THERMAL
APARTHIED
TEMPERATURE DIVIDE
Thermal apartheid refers to the structurally uneven distribution of thermal comfort, where access to cooling technologies—such as refrigeration, air conditioning, and insulated workspaces—is governed by systems of capital, labour, and state policy that privilege some while exposing others to harmful thermal extremes. From a critical political economy lens, it reveals how the infrastructure of Cooling is embedded in global supply chains that rely on low-cost, expendable labour to maintain thermal control for commodity preservation and elite comfort. While capital flows into technologies that ensure seamless cold chains and climate-controlled environments, workers at the margins—often from subordinated caste, class, and gender groups—are made to endure both the heat of production and the cold of preservation, without protections or recognition.
Questions
Thee expansion of Cooling infrastructure is inseparable from the production of heat elsewhere—often displaced onto vulnerable bodies and ecologies. The ability to cool relies on extractive energy use, resource consumption, and labour exploitation, making thermal comfort a politically and economically produced condition.
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How do cooling infrastructures structure labour relations across class, caste, and gender?
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What forms of invisible or precarious labour sustain thermal systems (e.g. ice production, cold storage, maintenance), and how are these distributed socially and spatially?
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How do urban and industrial spaces reflect thermal hierarchies—who has access to climate-controlled environments and who doesn’t?
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In what ways does Cooling reinforce spatial segregation (e.g. cold offices vs. hot loading zones; refrigerated trucks vs. exposed workers)?