Podcasts about feminist city

On this episode, my guest is Leslie Kern, PhD, the author of three books about cities, including Gentrification Is Inevitable And Other Lies and Feminist City: Claiming Space in a Man-Made World. Her work provokes new ways of thinking about and creating cities that are more just, equitable, caring, and sustainable. Leslie was an associate professor of geography and environment and women's and gender studies at Mount Allison University from 2009-2024. Today, she is a public speaker, writer, and career coach for authors and academics.Show Notes* Gentrification and touristification* Naturalization of gentrification* The new colonialism* Intersectionality* Who's to blame: renter or landlord?* The hipster and the safety net* The invisible face behind gentrification and touristifcation* Transactionality or hospitality? The case of Airbnb* Commercial gentrification* The right to stay putHomeworkLeslie Kern - Website - InstagramGentrification Is Inevitable and Other Lies - USA - Canada Feminist City: Claiming Space in a Man-Made World - USA - CanadaHigher Expectations: How to Survive Academia, Make it Better for Others, and Transform the UniversityThe Tenant Class by Ricardo TranjanTranscriptChris: [00:00:00] Welcome, Leslie, to the End of Tourism Podcast. Thank you for taking time out of your day, to speak with me. Thank you. To begin, I'm wondering if you'd be willing to tell us where you find yourself today and what the world looks like there, for you.Leslie: Sure. I find myself in Cambridge, Ontario.It's a city of about 130,000 people. If I looked out my window right now, I would see a lot of blowing snow. It's about minus 27 Celsius with the windchill, or something hideous like that today, so taking the time to talk to you this morning means I don't have to go out and shovel anything just yet. So.Chris: Well, thank you. Thank you for joining us. it's a great honour and I'm really looking forward to this conversation that bears a great deal of complexity. So, I had invited you on the pod in part to explore your book, Gentrification is Inevitable and Other Lies. And [00:01:00] in it, Leslie, you write that“Gentrification has come to be used as a metaphor for processes of mainstreaming, commodification, appropriation, and upscaling that are not necessarily or directly connected to cities. In this story about gentrification, gentrification stands in for any sort of change that pulls a thing or a practice out of its original context and increases its popularity, priciness, and profit-making potential.”Given that some of our listeners might not have heard of the term “gentrification” before, although I doubt it, but given that those who have heard it might understand it also to be what you and others refer to as a “chaotic concept,” I'm wondering if you'd be willing to take a stab at defining it for us today?Leslie: Yeah, absolutely. If we [00:02:00] look to, I guess, a kind of typical scholarly definition of gentrification, it would be describing an urban process in which middle or upper class, or in some other way, privileged households start to move into a neighbourhood or area of the city that has historically been more working class, or perhaps an immigrant neighbourhood, perhaps more industrial, and begin to remake that neighbourhood, kind of in their own image, thus driving up housing prices both in the rental and ownership markets, driving up the cost of living in the area, and critically, as part of the definition, resulting in some level of displacement of the older inhabitants of that neighbourhood. “Displacement” meaning they've been kind of priced out or otherwise pushed directly or indirectly to leave and [00:03:00] move to some other neighbourhood.So, typically with gentrification, the definition is centred around it being a class-based process, but in more recent decades, many scholars, myself included, have wanted to broaden that and to acknowledge that other axes of power and privilege, for example, race, gender, ability, age, sexuality, and so on, also play a role in contributing to the kinds of forces that propel gentrification. And we can maybe get into some of that later.So for myself, in the book, I talk about gentrification as “any kind of process of taking over claiming space and remaking it in the image and for the interests and benefit of a more powerful group of people, or perhaps even corporations, to some extent.” So, [00:04:00] gentrification is really the process of taking and claiming space. And I also do include displacement as part of that process, although I also acknowledge that sometimes people can be kind of psychologically displaced, even if they aren't necessarily physically pushed out of their neighbourhoods.Chris: Mean it's something that I was noticing in Toronto before I left and moved and migrated here to Oaxaca. It's something that I think in the last five or ten years has become an unfortunate mainstay of city life in the vast majority of places, of urban places in the world.And this is also something that I've seen quite a bit here in Oaxaca, Mexico in a somewhat prolific tourist destination. And so, in places that have [00:05:00] been deemed “destinations” in this way, there's often a kind of reductionism, here anyways, and in other tourist destinations in which gentrification and what's sometimes called touristification is confused.And so one definition of “touristification” is simply “the process of transformation of a place into a tourist space and its associated effects.” So a kind of very vague and broad definition. But we also understand that gentrification can happen in places that aren't necessarily tourist destinations.And so, we've also discussed in the pod the possibility that a place doesn't necessarily need tourists in it to have touristic qualities or context what we might say. [00:06:00] And so I'm curious for you, do you think it's important to distinguish the two concepts, gentrification and touristification? And if so, why?Leslie: Yeah, great question. I think a distinction, to some extent, is important in that, yeah, there may be elements of touristification, for example, that are somewhat unique to that process, especially in terms of the kind of impact that it might have on local inhabitants who may not necessarily be displaced, but who may see their everyday lives kind of radically altered by the touristification of an area.And as you say, gentrification happens in all kinds of areas, many of which are not geared to tourism, although sometimes that is a kind of later effect of gentrification, is that tourists might be drawn to certain neighbourhoods or places that they would not have otherwise gone to in the past.As [00:07:00] you mentioned in your earlier question, there's been some concern in the gentrification literature that it's a bit of a chaotic concept, by which it is meant that it's maybe too broad of an umbrella [term], and so many different kinds of processes are kind of lumped together under that umbrella. I think it's a useful umbrella, but under that umbrella, we can try to be clear about what we're talking about when we look at particular locations, and try to articulate the impacts that these processes are having on the local community, economy, environment, and so on.Chris: Thank you, Leslie. Thank you for that. So your book is broken up into chapters that reveal the deeper realities behind the tropes or lies sometimes spouted about gentrification. And there are often many. And so I'm curious if after having done the research and writing for this book, and it was published in [00:08:00] 2022, so perhaps there's been some deeper reflection in that regard, I'm curious what you feel might be the most important lie about gentrification that requires our attention and why?Leslie: Ooh, really putting me on the hook to like pick a favorite child there. No, I'm joking. Ultimately, I mean, I guess the most straightforward answer would be the first one that I discuss in the book, which is right there in the book's title, which is the idea that gentrification is inevitable. And we can kind of unpack that a little bit further, as I do in the kind of first main chapter of the book, which is to say that in some accounts of gentrification, it's presented as a sort of natural process, right? As something that is just akin to evolution, for example. So there's this idea that if you kind of start with, for example, a working class or immigrant [00:09:00] neighbourhood, lower income community, with some other kinds of attributes that might not make it seem wealthy or desirable, that over time, just through, I don't know, a kind of mystical series of properties, the way that species evolve or human beings develop from fetus and baby to an adult through this series of difficult to trace impacts, that somehow it just happens. Right. And of course, the problem with that, again, is that if we think it's natural, then we don't really think there's any way to stop it.And also when we describe something as “natural,” we often imbue it with positive qualities. Well, if it's “natural,” it's just meant to happen. It's just the way things are. And why would we want to stand in the way of that process? From a kind of political standpoint, it becomes very problematic, because it means that there's not really a [00:10:00] willingness perhaps on the part of those who have some power and influence to slow down gentrification, to pause it, to use whatever tools they might have in their kind of legislative toolbox to create guardrails around the process happening or to try to prevent it altogether. And from a kind of community response standpoint, it can be very disempowering to believe that gentrification is inevitable, unstoppable, that once you see those first, white, middle-class families move into your neighbourhood, “boom, you're done. It's over. The clock is counting down to the time when it's not your neighbourhood anymore and you'll just have to leave, so why bother to do anything about it?”And as I also try to show in the book, you know, it's hard to fight gentrification, but there are examples around the world of communities that have pushed back and kind of “pumped the brakes on gentrification,” as one [00:11:00] activist described it to me. So, we, I think, don't want to fall into this trap of believing that communities themselves are powerless, or that our politicians and policy-makers have absolutely no tools that they can use to change this.So I would say that is probably the most important kind of first line myth or lie that we need to challenge. And then we can kind of go down the line and pick apart some of the other ones, which is how I've structured the book as you point out. Yeah.Chris: Thank you, Leslie. Yeah, I mean, that was a really jarring chapter for me, in part because of this notion that not only is quote gentrification inevitable or natural, but that the city is, according to different philosophers and thinkers, imbued with this kind of biological life and [00:12:00] and that it follows as you were mentioning certain processes that are “ natural” as far as evolution is concerned.And imediately, this brought me back to my research on what's often referred to as 19th century social evolutionist thought, these notions that were often created or maintained by kind of, elite, wealthy, white men in the 19th century, not all of whom were academics, some of them were bankers, for example, among other things, but essentially promoting this notion that certain races or genders or types of people had evolved along the natural processes of evolution either faster than others or got ahead in certain ways, and that, of course, this was a way for those people, not only the non-academics, but those in academia [00:13:00] to employ hypotheses theories as a way of justifying colonial histories and the ongoing conquests of different people around the world. And so, in that context, I'm curious if you imagine or think that gentrification understood or described as “natural” in this way is a kind of extension, a historical extension of that kind of colonial power play of the 19th century.Leslie: Yeah, I absolutely do. And there are many ways in which the power dynamics and even the language or the vocabulary around gentrification mirrors that around colonialism with all of the problematic tropes there of neighbourhoods or areas of the city being taken over where “there's really nothing there,” right?[It's the] same kind of justification for colonialism. “There's nothing there. [00:14:00] There's nobody there that we need to care about,” so European colonizers are entitled to this land. Similarly, with the way that many developers, for example, I think, rationalize or justify the kind of projects they engage in.