harvard University. He is an assistant professor at the Faculty of Architecture and Urbanism of Universidad Central de Venezuela, and co-director of Incursiones, a platform for public space and architecture. His work as a researcher focuses on analyzing how crises and conflicts shape contemporary spatial production, with particular emphasis on the Venezuelan collapse. Recent articles include ‘Managing Migrants’ Spaces After Emigration: Caracas, Departure City’ (Bitácora Urbano-Territorial, Vol. 33, Issue 2) and ‘Translating Practices: Cultural Interference between Europe and Venezuela in the Work of Five Architects’ (with R. Avella; OASE, Issue 115). His projects with Incursiones have been published in the catalog XII Bienal Iberoamericana de Arquitectura y Urbanismo (Fundación Arquia, 2023) and Citizen-Led Urbanism in Latin America. Superbook of Civic Actions for Transforming Cities (IDB, 2022).

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