Planning for a Feminist City

50 Shades of Planning

Spatial planning can only deliver a safe, healthy and sustainable environment for all if it is sensitive to the needs of all, which means taking into account the different roles women and men have in society and the different expectations and requirements they have from the planning system.

Nobody could argue with that principle, but what does it mean in practice? What does planning policy look like when viewed through a gender lens, how do we plan on a gender inclusive basis at a city-wide scale and what does that look like on the ground?

This episode has been put together by Sam Stafford (@samuel_stafford) with the help of Women in Planning (@womeninplanning) and the Royal Town Planning Institute to mark International Women's Day. It is comprised of three parts that will tackle those questions by way of three separate conversations.

In Part 1 you will hear Shelly Rouse (@rouse_shelly) talk to Karen Horwood (@karenhhorwood) and Natalya Palit (@natpalit) about women in planning, woman and planning and gender mainstreaming.

In Part 2 you will hear Phoebe Threlfall and Katie Shoosmith (@KFluzza) talk to Holly Bruce (@cllrhollybruce) about Holly’s ambition to make Glasgow a Feminist City.

And in Part 3 you will hear Vicky Payne (@Victoria_Payne) talk to Imogen Clark, Helen Fadipe (@hfadipe) and Katie Wray (@kluw) about making space for girls. At the end of that segment you can also look forward to Vicky getting on the 50 Shades soapbox.

Some accompanying reading.

Make Space For Girls' Research Report 2023

https://www.makespaceforgirls.co.uk/resources/research-report-2023

RTPI Material:

• Women and Planning: Past, Present and Future
• Women and Planning (Part II)
• Children and town planning: creating places to grow
• Gender and Spatial Planning: Good Practice Note 7
• Gender Mainstreaming Toolkit

Feminist City - Claiming Space in a Man-made World, by Leslie Kern

https://www.versobooks.com/books/3842-feminist-city

The substantive and descriptive representation of women in planning: analysis from practice and academia

https://www.liverpooluniversitypress.co.uk/doi/10.3828/tpr.2022.12

Gender mainstreaming in urban planning: What can the UK learn from Vienna with regards to adopting a gender mainstreaming approach to shape built outcomes?

https://www.rtpi.org.uk/media/4471/george-pepler-report_200301_final.pdf

World Bank Gender Inclusive Urban Planning and Design-

https://www.worldbank.org/en/topic/urbandevelopment/publication/handbook-for-gender-inclusive-urban-planning-and-design

Women-Friendly Urban Planning Toolkit

https://www.citiesalliance.org/resources/publications/cities-alliance-knowledge/women-friendly-urban-planning-toolkit#:~:text=Cities%20Alliance%20is%20launching%20the,and%20voices%20in%20urban%20planning

Some accompanying viewing

What would a city designed by women be like?

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/world-50269778

What is a feminist city and where in the UK is becoming one?

https://www.itv.com/news/2023-02-28/how-does-a-place-become-the-uks-first-feminist-city

Some accompanying listening

The Visible Women Podcast with Caroline Criado Perez

https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/visible-women-with-caroline-criado-perez/id1627229311

A Leeds Beckett podcast in which Karen considers how we can plan towns and cities better for women and girls.

https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/we-inspire-2-sustainable-cities/id1547786504?i=1000550421074

Rebel Girl by Bikini Kill (Shelly's choice)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L0oeqAQ1qE8

50 Shades T-Shirts!

If you have listened to Episode 45 of the 50 Shades of Planning Podcast you will have heard Clive Betts say that...

'In the Netherlands planning is seen as part of the solution. In the UK, too often, planning is seen as part of the problem'.

Sam said in reply that that would look good on a t-shirt and it does. Further details can be found here: http://samuelstafford.blogspot.com/2021/07/50-shades-of-planning-t-shirts.html