“Oh, there's nothing really happening in that part of the city. There's not really a community there. It's just a space of problems or deviation from the norm or disorder. And so we, as developers, as city planners, we're going to bring order and light and civilization, quite frankly, to these neighbourhoods.”So I'm sure you're hearing in this, all those echoes around colonialism. And this point around the social evolution part of it, I think that is the kind of darker, maybe less acknowledged side of gentrification, is that when we start to talk about neighbourhoods as “nothing's happening there, there's nobody there.” [00:15:00] Who's “nobody,” right? Who falls into that category of “nobody,” right? It's poor people. It might be unhoused people, working-class people, people of colour, queer people, disabled people, sex workers, right?“All people who we don't really think of as kind of counting as citizens, people who we don't think have a legitimate voice in the city, people who we don't think have a right to the city or a claim on the city.” And they're just seen as disposable, as easily displaceable, as not really contributing anything to the community or to the city at large. So I think there's definitely a sense of kind of hierarchy in terms of, “who are the seemingly new people who are coming in, right?” And they're viewed as “bringing all of these kind of gifts and benefits to the neighbourhood, and in some ways, perhaps even uplifting the poor [00:16:00] or downtrodden inhabitants of the ghetto or the barrio or whatever. And the locals should somehow be grateful to receive gentrification similarly to the way that people were, say, ‘oh, you should be grateful to receive an education if you're from the lower-classes or working-classes.'”So, yeah, I think there's definitely echoes and traces of that same kind of logic, right? It's a logic of superiority, a logic of dominance, a logic of control that resonates, whether it's colonialism or social evolutionism. Um, yeah.Chris: Wow. Fascinating. Fascinating stuff. I mean, this is, I think, to a large degree culture or what we call culture or what culture might be is made on the tongue, and that the, the kind of unacknowledged ways in which we speak the world into being [00:17:00] is something that's been direly overlooked in our time. So thank you for speaking to that in that way. And I think it's something that we would properly kind of continue to wonder about as we speak and as we think, and perhaps before we speak as well.You know, you mentioned in there the different types of people that are often displaced as a result of gentrification. And this shows up quite a bit in your book. So I wanted to ask you about what you refer to as “intersectionality,” an intersectional approach to gentrification.Some of the conventional critiques that you mentioned in the book, including the economic critique (kind of follow the money), the aesthetic critique (the kind of clean lines and fancy bakeries that show up), as well as the class critique, which you mentioned kind of upward mobility, among others.That said, you focus a good portion of the book, I think, on this neglected importance of intersectionality. And so I'm curious, why do you think an intersectional approach has been ignored in the [00:18:00] past, and why might it be crucial for a cohesive or integral analysis of gentrification?Leslie: Hmm. I think an intersectional approach has been kind of sidelined, if you will, in part because most of the key kind of prominent gentrification scholars of the late 20th century and into the 21st century have been, honestly, white men probably themselves from middle-class backgrounds, or obviously university educated scholars and they've been, like neo-Marxist, or Marxist. That's their theoretical perspective. That's their training. They come from a kind of Marxist, political economy, background. That's the lens of analysis that they bring to whatever kind of problem they're looking at in the world, including gentrification.And they've done brilliant work, right, and created a lot of really foundational [00:19:00] concepts, gone and done really important empirical work so that we can actually see what the impacts of these processes are. And there's nothing I want to take away from that being a key voice within the field of gentrification studies, but I think too often either there's been kind of minimal lip service paid or kind of outright pushing to the side of feminist perspectives, anti-racist perspective, anti-colonial perspectives and more, because it's sort of seemed like, well, “class is the main driver and anything that maybe disproportionately impacts women or people of colour, or queer folks or elderly people, that's like a side effect, right? Like the main driver is class and those people are simply impacted because they also happen to fall into lower income brackets.”So it's a pretty neat and tidy [00:20:00] story and you can kind of see why it has some appeal. So I think, you know, those political economy, neo-Marxist scholars is not that they don't care about race or gender or other factors. They're just like, “well, it's all really rolled up under the umbrella of ‘class.' And if we just figure out the ‘class' piece, then those other things will kind of fall into place.” But for feminist scholars, critical race scholars, anti-colonial scholars and so on, they've wanted to point out that assuming that class is the primary driver behind things is maybe an assumption that we've held onto for too long without questioning it. And instead of seeing racial impacts and so on as something that's just happening off to the side through a class process, maybe we want to also look, especially in something like an American context, but in other places as well, at the deeply foundational layer of race to the development of cities, to the development of the [00:21:00] nation, and we can't kind of sideline the impacts of racial discrimination and the kind of hierarchy of race that has developed over many centuries in these locations and say, “oh, well it's a secondary factor.”For myself, I'm a feminist scholar. My background is in women's and gender studies before I kind of accidentally stumbled into being an urban geographer. And to me it was always kind of obvious, but I think I've had to argue this point so often that processes like gentrification, neoliberalism, urban revitalization, as it's called, doesn't just kind of impact women as a tangential side effect, but that gender inequality or assumptions about gender roles and so on are like part of what drives the process. And so I try to bring that out in the book by looking at different kinds of examples of the ways in which different sorts of [00:22:00] communities or people are impacted to hopefully show, to hopefully make a case for this idea that taking an intersectional perspective doesn't deny the class factor at all, but that it allows us to look at gentrification through a more nuanced lens and one that respects the fact that class is not the only, and not always the most salient marker of hierarchy and status in our societies.Chris: Hmm, hmm. Yeah, I did go to university a long time ago, and it seemed that what was offered up on the proverbial, kind of conceptual, bill, politically speaking was, here are your five major theories or perspectives and kind of like choose one and decide what you like the best and then argue for it or against it.But it does seem that the more apertures that we have onto the world, without necessarily needing [00:23:00] to collapse our considerations into a single one can broaden our understanding of the world deeply, right? Deeply, deeply. And it's something that I see anyways less and less of.I think there's more and more possibilities for experiencing that in our time, but I think there's a lot of processes that are happening in which there's less and less of it that's actually occurring - a kind of collapse of maybe ontological diversity or philosophical diversity.I don't know what to call it, but seems prevalent and at least from this little aperture. So.Leslie: Yeah, I would agree with that, as someone who, just in my own little brief lifetime here on this earth has been peddling my little feminist arguments for 30-plus years. And then we add on to that, the 30 years before that and 30 years before all of the previous generations. It seems like we are, [00:24:00] not just from a feminist perspective, but we are kind of constantly having to make these arguments for that ontological diversity, as you put it, or even just the idea that, oh, you can view things through different lenses and learn different things about whatever kind of process or force or issue that you're interested in.Chris: Hmm. Well, thank you for that. I'd like to, if I can, Leslie, there was something I've been wrestling with for a while and it was very much front and centre, this kind of inner wrestling when I was reading your book.And so, I'd like to share that with you at the moment if I can, and we'll see where it takes us. So part of the reason that I left Toronto a decade ago was that the housing crises, that perhaps for some wasn't yet a crisis in Toronto, has of course ballooned. But in the past five years I've watched that same housing crisis play out here in Oaxaca.[00:25:00] And what arose almost immediately in the, we'll say media sphere, the online world and certainly on the streets as well, was a kind of xenophobic campaign or campaigns blaming tourists, digital nomads, and “expats” for the rising cost of rentals and housing. Now, while not entirely misguided, the percentage of such people is insignificant in comparison to the total population of renters and homeowners here.And then I ask myself, well, “why isn't anyone questioning the role of homeowners and landlords, those who actually decide the price of rental units, those who decide to turn long-term rentals into Airbnbs, and those who are, some of them anyways, more often than not, part and parcel of the political ruling class in many places?” Why not blame them?And so, if you think about this enough, you can [00:26:00] begin to imagine that the willingness to blame specific people, types, classes, races, et cetera, can ignore the cultural, economic and structural elements of society that allow and encourage such dynamics to emerge. And it seems to me that you speak to this, to some degree, in your book writing, how“it is not helpful in a critique of gentrification to get overly stuck on the styles and preferences of a group, when, for many decades now, gentrification has been propelled by much stronger forces than aesthetic trends.”And in another part of the book, you write that “cultural factors cannot be hastily dismissed, not when their power is easily co-opted by capital. Trends in denim and facial hair are not responsible for gentrification, but when large groups of people are redefined as a class based on their tastes, occupations, and aesthetics, they become a market and a justification for urban [00:27:00] interventions.”And so my question has to do with what I might call, I don't know if this is something that shows up in your work or in your research, but a kind of “ecological analysis,” one that doesn't necessarily separate people into essentialist categories, but contends with how maybe the rules of the game produce the player's behaviour and beliefs.And so I'm wondering, you know, in your research, is that something that is tended to, a way of, “okay so, we're not going to only blame or ask the tourists to take responsibility or the digital nomads, et cetera, and we're not only gonna blame or ask the landlords to take responsibility, but understand that they live and inhabit a kind of web of relations that has, for a long time, created the context that allows them or even [00:28:00] encourages them to proceed in a particular way?Leslie: Yes, a hundred percent. I really love the way that you put that there and giving it that kind of label of like an ecological perspective there. I think it's so important to do in the book. You know, the first quote that you read there, I think has to do with this idea that, “oh, you know, hipsters were causing gentrification” kind of thing.And I wanted to kind of, not defend the hipster per se, but to just say, well, in a city like New York, for example, the takeover of midtown Manhattan and the absolute sort of pricing out of regular people, well, from Manhattan as a whole in many cases is not to do with artists and yoga teachers moving into those neighborhoods. It has to do with massive multinational corporations buying up housing, developing condos, like all of these other things that [00:29:00] are going on. And as you say, I mean, I think it is useful to question and critique landlordism for example, and even home ownership itself, but there's a reason why people engage in these practices and as you say, it's because of these all sorts of other like prior sort of conditions and causes this kind of web of possibilities that so much of our... the policy, the legislative world, our national context shapes for us.Like in Canada for example, home ownership is, as you well know, sort of seen as the ultimate goal in the housing market. Renting is seen as very much a