Webs of Care: Qualitative GIS Research on Aging, Mobility, and Care Relations in Singapore

The connections between time and space have been studied considerably in quantitative and qualitative research on the geographies of care; however, researchers tend to prioritize one approach over the other. Our article integrates analyses of activity spaces and space–time paths with conceptualizations of care developed in qualitative studies to deepen understanding of the spatiotemporal care routines of older adults in Singapore. Using qualitative geographic information systems (QualiGIS), we develop a comparative frame to understand the differential sociopolitical logics that shape the care routines of older adults who are Singapore citizens and nonmigrants vis-à-vis temporary migrants from the People’s Republic of China. Building on recent writing about care assemblages, we conceptualize webs of care as the interlinked chains, in and through which individuals—in this case, older adults—exercise agency to give and receive care in the context of political, institutional, and social structures. Our article shows how the relational thinking of assemblage theory can inform geographic information systems analyses of activity space and space–time paths. We advance research on care assemblages by identifying in actual time–space how various resources within care assemblages (or the lack of) can diminish or enhance the capacity and resilience of older adults to give and receive care.