Sieun Lee

Nocturnal Relations of Care: Everyday practices and affects of childcare in night-time Kyoto

Sieun is a second year DPhil student at the Transport Studies Unit at the School of Geography and Environment. She holds an MSc in Human Geography and Urban Studies from the London School of Economics and Political Science and a BSc in Urban Studies from the Bartlett School of Planning, University College London.

During her time in London, she has worked for community organisations and coalitions interested in urban planning, such as Just Space, Southwark Planning Network and the Old Bermondsey Neighbourhood Forum.

Her doctoral research explores the everyday (everynight) practices of childcare that take place in night-time Kyoto, Japan. She is interested in how care relationships between children, parents, childcare workers, are being produced and maintained in and through the night nursery spaces in Kyoto, and the kinds of emotions and affect that are experienced through caregiving at night. The research aims to extend the scope of the existing discussions around night-time cities by considering how care is produced in the urban night, and how cities after dark are being (re)produced through childcare practice.