kind of transitional stage for people. And the idea is to eventually, sooner rather than later, own your own home.And of course there's all kinds of cultural myths around that, of homeowners being like responsible people and better citizens and all this kind of stuff that is, maybe like [00:30:00] largely nonsense. But why, in this context, do people become homeowners? Well, this is the way that we've been told “you secure your retirement in the absence of a truly kind of robust old age security net.” Yes, we have some. We have pension, old age pension, but for many people, the home is ultimately their social safety net, and government policy has very much been set up to encourage us to treat our homes in that way and to rely on paying off a mortgage and having that home to be the basis of survival into our old age.Right. And there are many other things. That's just one example. So I think, as you say, it's really important to kind of look at that whole ecosystem. And that doesn't mean that we don't say, “well, okay, what are homeowners doing that might be potentially problematic and contributing to the problem?”Well, that could include things like turning units into Airbnbs or acting in NIMBY-ish (Not In My Backyard), kind of ways that limit, for example, the amount of affordable housing that might go up in their neighbourhood and other things. Of course, all of those dynamics have to be critiqued, challenged, pushed back against. But, keeping, at the same time that kind of zoomed out perspective of like what's going on on a larger scale, in the kind of corporate and investment world and the government policy-making world, I think at least helps us to understand why these different groups are kind of positioned in the way that they do and the kind of range of possibilities that they see for themselves within that web.Chris: Mm mm Yeah. Yeah. That reminds me of a moment that I had here in Oaxaca, maybe three or four years ago. There was a student group that had come down from a Canadian university, and they were here for a couple weeks, and I was having dinner with them. Not all of them, but there was maybe four of the women from the student group that I was having dinner with.And one of them was probably in her, I would say [00:32:00] mid-fifties, an indigenous woman from Ontario. And the other three were much younger, probably in their early twenties. And they were suddenly talking about the sudden or at least recent kind of housing crisis in their university town, we'll call it, maybe a small city, but big town. And how in previous years they could afford the rent, but suddenly, and of course this was 2021-2022, when a lot of these dynamics started changing extremely rapidly. And I was kind of moderating the conversation at first. And then it turned out, she wasn't so quick to out herself as a landlord. But the indigenous woman, the 55-year-old kind of alluded to it and then said, “well, you know, for a lot of people, it's a pension plan. “It's my retirement plan, essentially.” And it was this really interesting dynamic about how these four women, who had come to this place and were in the same program, studying the [00:33:00] same thing, that one of them had to perhaps, unbeknownst to her, undermine the economic life and possibilities of those younger women by virtue of requiring a retirement plan.Right. And I think at least in Canada, in countries that are very much still welfare states, that it speaks to a, the incredible degree in which the care that's offered, especially to the elderly, is almost entirely top-down. There's so little, if any, community care.And, you know, of course this is a very kind of small example, a very kind of minute example. I think maybe a common one. But of course you also have other examples of, as you mentioned before, corporations... is it BlackRock this massive mutual fund that I know in, in Europe and places like Barcelona and the major cities there end up buying entire apartment buildings or blocks even, and evicting [00:34:00] the residents and then setting up Airbnb buildings, essentially. So, I mean, there's this incredible kind of degree of difference and diversity in terms of how, as you mentioned landlordism and rent is affecting people.But I just wanted to mention that. It was a really kind of interesting moment for me to see this dynamic and the young women kind of complaining about, you know, I guess the future, the present and the future of their economic lives. And then, this older woman also not necessarily complaining, but very much concerned about her ability to live as well, economically and to thrive economically into her older age.Leslie: Yeah. And there's these kind of ironic situations popping up all over the place where so for example, someone might have a public pension. And as you point out, many public pensions are deeply invested in real estate income trusts. This is like a huge piece for example, in Ontario, of [00:35:00] Ontario public workers' pensions, but around the world as well, and I don't have the details, but a story that was in the news several years ago about a man somewhere in Europe who was being evicted from his apartment because that one of these real estate investment corporations was taking it over and was gonna redevelop it in some way. But his public pension was invested in that very same company. Right?So many people are kind of caught in these loops where it's like, we would very much like to not be like, displacing ourselves or our neighbours or community members, but we don't necessarily have control over how our pension funds are invested, right? Like you might have a choice like, “oh, I'd like to divest from fossil fuels, for example, or from tobacco or military, like arms deals.” Like, sometimes, you can opt out of those things in your pension funds, but there's not really a way to like opt out of real estate investment.My substack is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.It's such a huge part of those things now. So I think that's an area where there's increasing kind of research and critical perspectives on that in gentrification scholarship and so on that I think is really important to look at, because it's also very hidden, right? This is another aspect I think of contemporary kind of gentrification touristification even, is that there's no face to it, right? There's no face to this process. And maybe that's why it's tempting to take, as you put it a minute ago, that kind of like xenophobic perspective or to blame “expats” in the case of Oaxaca and touristification or in cities to be like, “oh, it's these urban hipsters, maybe these like trust fund kids” or whatever label people might want to put on someone, because there's a face, right? There you can look and be like, “that's the problem.” But the reality is there is no face, right? There's no individual or even group of individuals that's easy to identify. And people doing [00:37:00] research into some of this pension fund stuff that I'm talking about, they hit very opaque walls, even just trying to get the information about how these companies work, the kinds of decisions they make, what their rubrics are around what they call “socially responsible investing.”So it's very deliberately mystified and hidden from us, and I think that is part of the challenge now is like, how do you fight this monster that you can't see, that you can barely name?So yeah, that is I think one of the kind of frightening things, if you will, about, whether we call it “gentrification,” or we think about it in this broader sense of the housing crisis, who's the face of that, the cause of that crisis? Very hard to say in many cases.Chris: Wow. Yeah, I know that these mutual fund companies that end up buying, you know, whole city blocks or buildings, apartment buildings, and then tending to renovictions or whatever they [00:38:00] might use in order to get people out. Once the buildings are “ renovated” as Airbnbs, what happens is those corporations end up outsourcing all of the operational and cleaning duties to companies that they're not involved with at all. So, again, you could have this person who's in front of you, who might be a cleaner or who comes ou in and out of the building or who might run the reservation books or something like that, but they've never met anyone from that mutual fund company. Right. They just get a paycheck.Leslie: Yeah. And it's happening on this kind of global level. The people behind the company that's investing in that building in Oaxaca, like they may have never set foot there, and they may never set foot there. Right? So it's happening from around the world, from thousands of kilometers away from behind these kind of screens of, as you said, these kind of shell companies and these subcontracted, property management companies.I mean the story you were just telling about the woman who's a landlord, like on that small scale, not that [00:39:00] there's nothing problematic about it, but it is also like, you know, she's probably met her tenants, right? She probably occasionally sets foot in the property that she owns and that she rents out, and there's like some aspect of a relationship there. It's still, you know, a problematic power dynamic and all of that, but it's on a very different scale than the investor from London who's has a stake in a condo in Oaxaca. Like, it's a very different web of of relations that goes into that.Chris: Yeah. And even if someone like that, and I've had many, many landlords over the years and I've been blessed to have a number of them who are really incredible people and really incredible in terms of showing up when they're needed in that regard. But it's something, I discussed on a previous episode regarding the Airbnb-ization of the world, a couple years ago. And one of the themes that came up was around hospitality, right? [00:40:00] And even if you have people who are kind of really engaged and really excited and responsible about having a tenant in their home or in a particular building, the kind of transactional nature of that rent almost (and then of course the history of it) precludes, almost by default, the possibility of there being a kind of host-guest relationship, right? Instead of that we are “clients” and and, and “salespeople,” businesspeople to some degree.Right. So another layer of it is this question of like, “well, is it even possible within the dynamic or structure that renting implies and incurs, is it even possible to create a dynamic wherein a person can be understood as a guest in another person's home, and another person can be understood as a host to people who are coming to live in their home? Right? That that same [00:41:00] woman, the 55-year-old landlord said that she had tenants who refused to leave for, I dunno, a year and a half or two years, and once they finally did, left her with a $40,000 damage bill. So, I think there's just layers and layers that are extremely difficult to kind of get into, I shouldn't say in terms of dialogue, in terms of investigation, but in terms of the possibility of creating different dynamics that would maybe represent or produce the kinds of dynamics and worlds that, I think, a lot of people would want to live in.Leslie: Yeah, I totally agree. I mean, I think in a lot of cases, and you honestly don't have to dig very deep, you can open up CBC News and see some poor, sad landlord story most days of the week or listen to kind of corporate or larger scale landlords talk and they often see tenants as a nuisance.