LUCA School of Arts
On September 23, 2025, Response_Able Futures hosted its inaugural symposium, titled ‘Care Context: What is Care?’ The question seemed simple at first glance, yet the day revealed care to be elusive, complex, and deeply relational. It is at once intimate and systemic, personal and political, immediate and long-term.
The symposium explored how care is shaped across different scales: provincial, Flemish, and European. What emerged was not a single definition, but a layered understanding of care as a practice, a network, and a vision for the future.
Provincial Care: Networks and Fragility
At the provincial level, Nele Van Meer (White-Yellow Cross Limburg) and Anouk Tuinstra (CELL — Centrum Eerste Lijn Limburg) gave us a glimpse into what care feels like on the ground in Limburg. CELL brings together care practice, research, and innovation, connecting local care zones, knowledge institutions, and regional networks to strengthen the support available to communities. White-Yellow Cross Limburg makes this network tangible through home nursing, continuity teams, and neighbourhood-based care, ensuring that support reaches people where they live. Care here is lived through everyday encounters, the small decisions and adjustments that make a difference in people’s daily lives.
Van Meer reminded us of the system’s fragility: “There is more demand for care and fewer people who care.” The work of CELL and White-Yellow Cross Limburg shows both the challenges and possibilities of care at this scale. By weaving together practice, knowledge, and innovation, they help sustain relationships, bridge gaps, and support those who give care, keeping the networks alive and meaningful for the people who rely on them every day.
Flemish Care: Systems in Transition
At the Flemish level, Candice Dewindt (Flemish Care Ambassador) made it real for us. She painted a tangible picture of what care looks like in the region and where the gaps exist. Her reflections highlighted not only the structures of care, but the lived experience: which services are stretched, which roles are under-supported, and which populations risk being overlooked.
She emphasised that care is not only for those who receive it but also for those who provide it. Retaining care workers requires opportunities for learning, recognition, and sustainable practices. Dewindt highlighted cultural shifts and the need for new models in elderly care where roles are flexible and responsibilities are shared. She reminded us: “Care workers also need care. If we do not support those who give care, the system itself cannot endure.”
By making care tangible, Dewindt showed both its vitality and its fragility. She invited us to see not just what works, but what is missing; where continuity falters, where coordination struggles, and where systemic attention is needed.
European Care: Design, Dialogue, and Imagination
At the European scale, Lekshmy Parameswaran and Laszlo Herczeg (The Care Lab) reframed care as a space for design, dialogue, and systemic transformation. Their approach, “problem caring, not problem solving”, shifted the focus from fixing isolated issues to cultivating care as a systemic practice.
Through projects across the globe, from co-creating a longitudinal, person-centred electronic medical record in Catalonia to piloting community-based dementia care in Singapore, they highlighted the need for people-powered transformation. They reflected on the challenges of systemic change: “How can we as designers really enable people to contribute, not only what they have in their minds, but also in their hearts?”
The Care Lab showed how design can cultivate caring communities, support carers, and address taboos, demonstrating that care is not a fixed solution but an evolving ecosystem.
They left us with questions rather than answers, challenging us to think critically:
- How can we enable and systematically embed people-powered transformation in our systems of care?
- What are the biggest taboos in and around care, blocking careful change within our ecosystems?
These questions lingered, emphasising that care is not a fixed outcome; it is a practice, a negotiation, and a shared responsibility.
Holding the Scales Together
Across provincial, Flemish, and European scales, a common thread emerges: care is relational. It is the work of connecting people, coordinating systems, and imagining futures. Each scale reveals different tensions and possibilities, yet all are intertwined. Care is grounded in local realities, shaped by regional systems, and envisioned across transnational contexts.
The symposium reminded us that asking “What is care?” is not about finding a final definition. It is about noticing fragility and possibility, attending to relationships, and exploring how systems, cultures, and communities might evolve to care more effectively, sustainably, and humanely.
Care as Practice
Ultimately, care unfolds across scales as a living practice. It is nurtured in the networks of Limburg, strengthened in Flemish systems, and reimagined in European design interventions. The symposium itself was an act of care; holding space for reflection, dialogue, and imagination.
To ask “What is care?” is to practice care: to see, listen, and engage; to hold complexity without losing compassion; and to imagine ways of sustaining care across scales, across systems, and across time.
This article was originally published on the ResFut publication on Medium.
