Care strategies for older dependants are determined by not only individuals or network characteristics, but also contextual factors. The objective of this study is to determine whether urban contexts (neighbourhoods) are linked to the use of family care (informal), public services or private care at home (formal). We applied logistic regression analysis to data from the Survey of People in a Situation of Dependence 2018. The sample was composed of 530 older people (55 years old and over) living in two types of socio-economic groups of neighbourhoods in Barcelona, Spain. The type of neighbourhood is relevant in explaining the home care that older dependants receive. In neighbourhoods with a high socio-economic level, dependants are more likely to use private services and less likely to use informal care services and public services, even after controlling for household income, degree of dependency, sex, age and the number of people in the household. Understanding the factors that determine the use of public care services, private care services or family care-giving is important due to the increment in the number of older people in the population. Our results suggest that differences in urban socio-economic contexts determine some inequalities in the use of services even after controlling for socio-economic individual differences. The characteristics of neighbourhoods should be considered to adjust care policies for older dependants.

This ethnographic article discusses how race emerges between discourses of class and space at the University of the State of Rio de Janeiro. Following a legal decision, this academic institution was required to implement racial quotas to combat social exclusion and raise the number of ‘black’ students in public higher education. A crucial question is whether such racially based policies help redress social inequalities, or whether they actually increase discrimination by reifying ‘racial’ differences in Brazil. I argue that the social diversity promoted by quotas at the university stresses certain urban tensions and unequal dynamics that come to be reflected within the university. However, it also reveals novel and positive paths by which policies can negotiate these contrasts.