“The tenants themselves are a problem,” and if they could invest in real estate and still make [00:42:00] these returns without actually having tenants, that would probably be ideal. And I think that is also part of the push to an Airbnb is that with a temporary guest, you know, a week, a weekend or whatever, you don't have the same responsibility to them as you do to someone with a year lease or perhaps the right to stay there for a longer period of time. So, all you have to do is kind of provide this very basic amenity of the space. You can even impose all these rules on them that you maybe otherwise wouldn't be able to do if it was a longer-term rental.You know, the people who check-in have many fewer rights than actual tenants do. And so in some ways it makes that relationship even more transactional and even more hands off in many cases. And of course there's the quicker profit motive is really the main driving force behind that. But I think there's also this piece of it where it's like, “well, how can I maximize the profit potential of this space with as little actually dealing with other human beings and their needs [00:43:00] as human beings as possible.And yeah, I think that is really, again, from my kind of feminist perspective, that is also interested in thinking about how do we create systems of care in our cities, and what does “care” mean, and what are our responsibilities to one another that, when we look at something like Airbnbification and the touristification and gentrification more generally, those things, in many cases kind of act against the possibility of creating more caring and careful spaces.Chris: Hmm, hmm. Yeah. Thank you for that, Leslie. I have a couple more questions for you, if that's all right?Leslie: Yes, go ahead. Yeah.Chris: All right. Wonderful. So this next question maybe requires a bit of imagination, which I think you have a good amount of, and it has to do with rent.And so one of the lies that you highlight in your book is the belief that gentrification is natural and hence forth inevitable. [00:44:00] And of course, as we've been discussing, nothing is natural nor inevitable and you make an excellent case for that throughout the book. And I feel that there is an equally and perhaps more subtle incarnation of this myth, of this inevitability, in regards to rent, that we as urban people or modern people who grow up in contemporary societies often reinforce and even naturalize a kind of rent slavery that most people rarely see, that most people rarely see their lives as indentured to their landlords.And so, when we talk about gentrification, does this show up at all? Should it? You know, this notion that, “well, if we can come to gentrification and understand that it's in fact not natural and it's not inevitable, can we do the same thing for rent? Because, maybe I haven't read much of the research, but it doesn't seem to be something that [00:45:00] people are so quick to aim their arrows at, we'll say.Leslie: Yeah. I love that question. And I think A, you're right that there hasn't been enough conversation about that. There has not been nearly enough attempts to kind of denaturalize this and B, that that perspective is emerging and growing. If I could recommend a book called The Tenant Class by Ricardo Tranjan. It's also a Toronto-based author, and he does an amazing job in this very short book of basically laying out the case against landlordism, and it totally, as you say, kind of denaturalizing and pushes back on this idea that it's inevitable that there are a class of people that own property and a class of people that rent property, and that this is not inherently a deeply problematic relation. You know, this idea that it's not in some way akin to some kind of indentureship. And he really asks us to look deeply again at this [00:46:00] idea that, if you're a landlord, “well, I have a mortgage to pay, so it's somehow natural that this other person will pay my mortgage for me,” which, when you start to think about it, like it's really messed up in a way. And once you see it, you can't unsee it. So yeah, I think looking more closely at some of these ideas, these kind of statements that come out, and again, you can see it in news articles, these kind of horror stories, and not to diminish, I'm sure, what are very real, like economic and psychological impacts of the so-called kind of nightmare tenant and all of those kinds of things.But you'll hear those kinds of statements: “you know, I have a mortgage to pay.”Well, why is this other person paying your mortgage, then?And then we could probably take a step back and be like, “why do we have mortgages to pay?” But that's maybe another conversation.But yeah, so I definitely recommend that book, The Tenant Class, as a really quick, easy to read, and kind of unforgettable primer on this question. And [00:47:00] I really appreciate you asking it, and I hope your listeners will be like, “oh, yeah, I gotta dig into that a bit more too.”Chris: Yeah.Yeah. I mean, you know, in part because, as prices have risen in most western countries in the last four or five years, there's of course, of course, protests and backlash among people, and “oh, this bakery raised their prices” or “ my rent's going up,” and all these things. But specifically in terms of products and services, you know, people complain or they just accept the fact that prices have risen to a degree that's pricing a lot of people out of their lives, really. But, you know, in the conversations I've had with people and in the literature that I've read, there's no consideration, I think, that the businesses who are raising their prices have had their rents raised, that so much of a business' costs include rent, right? And that very few businesses actually [00:48:00] own the building that they're working out of.Leslie: Yeah, commercial rent is a whole other story because, you know, the protections on residential rent are not what they could be in most places around the world, but there's no protections on commercial rent, like no limitations there. So it's entirely possible that local bakery, their rent could go up by, like double. It could go up from $20,000 a year to $60,000 a year. There's no restrictions on that. There's nowhere to appeal that. There's nothing. So, they are, in some ways, even those small businesses, especially, independent businesses and so on, are very at risk of this. And there's a whole branch of kind of retail gentrification studies as well that kind of looks at the impacts on the local economic landscape of things like this as well. Yeah.Chris: Hmm. Wow. Thank you for unveiling that for us. I mean, uh, so much.So my last question, Leslie, has to do [00:49:00] with what is mentioned in your book, what you refer to as “the right to stay put.”And so,“the right to stay put is a common rallying cry in response to the dangers of displacement. Drawing inspiration from the broader notion of the right to the city, the right to stay put insists that communities are entitled to remain in the places they have contributed to. Furthermore, the right to dwell extends beyond simply having a home in an area, encompassing the right to continue using commercial, community, and public spaces and institutions, as well as the dignity of defending such rights. Importantly, it recognizes that agency is a critical factor. People do not want to be forced to move, nor do they want to be forced to stay in place. Rather, people value choice, the ability to participate in [00:50:00] decisions that affect their communities and the right to resist when they need to.”And so I'm curious what you think it would take for people, say, in urban environments to achieve or enshrine the right to stay put or the right to dwell in their places.Leslie: Yeah, I think we could talk about kind of two main avenues. One would be more of the top-down approach, which is to work to enshrine anti-displacement measures in neighborhoods, which can include everything from rent control or rent stabilization, to the right to return when there are redevelopment projects going on, to deeply affordable housing in new developments, to communities themselves taking on the role of becoming developers, but creating housing within the community for the [00:51:00] community. Not to draw in new residents or not to primarily draw new residents. Again, we're not trying to like, build a fortress around communities or anything, but rather to say, “this is housing that we're earmarking for people from the local community who are struggling with their rent or struggling to find housing, or who need perhaps entry-level home ownership opportunities and to kind of provide that.So there's the kind of top-down approach, really pushing our local governments to have things like community benefit ordinances when new developments are happening that force developers to actually pay attention to what the community needs and to provide those benefits and such.And then, from the kind of ground-up or more grassroots piece, the right to stay put is the the willingness, the ability to organize and come together in some of the places that I mentioned throughout the book. You know, it really [00:52:00] is community-level organization where people have really rallied to make it deeply difficult for planners or developers to kind of roll in and roll out their vision without any pushbacks, to the extent that their neighbourhoods become less of a target for gentrification, because it's like, “oh yeah, we wanna build something there. Oh, that's gonna be a real pain in the butt. The community is not gonna let us get away with what we wanna do.” And that means really making it possible for people to come out to meetings, organizing protests, that kind of right to resist. Sometimes taking... You know, we have long histories in many cities of squatters movements and perhaps we need to revitalize some of that old energy, as well. A kind of refusal to leave. And to find ways, you know, perhaps they don't always have to be kind of in-your-face protest ways, but what are ways to mobilize things like mutual aid to help make sure that our [00:53:00] neighbors are supported, for example, if they have to go before a landlord-tenant board, how can we use community resources and knowledge to actually support one another to stay in place?And that can be everything from addressing food insecurity to having a local rent bank, to partnering with nonprofits, churches, other religious institutions that may have an interest in building social and nonprofit housing to create some of those options.So I think it's about looking at the kind of wide range of alternative forms of housing and housing provision, looking at community mobilizing, community resources, and also tackling the local policy agenda to make staying put as possible, or to enshrine it as a right at a kind of higher level, as well.Chris: Hmm, hmm. Yeah, you go into [00:54:00] great detail about this in the book, and I'm very grateful for that. And the right to stay put kind of jumped out, the text jumped out of the page at me, because living here in Oaxaca, I came to know about this declaration that was created in 2009 by people in a number of communities here in the Mixteca region of Oaxaca who were meeting with their migrant kin who had gone to work in California and the people who had stayed in the community.And the declaration is literally translated as “the right to not migrate.” The way it was translated in English by the author of the book of the same name, was “The Right to Stay Home.” And so while there's a lot of differences between these contexts in terms of rural, indigenous communities here in Mexico and modern urban communities in the global north, there is this sense, [00:55:00] this kind of perhaps shared context wherein the ability to to stay in a place in order so that community can be conjured and maintained and of course enjoyed and lived in, seems to thread its way through these different social movements from the global north into the global south.So, I'm really grateful to see that and to know that there's similar understandings, of course not the same, but similar understandings that are even somewhat unorthodox and unexpected given the political context that sometimes challenge them or preclude something like that from coming up.So that's a little way of saying thank you for your time today, Leslie. On behalf of our listeners, I'd like to thank you for your willingness to join me and to speak to these often complex issues. And on behalf of them, I'd also like to ask you how they might find out more about [00:56:00] your work and your books: Gentrification Is Inevitable And Other Lies, Feminist City: Claiming Space In A Manmade World, and finally Higher Expectations: How To Survive Academia, Make It Better For Others, And Transform The University.Leslie: Yeah, thank you so much for this conversation. People can find out about me and my work at my website, which is just lesliekern.ca.If you just google my name, it will come up easily enough. Feminist City and Gentrification Is Inevitable And Other Lies. For an international audience, you can find those books through Verso books in the US and UK. There's also many translations of both of those books, so you may have the opportunity to read it in your local language if you want to do that as well.The more recent book, Higher Expectations is available from my Canadian publisher Between the Lines Books and in the US [00:57:00] from AK Books, as well. And there's also Epub versions and for the first two books, audiobook versions as well. And I've written lots of articles on these topics as well, in the Guardian and other places.So you can get a little snippet of my thoughts if you, again, Google my name and all of these things will come up in short order. So thank you for letting me share that as well.Chris: Yeah, of course. I'll make sure that the links to all those pages that you mentioned are available on the End of Tourism website and the Substack when the episode launches.And once again, Leslie, a really beautifully revealing conversation today. I think it's something that will not just provoke generally, but provoke a willingness in our listeners to reconsider some of the assumptions that they've had about gentrification.So, once again, thank you for your time today.Leslie: Thank you for having me. I really enjoyed the conversation. Appreciate it. Get full access to Chris Christou at chrischristou.substack.com/subscribe

