Spaces of Urban Cultures of Homeless Care: The Austerity‐Driven Closure of an Institutional Facility

Abstract

This article draws on institutional ethnography to examine the austerity‐driven closure of a homeless care facility in Cologne, Germany. It expands debates on public urban cultures of care by highlighting the significance of spatially embedded institutional loops and their impact on malfunctioning care spaces from a multi‐level perspective. The article demonstrates that spatial loops and classifications within the framework of austerity politics undergo a transformation and directly affect spaces and cultures of homeless care. At the macro and meso levels, institutional actors (municipal administration, property committees, the head of the facility, and social workers) are engaged in negotiations over the acceptance and rejection of spatial responsibility. At the same time, at the micro level, homeless men themselves are required to navigate altered loops within various spaces of care, encountering highly paradoxical paternalistic cultures of care. The specific spatial context - shaped by political agendas, institutional structures, and the interplay of various spaces of care - is crucial for better understanding the dynamics of public urban cultures of care for the homeless and other marginalized communities.