Recognising the Time—Space Dimensions of Care: Caringscapes and Carescapes

This paper is concerned with the geographical analysis of care relationships. It argues that concern with space needs to be augmented by a more explicit attention to the importance of time to caring. The paper discusses the importance of time to social relationships of care, and reviews existing attempts to integrate time with space in geographical research. The paper reflects on and extends the ‘caringscapes/carescapes’ framework for research on informal care proposed in a recent book and earlier publications by myself and colleagues. It suggests that exploring the time—space links between the processes producing policies and services and those affecting individual behaviours is a promising avenue for future research.