Dublin City Council must adopt a “feminist town planning approach”, as a “gender-neutral approach to city development has consistently failed” the diverse needs of citizens. That is the proposal from Cat O'Driscoll, Social Democrat Councillor for Cabra-Glasnevin who joined Shane Coleman on the show this morning to discuss.

Dublin City Council must adopt a “feminist town planning approach”, as a “gender-neutral approach to city development has consistently failed” the diverse needs of citizens. That is the proposal from Cat O'Driscoll, Social Democrat Councillor for Cabra-Glasnevin who joined Shane Coleman on the show this morning to discuss.

Two women in Iceland and Bolivia talk to Ella Al-Shamahi about creating female-centred walking tours that help people get to know the cities of Reykjavík and La Paz. Tinna Eik Rakelardóttir from Iceland says that the urban planning of her country's capital doesn't necessarily reflect its progressive values. Inspired by a tour she took in Ljubljana in Slovenia, Tinna combined her expertise in anthropology and business development to launch the Reykjavík Feminist Walking Tour. The walk highlights 200 years of the nation's drive for gender equality as well as the experience of being a woman in contemporary Icelandic society. Emma Rada Villarroel is a Bolivian feminist communicator of indigenous heritage and one of the co-founders of La Paz: The Feminist Tour. The tour explores the historic and ongoing struggles of the women of the city. Weaving her way through the streets of the highest city in the world, Emma shares stories about what's it's like to live in La Paz today as a student, an immigrant, a mother or merchant whilst also spotlighting the powerful women who have contributed to the city's history.Produced by Hannah Dean(Image: (L) Emma Rada Villarroel courtesy Emma Rada Villarroel. (R) Tinna Eik Rakelardóttir courtesy Tinna Eik Rakelardóttir.)

Η car-free μάμμα, Πρέσβειρα Οδικής Ασφάλειας 2021 και ανεπίσημη Bicycle Mayor of Nicosia από το 2019, Μαρίνα Κυριάκου μας μιλά για την εμπειρία της με τα λεωφορεία στην Λευκωσία. Πριν 6 μήνες έγινε μάνα για πρώτη φορά και από τότε καταγράφει τις δυσκολίες που αντιμετωπίζει στην μετακίνηση με το μοναδικό μέσο μαζικής μεταφοράς που έχουμε εδώ στην Κύπρο. Επίσης συζητούμε τον αφιλόξενο σχεδιασμό της πόλης μας για τις γυναίκες και μαμμάδες και για τη ποδηλασία. Αναφορές που έγιναν στο επεισόδιο - Το Linkedin ποστ της Μαρίνας  - Το 1416 για επικοινωνία με τις Δημόσιες Συγκοινωνίες Κύπρου - Βιβλία: Feminist City by Leslie Kern και Invisible Women by Caroline Criado Perez - Προηγούμενο Mamma Mu επεισόδιο με τον Ιάσωνα Σενέκκη για την Οδική Ασφάλεια Αν σας αρέσει το podcast και θα θέλατε να το στηρίξετε, μπορείτε μέσω του Patreon με 2, 5 ή 10 ευρώ τον μήνα.Βρείτε την Ελένη στο Instagram και στο Facebook υπό το όνομα Georgie's Mummy The Mamma Mu podcast is supported by Wiggle, Cyprus' first female sexual wellness store. Use the special code mammamu for 10 euros off when you spend 50 euros or more. www.wigglecy.com Support the show

Joining other Feminist Cities around the world including Barcelona and Vienna, Glasgow became the UK's first self-proclaimed Feminist City in 2022. This inspired University of Liverpool staff to create the Liverpool Feminist City Network, connecting multiple areas of research. What is a Feminist City? How is academic research helping inform and create cities that are more inclusive for everyone? Gavin Freeborn is joined by leaders of the Liverpool Feminist City Network members Professor Catherine Durose and Dr Catherine Queen, plus early career researchers Dr Shreyashi Dasgupta and Dr Emma Spruce. More information available at https://www.liverpool.ac.uk/research/original-ideas/

TW: Vanaf 20:30 min. hebben we het meermaals over aanranding, verkrachting. Dit gaat gepaard met veel traumalachjes. In deze aflevering leggen Harriet en Sietske hun natuurlijk habitat onder de loep: de stad. Aan de hand van het boek Feminist City van Leslie Kern onderzoeken we hoe de anarchafeministische stad eruit zou moeten zien. Daarvoor vragen we ons af waarom we toch zo graag in de stad vertoeven, terwijl de stad ingericht is op able-bodied witte cis-mannen. We praten over toiletbezoek, nachtelijke wandelingen door het park, vervelende mannen, gentrificatie en nog veel meer. Heb je ideeën over hoe de anarchafeministische stad eruit zou moeten zien? Stuur dan een mail naar poetsdiemuur@riseup.net.

After a Jane Jacobs quote and respective bike moments including new rail trails, Vancouver cycling infrastructure and truck pollution, Faith and Val chat to Dr Lauren Pearson about her research on gendered barriers to cycling, including Adults' self-reported barriers and enablers to riding a bike for transport, Barriers and enablers of bike riding for transport and recreational purposes in Australia and What a girl wants: A mixed-methods study of gender differences in the barriers to and enablers of riding a bike in Australia. Also see The Conversation: How to get more women on bikes? Better biking infrastructure, designed by women, ABC: Limited escape routes on new Melbourne bike path a safety risk to women, cyclists say and Treehugger: Biggest Barrier to Biking Is the Fear of Cars Lauren discusses how lack of inclusivity, adequate planning and lack of safe seperated infrastructure influences how women perceive if they will ride a bicycle, as well as impacting upon mens participationNews includes recent Paris referendum on e-scooters, Victorian Road safety inquiry calls for submissions, War on Cars podcast: Feminist City with Leslie Kern and Conspiracy    

Miasto dla Kobiet, które się właśnie ukazało nakładem wydawnictwa Czarne, to nie jest podręcznik o tym jak projektować inkluzywne miasta. Książka Leslie Kern to bardziej pamiętnik, w którym przytacza historie ze swojego życia przeplatane faktami i danymi. Choć opisuje doświadczenia mieszkanki miast Ameryki Północnej, to opisywane sytuacje i problemy są często uniwersalne i wnoszą nowe spojrzenie na nasza polską rzeczywistość. Magdalena Milert w najnowszym Międzymiastowo przybliża nam spojrzenie Leslie Kern opisane w książce „Feminist City”.

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 FutureWomen and Planning (Part II)Children and town planning: creating places to growGender and Spatial Planning: Good Practice Note 7Gender 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

EPISODE 101: FEMINIST CITY WITH LESLIE KERN Cities have almost always been designed by men, prioritizing men's needs as defined by the traditional male-female binary. But as scholar and author Leslie Kern writes in her  book, Feminist City: Claiming Space in a Man-Made World, a truly feminist city could be, “an ongoing experiment in living differently, living better, and living more justly in an urban world.” Sarah talks with Dr. Kern about  how gender influences the way we move through our streets, and how adopting a feminist perspective could make our cities more humane and livable for everyone, regardless of gender identity.  This episode is sponsored by Cleverhood. Receive 15% off anything in the Cleverhood store using the special coupon code in this episode. Good for a limited time only!  ***Support The War on Cars on Patreon and receive exclusive access to ad-free versions of all our episodes, special bonus content and free stickers!*** LINKS: Find out more about Dr. Leslie Kern's work. Buy Feminist City and other books by podcast guests at our official Bookshop.org page. Pick up official  The War on Cars merch in our store.  This episode was produced and edited by Sarah Goodyear. Our theme music is by Nathaniel Goodyear. TheWarOnCars.org  

On today's Architectette podcast we welcome Katrina Johnston-Zimmerman. Katrina is an urban anthropologist that specializes in human behavior in public spaces. In 2019, she was selected as one of the BBC's 100 Influential Women Around the World and currently works as a data fellow for the City of Philadelphia within the Smart Cities Department doing research on data equity and privacy. She is dedicated to the improvement of public space, with extensive experience teaching and researching the topics we speak about. We talk about: - What is urban anthropology and how did it grow from the work of Jane Jacobs and Holly Whyte? - Surprising things you find in the city and what stories those items tell. - How cities identify and address problems to improve life for residents. - We discuss urban design improvements and lessons learned from the South Street Headhouse Square District, Barcelona, and Çatalhöyük. - Katrina shines a light on the bias of cities and how these biases impact layout, function, and policy. - We talk about strategies to invoke the spirit of urban anthropology in your professional and personal life. - I ask Katrina her opinion regarding the rising trend of suburban "Fake Downtowns", public space, and decentralization. Links: Katrina's Website (articles, talks, and more!): http://thinkurban.org/ Follow Katrina: https://www.instagram.com/think_katrina/ The Death and Life of Great American Cities, Jane Jacobs: https://bookshop.org/a/91133/9780679741954 More about William H. Whyte: https://www.pps.org/article/wwhyte More about Ada Colau's work in Barcelona: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/dec/23/two-way-street-how-barcelona-is-democratising-public-space Çatalhöyük Urban Design: https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/1405/ Feminist City, Leslie Kern: https://bookshop.org/a/91133/9781788739825 "Fake Downtowns" Article: https://cheddar.com/media/why-fake-downtowns-are-the-new-malls Architectette Podcast Website: www.architectette.com Connect with the pod on LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/groups/12735000/), Instagram (@architectette), and TikTok (@architectette) Music by AlexGrohl from Pixabay. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/architectette/support

There's a lot going on in the world. We touch base with updates on the protests in Iran, the abortion ban in Georgia and the 'first feminist city'. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Glasgow has become the first city in the UK to officially adopt a feminist town-planning-approach. Emma Barnett speaks to the woman behind the proposal Scottish Green Councillor Holly Bruce and the author of ‘Feminist City' Leslie Kern. What's a feminist city look like and what changes can we expect to see in Glasgow. One in five female doctors say they have considered early retirement due to menopause symptoms. A new report warns that without better support there could be ‘an exodus' of female doctors from the NHS. Emma talks to Dame Jane Dacre, President of the Medical Protection Society, a not-for-profit protection organisation for healthcare professionals, who conducted the survey. Plus, Dr Nadira Awal, a GP who specialises in Women's Health. The Treasury has warned of "inevitable" tax rises as Prime Minister Rishi Sunak seeks to fill a "black hole" in public finances. They agreed "tough decisions" were needed on tax rises, as well as on spending. The Treasury gave no details but said "everybody would need to contribute more in tax in the years ahead". So how did we get here, what are the changes announced in a couple of weeks' time likely to be and how will they affect you? We hear from two women in the know Claer Barratt the consumer editor at the Financial Times and Dame DeAnne Julius a Fellow in Global Economy and Finance at Chatham House, and a founder member of the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) of the Bank of England Plus Jan Etherington the writer of Radio 4's comedy Conversations from a Long Marriage joins Emma to discuss the highs and lows of bickering. Producer Beverley Purcell Presenter Emma Barnett

