Caracas afterlives: The city after collapse and emigration
Abstract
The recent deterioration of living conditions in Venezuela has triggered an unprecedented migratory crisis. More than seven million Venezuelans have fled the country. While a continental refugee crisis and an emergent diaspora have received attention, the local impact of emigration remains unexplored. Locally, emigration manifests itself as an ever-growing and unique vacancy. In Caracas, the country’s capital and largest city, this vacancy is managed through emergent practices that revolve around the preservation and reinvention of left-behind spaces, involving (absent) migrants and creating new forms of transnational cooperation. This exploratory article describes emergent practices around the management of vacancy and their potential for urban transformation. As widespread collapse and emigration create radically new urban conditions, the notion of an “afterlife” of the city opens new horizons of possibility amid widespread collapse.
Caracas afterlives: The city after collapse and emigration
The recent deterioration of living conditions in Venezuela has triggered an unprecedented migratory crisis. More than seven million Venezuelans have fled the country. While a continental refugee crisis and an emergent diaspora have received attention, the local impact of emigration remains unexplored. Locally, emigration manifests itself as an ever-growing and unique vacancy. In Caracas, the country’s capital and largest city, this vacancy is managed through emergent practices that revolve around the preservation and reinvention of left-behind spaces, involving (absent) migrants and creating new forms of transnational cooperation. This exploratory article describes emergent practices around the management of vacancy and their potential for urban transformation. As widespread collapse and emigration create radically new urban conditions, the notion of an “afterlife” of the city opens new horizons of possibility amid widespread collapse.