In Episode 2 of Season 2 of the Feminist City podcast series, Sneha Visakha is in conversation with Dr. Govind Gopakumar, Associate Professor and Chair, Centre for Engineering in Society at Concordia University. In this episode, they discuss Dr. Gopakumar's work in Bengaluru on topics ranging from the politics of urban infrastructure, urban mobility policies surrounding cars, buses and car-centric urban design along with the critiques of existing solutions to decongesting Bengaluru that contribute to the very problem it is trying to solve. They also discuss the use of law in shaping the city, lack of people's participation in determining policies and plans in cities and how this particularly affects women and other vulnerable populations in the city. Dr. Govind Gopakumar is currently Associate Professor in the Centre for Engineering in Society in the Faculty of Engineering and Computer Science at Concordia University. His specific interests are in the policy dynamics of urban infrastructure change, social dimensions of the sustainability of water supply, globalisation of urban infrastructure, interdisciplinarity in engineering education and social entrepreneurship for engineers. Dr. Gopakumar received his Ph.D. in Science and Technology Studies from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. Prior to that he received a M.S. in Energy and Environmental Policy from the University of Delaware and completed an M.S. in Electrical Engineering from Michigan Technological University. He has a B. Tech in Electrical Engineering from College of Engineering, University of Kerala, India. You can read more about him and his work here: https://govindgopakumar.net/ For background reading, we recommend perusing the literature provided below: Installing Automobility: Emerging Politics of Mobility and Streets in Indian Cities, Govind Gopakumar, MIT Press. Making a Feminist City – Planning Safety and Autonomy for Women, Sneha Visakha Indian Automobility, Govind Gopakumar, Concordia. Jaywalkers to be fined in special drive on pedestrian safety, The Hindu. Regime of Congestion: Technopolitics of Mobility and Inequality in Bengaluru, Govind Gopakumar, Science as Culture. Who will Decongest Bengaluru? Politics, Infrastructures, & Scapes. Govind Gopakumar, Mobilities. JNNURM as a Window on Urban Governance, Govind Gopakumar, Economic & Political Weekly. Bengaluru does not need a steel flyover worth hundreds of crores, voices rise against project, TNM Staff, The News Minute Free bus ride scheme for women begins in Delhi, The Economic Times Now, free bus rides for Capital's labour force, Sweta Goswami, Hindustan Times Car Country: An Environmental History (Weyerhaeuser Environmental Books Series), Christopher W. Wells, University of Washington Press. Fighting Traffic: The Dawn of the Motor Age in the American City, Peter Norton, MIT Press. Participolis, Consent and Contention in Neoliberal Urban India, Edited by Karen Coelho, Lalitha Kamath, M. Vijayabaskar, Routledge India Do Artifacts Have Politics? Langdon Winner, Daedalus, Modern Technology: Problem or Opportunity? The MIT Press Civic Groups: Bangalore Bus Prayanikara Vedike (BBPV) Bengaluru Bus Prayanikara Vedike's Bus Manifesto for BMTC Documentary: Social Life of a Bus, Govind Gopakumar & Bangalore Bus Prayanikara Vedike, Youtube. Podcast: Installing Automobility: Emerging Politics of Mobility and Streets in Indian Cities by Govind Gopakumar (Podcast), Govind Gopakumar, Sneha Annavarapu, New Books Network. Want to get in touch? Email sneha.visakha@vidhilegalpolicy.in or reach out to her on Twitter, @magicanarchist.

110: Nach den Landschaften geht es heute um die Stadt und ihre mehr oder minder feministische Beschaffenheit. Wir sprechen über Buchläden und geben euch ganz viele Tipps für die große Sommerpause mit. Und wir reden darüber, warum American Football die beste, aber auch eine der gefährlichsten Sportarten ist. Happy Summer! shownotes: Die Flüsse von London: https://www.dtv.de/buchreihen/die-fluesse-von-london-reihe-peter-grant One of the good ones: https://www.loewe-verlag.de/titel-0-0/one_of_the_good_ones-10076/ Feminist City: https://www.fembooks.de/Leslie-Kern-Feminist-City-Wie-Frauen-die-Stadt-erleben Kein Sommer ohne Dich: https://www.droemer-knaur.de/buch/emily-henry-kein-sommer-ohne-dich-9783426525197 Die kleine Bücherei in der Church Lane: https://www.suhrkamp.de/buch/rachael-lucas-die-kleine-buecherei-in-der-church-lane-t-9783458681380 Heartstopper: https://www.netflix.com/title/81059939 Iron Chef: https://www.netflix.com/title/81224668 Geo Epoche - Verbrechen der Vergangenheit: https://www.geo.de/wissen/verbrechen-der-vergangenheit---der-geo-epoche-podcast-30180010.html

In this episode, I talk with Leslie Kern about her book, Feminist City. We tend to think about our built environment as fixed and nothing to do with sexism, discrimination or bias. But like everything else in our world, our cities are shaped by gender as they were designed for one type of man at the exclusion women. In our conversation, Leslie exposes what is hidden in plain sight: the social inequalities embedded into our cities, homes, and neighbourhoods. Some topics of discussion include: “The female fear” is real! And women are not being irrational... Navigating the city as a mom (or parent) Why women often need headphones in order to be left alone (”smile, sweetheart!”) How policing is not the answer to keeping women safe How the lack of public infrastructure for care work deepens inequality among women as we participate in multiple layers of exploitation just to keep ourselves afloat By reimagining our cities we can build more just and sustainable environments for all And more! Powered by The Trouble Club: use the code STORY25 to get 25% off all Trouble ticket sales and membership payments  The quotes you will hear read during the interview are taken directly from the book, Feminist City. Transcription is available here Buy the book: US | UK | Global Mentioned in the episode: Blue Monday by Nicci French Written on the Body by Jeanette Winterson Feminism Interrupted by Lola Olufemi Sex and The Revitalized City by Leslie Kern Safetipin app Where to find Leslie Kern: Website | Instagram | Twitter -- Join the storytellers: ...and help elevate woman's story to our main narrative! Follow along Instagram | Twitter | Facebook | Youtube | LinkedIn Goodreads | Bookclub Subscribe to the newsletter The usuals Subscribe, rate and review on iTunes, apple podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts Share with a friend, colleague or family member Become a Patreon for access to bonus content and to support the podcast, or buy me a (metaphorical) coffee Check out The Story of Woman bookstore filled with 100's of books like this one. Any books purchased through the website links support this podcast AND local bookstores! Contact Questions? Comments? Feedback? I'd love to hear from you! thestoryofwoman@gmail.com www.thestoryofwomanpodcast.com

Hosted & Edited by: Sneha Visakha Intro Music: Wehrmut by Godmode Outro Music: Ophelia's Blues by Audionautix Assisted by: Ranu Tiwari TW – References to male violence against women, hijab ban, hindu supremacist politics In part 1 of the first episode of Season 2 of the Feminist City podcast series, Sneha Visakha is in conversation with Kavita Krishnan, noted feminist activist and author of Fearless Freedom. They discuss the question of women's freedom, a decade after the 2012 Delhi gangrape and murder that saw massive country-wide protests, which Kavita was a part of. They talk about women's autonomy, in the backdrop of the recent hijab ban in Karnataka's educational institutions, situating it in the context of far-right Hindu supremacist politics and anti-Muslim bigotry. In the first part of the conversation, they explore topics such as feminist negotiations with the politics of dress, Hindu majoritaritarianism, links between social conservatism and neoliberalism, and the importance of safeguarding constitutional values of secularism in India's heterogenous, multicultural and pluralistic society. Kavita Krishnan is a communist feminist activist and author. She is the Secretary of All India Progressive Women's Association (AIPWA) and politburo member of The Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) Liberation. She completed her B.A. from St. Xavier's College, Mumbai and M. Phil in English Literature from Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi (JNU). Her first book, Fearless Freedom, was published by Penguin in 2020. You can follow her on twitter @kavita_krishnan. For background reading, we recommend perusing the literature provided below. On Women's Freedom: Fearless Freedom, Kavita Krishnan, Penguin India https://penguin.co.in/book/fearless-freedom-2/ Kavita Krishnan argues in her new book that more autonomy means more safety for women in India, Kavita Krishnan, Scroll.in https://scroll.in/article/953499/kavita-krishnan-argues-in-her-new-book-that-more-autonomy-means-more-safety-for-women-in-india Making a Feminist City – Planning Safety and Autonomy in the City, Sneha Visakha https://vidhilegalpolicy.in/research/making-a-feminist-city-planning-safety-and-autonomy-for-women/ Hijab Ban: Majoritarianism is wearing the veil of debate, Kavita Krishnan, The Hindu https://www.thehindu.com/opinion/op-ed/majoritarianism-is-wearing-the-veil-of-debate/article38393478.ece Hijab issue: BJP's motive is to otherise Muslims, establish Hindu supremacy, Kavita Krishnan, The Leaflet https://theleaflet.in/hijab-issue-bjps-motive-is-to-otherise-muslims-establish-hindu-supremacy/ What Does International Human Rights Law Say About the Hijab Ban?, Rashmi Venkatesan, The Wire https://thewire.in/rights/hijab-ban-karnataka-international-human-rights-law The Instigator: How MS Golwalkar's virulent ideology underpins Modi's India, Hartosh Singh Bal, The Caravan https://caravanmagazine.in/reportage/golwalkar-ideology-underpins-modi-india Rethinking Pluralism, Secularism and Tolerance – Anxieties of Coexistence' review: The principle of justice, Uma Mahadevan Dasgupta, The Hindu https://www.thehindu.com/books/books-reviews/rethinking-pluralism-secularism-and-tolerance-anxieties-of-coexistence-review-the-principle-of-justice/article28785634.ece The Two Husbands of Vera Tiscenko: Apostasy, Conversion, and Divorce in Late Colonial India, Rohit De, Cambridge University Press https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/law-and-history-review/article/two-husbands-of-vera-tiscenko-apostasy-conversion-and-divorce-in-late-colonial-india/155F099E59012CB08514B2B5A2740E61 Want to get in touch? Email sneha.visakha@vidhilegalpolicy.in or reach out to her on Twitter, @magicanarchist.

In this episode we talk to urban scholar Leslie Kern (https://lesliekern.ca/) author of the Feminist City, about how to build cities with women in mind. We explore how cities can show up better for women in caregiving roles and how we build safety into our city for low-income and homeless women, who are most vulnerable to outdated patriarchal design practices. Using a dash of urban planning while drawing inspiration from other feminist centric projects we reimagine Waterloo, from transportation and infrastructure, to how to modernize the safety value of pay phones. This podcast is a continuation from a guest lecture done in February 2022 by Leslie Kern as part of our collaborative speaker series with the City of Kitchener 'Building Equitable Cities', where we invite thought leaders into our community to share knowledge that challenges our tired traditions and builds equity.

Cześć! W tym odcinku zapraszamy Was do rozmowy na temat adresów i przestrzeni. Adres często stanowi dla nas przezroczysty element rzeczywistości, ale Deirdre Mask, autorka jednej z książek, o których mówimy w podkaście, udowadnia nam, że nie zawsze tak było i nie wszędzie tak jest. Zastanawiamy się też nad tym, co to znaczy, że miasto jest „feministyczne” razem z geografką Leslie Kern. Zapraszamy do słuchania! Książki, o których rozmawiamy w podkaście, to: Deirdre Mask, „Adresy. Co mówią nam o tożsamości, statucie i władzy”, tłum. Agnieszka Wilga, wydawnictwo Znak; Leslie Kern, „Feminist City. Claiming Space In A Man-made World”, Verso Books. Za książkę „Adresy” dziękujemy wydawnictwu Znak. Mamy Patronite! Jeżeli chcesz dołączyć do naszego grona Matronek i Patronów będziemy zaszczycone! Dla tych, którzy zdecydują się nas wspierać, mamy spersonalizowane książkowe rekomendacje, newslettery głosowe, podziękowania na stronie i wiele więcej! Szczegóły tutaj: https://patronite.pl/juztlumacze Zachęcamy do odwiedzin na naszym profilu na Instagramie: https://www.instagram.com/juz_tlumacze i na Facebooku https://www.facebook.com/juz.tlumacze oraz na naszej stronie internetowej https://juztlumacze.pl/ Intro: http://bit.ly/jennush

An exciting special episode of On the Engender today as we are joined by author Leslie Kern and urbanism expert Daisy Narayanan, hot off the heels of an event held in September.  Alys Mumford and Amanda Aitken chat with Leslie, Daisy and Engender's Policy and Parliamentary Manager Eilidh Dickson about planning, transport, safety, care work, and how we can build feminist spaces.  Content note: this episode includes reference to Sarah Everard and Sabina Nessa's murders.  Recommendations from this episode are: Flâneuse by Lauren Elkin Following Glasgow Women's Library, Talat Yaqoob, Louise MacDonald, Engender and Leslie Kern on Twitter Feminism, Interrupted by Lola Olufemi Schitt's Creek She Settles in the Shields: 10 years on  How we live now: reimagining spaces with Matrix Feminist Design Collective Feminist Housing Activism blog series Access a transcript of this episode here and watch the webinar here. On the Engender is produced for Engender by Amanda Aitken. Jingle by Bossy Love.

This week we're joined by Professor Leslie Kern to talk about her book Feminist City.  We talk about the need to make more spaces for non-traditional relationships, feminist geography and intersectionality, and how care work taxes personal transportation budgets.   Follow us on twitter @theoverheadwire Support the show on Patreon: http://patreon.com/theoverheadwire  

Librarians love getting book recommendations too! As a citywide initiative, Providence Community Library invited Groundwork Rhode Island's Executive Director, Amelia Rose, to co-host PCL READS in April 2021 and to select the next book. Combining personal memoir, feminist theory and pop culture analysis, Feminist City by Leslie Kern is a revelatory work that “offers intersectional insights into the gendered nature of the modern city” (Kirkus). This episode features Leslie Kern's talk, but you can listen to the full community conversation that followed at Providence Community Library YouTube Channel- just start the video at 29:00 to pick up where the episode leaves off! ABOUT THE AUTHOR Dr. Leslie Kern is an Associate Professor of Geography and Environment and Director of Women's and Gender Studies at Mount Allison University. She is the author of Feminist City: Claiming Space in a Man-made World and Sex and the Revitalized City: Gender, Condominium Development, and Urban Citizenship. Her research focuses on gentrification in North American cities, exploring issues such as embodiment, gendered labor conditions, and environmental and human health using feminist urban theory. ABOUT GROUNDWORK RI Groundwork Rhode Island is a community-based non-profit dedicated to creating healthier and more resilient urban communities in Rhode Island. They achieve this through a variety of urban stewardship programs, which seek to support local residents in the development of economic resources that improve their individual lives and communities, as well as improve both the natural and built urban environment, especially in economically-distressed areas. Groundwork RI's core programs include Green Team youth employment, adult environmental job training, Harvest Cycle composting service, which employs both youth and adults involved in Groundwork RI's programs, and GroundCorp landscaping service, which hires graduates of the adult job training program. Groundwork RI also runs the Ring Street Community Garden in Providence's Federal Hill neighborhood, the Prairie Avenue Greenhouse in South Providence, and the soon-to-be West End Compost Hub --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/rhodyradio/message

Leslie Kern is the author of The Feminist City — Claiming Space in a Man-Made World, a book which, since publication in 2019, has sparked conversations between those who design the city, and those who study it, and who live in it. In this episode, she speaks with Reuben J. Brown about the inequities and complexities of our dominant urban designs and ways of living, while looking towards more liveable, more just, alternatives.And the new urban world Leslie Kern imagines in the Feminist City isn't designed in a top-down, universalising way — like the utopian urban dreams of the mid 20th Century. Rather, she seeks existing and historical pockets of feminist cities and asks what it would mean to extrapolate those models more broadly. Leslie's academic background is in gender studies: she's currently an associate professor of geography and environment, and director of women's and gender studies, at Mount Allison University in Canada. And she brings this viewpoint to discussing the city: acknowledging the complex layers of physical infrastructure and human relationships; private homes, and public squares, that make up the places we live. Throughout this conversation, you'll hear us reference writers, and design collectives who have imagined feminist alternatives, and often put them into practice. And to learn from the success of these projects, is to acknowledge that if design is to have an impact on the culture of patriarchy, it first has to change its own culture; move away from the notion of the master architect, and do a lot more listening from the bottom-up.

In this episode, hosts Alys Mumford and Amanda Stanley are joined by Engender's Eilidh Dickson, and Caitlin Logan and Marie Spalding from One Parent Families Scotland.  Hear from Caitlin and Marie about how young single parent families are up to £66.13 worse off per month under Universal Credit compared with the previous social security system, and why Engender are supporting One Parent Families Scotland's campaign to End the Young Parent Penalty.  Find out more about the campaign here and follow OPFS on Twitter here. Access a transcript of this episode here. Recommendations from this episode were: Philip Sim's thread on the Scottish Government photo day Feminist City by Leslie Kern The Great British Sewing Bee Couch to 5k The Mighty Ducks: Game Changers Beloved by Toni Morrison  On the Engender is produced by Amanda Stanley for Engender. Jingle by Bossy Love

Author of 'Feminist City: A Field Guide' Dr. Leslie Kern explores how cities exclude women and other minority groups when being designed and constructed. #MyJasper Memories | Spirit Island - Ryan reminisces about the jagged mountain peaks surrounding the glacier-fed waters of magical Maligne Lake, where the world-famous Spirit Island can be discovered (only by boat). jasper.travel/realtalk Introducing the 'Local Democracy Pledge' to encourage Alberta election candidates to uphold positive, solution-oriented culture, free from undue partisan and financial influences. Alberta Urban Municipalities Association's President Barry Morishita, St. Albert Mayor Cathy Heron and Edmonton City Councillor Andrew Knack outlines the need for the voluntary pledge now. #DropTheUCP Protester Albert Nobbs explains why he's occupying the Alberta Legislature grounds this week in downtown Edmonton. 16:12 - Dr. Leslie Kern 34:53 - Local Democracy Pledge panel 1:38:02 - Albert Nobbs

“Physical places like cities matter when we want to think about social change,” writes Leslie Kern. So in this third episode in a trilogy on 21st century feminisms, Matt & Jesse move from celebrating feminist manifestoes to exploring feminist geographies with a discussion of Kern's Feminist City: Claiming Space in a Man-Made World. This richly observed mapping of man-made urban spaces expertly juxtaposes pop cultural reflections, academic scholarship and hauntingly personal accounts of a lifetime struggling to claim feminine space in cities, first as a child, then a teenager & college student and later as a mother & scholar. As the feminist geographer Jane Darke once said: “Our cities are patriarchy written in stone, brick, glass and concrete.” In all-too obvious displays of crude masculine power, the towering phallic monuments to capitalist expropriation that define city skylines cast long shadows reminding us all that this is a man's world. From 12th century churches, to 20th century office towers, and from Beverly Hills mansions to billionaire's row penthouses—cities are monuments to myth-making, extraction, and exploitation—making concrete structures out of the poisoned logics of religion, capitalism, and celebrity. The world is built by and for patriarchy, and it's the “cosmic background radiation” of white, male, cis-hetero, and able-bodied privileges that allows men to coast through life on cruise control, never burdened by the realities of other people's lives. Free from the constant nagging fear of sexual violence lurking around every public and private corner, men not only enjoy the privilege of designing our global cities, but they're also free to explore them with unrestrained liberty. The geography of the city demonstrates clearly that the maintenance of capitalism is contingent upon an ever-present threat of violence, and primarily on gender-based violence. The sustained anxieties perpetuated by patriarchy and white supremacy are manifest not only in the violence enacted through policing and policy making, but also in the shape of our urban environments. So to transform the city, we must look beyond simply “gender-mainstreaming” city planning and vacuous liberal pleas for symbolic reforms. As Kern writes, “once we begin to see how the city is set up to sustain a particular way of organizing society—across gender, race, sexuality, and more—we can start to look for new possibilities.” So we must start to look for those possibilities to decommodify life and democratize society. Because the reality is, without challenging the notion of private property, we aren't challenging the patriarchy. Private property and the enclosure of land is the conscription of patriarchy on the planet. To demolish this structural domination and transform our cities into environments that are open, safe, and free for everyone, we must once and for all—abolish the motherfucking cost of living.    Comprehensive Show Notes Can Be Found at thefutureisamixtape.com Feel Free to Contact Jesse & Matt on the Following Spaces & Places: thefutureisamixtape@gmail.com Facebook Twitter Instagram

Producer and Host: Sneha Visakha; Intro Music: Wehrmut by Godmode; Outro Music: Opheliea's Blues by Audionautix TW: references to violence against women, girls, gender and sexual minorities In the final episode of this season of the Feminist City podcast series, Sneha Visakha engages with the why feminist urbanism matters, reflecting on the learnings garnered from this project so far. She describes the background of this project and discusses key cases that spurred conversations on the relationship between women and urban public space - from the Nirbhaya case in 2012, the case concerning Dr. Priyanka Reddy in 2019, and more recently, Sarah Everard in March 2021 - and how responses in each instance seems to be riddled with the same set of stereotypes and misconceptions that plague popular understanding of patriarchal violence against women and girls and how to prevent it. She discusses the biased nature of English media reporting in India of ‘people like us' which tend to focus on specific instances of brutal violence affecting certain classes of privileged women in urban centres, rather than attend to the ongoing and systemic nature of gender-based violence. She also discusses the importance of understanding the city as an active participant in the production of patriarchal violence and of adopting an intersectional feminist approach that interrogates the material basis of exclusion in the city that disadvantages women and girls on the basis of gender in addition to other forms of social identity such as caste, class, religion, sexuality, ability and others. She concludes the episode with revisiting the question of why feminist urbanism matters and what it entails for lawyers, policy practitioners and for everyone interested in building safe and equitable cities. Readings: Making a Feminist City – Planning Safety and Autonomy for Women, Sneha Visakha https://vidhilegalpolicy.in/research/making-a-feminist-city-planning-safety-and-autonomy-for-women/ British Police Officer Charged With Murder in Killing of Sarah Everard, Elian Peltier, The New York Times, March 2021 https://www.nytimes.com/2021/03/12/world/europe/uk-sarah-everard.html Devastatingly pervasive: 1 in 3 women globally experience violence, World Health Organisation, March 2021 https://www.who.int/news/item/09-03-2021-devastatingly-pervasive-1-in-3-women-globally-experience-violence Rape Culture in India: The Role of the English-Language Press, Joanna Jolly & Uzra Khan https://shorensteincenter.org/rape-culture-india-english-language-press/ Dalit women continue to face atrocities for claiming their rights, Ritwika Mitra, The New Indian Express https://www.newindianexpress.com/nation/2021/mar/09/dalit-women-continue-to-face-atrocities-for-claiming-their-rights-2274367.html Four deaths and an arrest mark Adivasi women's struggles with Bastar police, Malini Subramaniam, Scroll.in https://scroll.in/article/990264/four-deaths-and-an-arrest-mark-adivasi-womens-struggles-with-bastar-police Nandini Sundar: Militarization of the imagination, Chitrangada Choudhury, LiveMint https://www.livemint.com/Leisure/zyfPVZSNYs3suCelqi4vBP/Nandini-Sundar-Militarization-of-the-imagination.html Woman's suicide prompts Indian state to mull LGBT+ conversion therapy ban, Devasia Jose, Reuters https://www.reuters.com/article/us-india-lgbt-court-feature-trfn-idUSKBN27D1OU Misgendering, Sexual Violence, Harassment: What it Is to Be a Transgender Person in an Indian Prison, Sukanya Shantha, The Wire https://thewire.in/lgbtqia/transgender-prisoners-india Books: The Rape of Sita, Lindsey Collen https://www.feministpress.org/books-n-z/the-rape-of The Burning Forest, Nandini Sundar https://www.juggernaut.in/books/burning-forest-1 Video: The deteriorating health of Bengaluru's Pourakarmikas, Theja Ram, The News Minute; See the video interview in this link. https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=2727740800626137

Producer and Host: Sneha Visakha Intro Music: Wehrmut by Godmode Outro Music: Opheliea's Blues by Audionautix In the ninth episode of the Feminist City, Sneha Visakha is in conversation with Dr. Mohsin Alam Bhat, Associate Professor, Jindal Global Law School. He is the principal investigator of the Housing Discrimination Project (HDP), a three-year empirical research project on urban rental housing discrimination in India. In this episode, they discuss the housing discrimination project and the nature of rental housing discrimination against Muslims in Indian cities such as Delhi and Mumbai. Dr. Bhat explains the modalities and narratives that underpin discriminatory practices against Muslims in the city and how ‘access' to housing networks differs for different groups in the city. He also highlights the need to understand the cost and impact of discrimination, not merely in terms of outcomes, but as an ongoing, affective process, that results in the construction of exclusionary cities. They also discuss the role of law in addressing discrimination and the importance of multidisciplinary engagements with the law. You can read more about Dr. Mohsin Alam Bhatt, here: https://jgu.edu.in/jgls/faculty/mohsin-alam-bhat/ and find more information on the Housing Discrimination Project, here: https://jgu.edu.in/jgls/faculty-research/research-centers/public-interest-law/housing-discrimination-project/. Readings Cities Divided: How Exclusion Of Muslims Sharpens Inequality, Mohsin Alam Bhat & Asaf Ali Lone, Article14 https://www.article-14.com/post/cities-divided-how-exclusion-of-muslims-sharpens-inequality Bigotry At Home: How Delhi, Mumbai Keep Muslim Tenants Out, Mohsin Alam Bhat, Article14 https://www.article-14.com/post/bigotry-at-home-how-delhi-mumbai-keep-muslim-tenants-out Urban Rental Housing Market: Caste and Religion Matters in Access, Sukhdeo Thorat, Anuradha Banerjee, Vinod K. Mishra, Firdaus Rizvi, EPW (2015) https://www.epw.in/journal/2015/26-27/housing-discrimination/urban-rental-housing-market.html For whom does the phone (not) ring? Discrimination in the rental housing market in Delhi, India, Saugato Datta, Vikram Pathania, WIDER Working Paper (2016) https://www.wider.unu.edu/publication/whom-does-phone-not-ring Muslims in Indian Cities: Trajectories of Marginalisation, eds. Laurent Gayer, Christophe Jaffrelot, Hurst Publishers (2012) https://books.google.co.in/books/about/Muslims_in_Indian_Cities.html?id=qSnmSjPO6JsC&source=kp_book_description&redir_esc=y In Search of Fraternity: Constitutional Law and the Context of Housing Discrimination in India, Rowena Robinson, EPW https://www.epw.in/journal/2015/26-27/housing-discrimination/search-fraternity.html The Capitalist Logic of Spatial Segregation: A Study of Muslims in Delhi, Ghazala Jamil, EPW http://epw.in/journal/2014/3/special-articles/capitalist-logic-spatial-segregation.html The Right Time to Speak of Housing Rights in India is Right Now, Sushmita Pati, TheWire https://thewire.in/urban/housing-rights-covid-19-city-space-delhi-mumbai

Producer and Host: Sneha Visakha; Intro Music: Wehrmut by Godmode; Outro Music: Opheliea's Blues by Audionautix; Trigger Warning: references to gender-based violence and structural violence Kindly note – This episode is English and Hindi; a translated transcript will be put up on our website shortly. In the eighth epsiode of the Feminist City, Sneha Visakha is in conversation with Deepa Pawar, Founder-Director, Anubhuti Trust. In this episode, they talk about the diversity of urban youth, the challenges young women & girls face in the city, particularly those belonging to vulnerable communities such as nomadic and denotified tribes (NT-DNTs) in the city. They talk about the right to pee campaign, the way urban infrastructure and deprivation contributes to gender-based violence, exclusion and injustice. They discuss the politics of urban development, about who helps build the city and who benefits from the current paradigms of development, about ‘mental justice' as a critical dimension of social justice to be situated in the constitutional framework, and about the invisible structural violence that city-dwellers experience, particularly those belonging to NT-DNT communities. Deepa Pawar is the Founder and Director of Anubhuti Trust, with 20 years of experience in the social development sector. With a Masters' in Social Work, she is a trained counsellor who has worked extensively with vulnerable communities and a core member of the Right to Pee campaign. She is an internationally recognised NT-DNT woman activist and wrote the first ever book documenting Gadiya Lohar nomadic tribe's iron weapons / tools making. Anubhuti Trust, formed and self-led by women from different backgrounds, work on wide-ranging issues such as youth leadership, community development, mental justice, disaster risk management and constitutional literacy among others, from a gender justice, anti-discrimination and constitutional lens. You can read more about Deepa Pawar and her organization, Anubhuti Trust here: https://www.anubhutitrust.org/about/. If you would like to support their work, you can find information here: https://www.anubhutitrust.org/get-involved/ Readings: Mental Justice of the NT-DNTs in Context of the Pandemic, Deepa Pawar, EPW https://www.epw.in/engage/article/mental-justice-nt-dnts-context-pandemic Mental Justice: An Action-Research Report with College Youth in Maharashtra, India, Anubhuti Trust https://drive.google.com/file/d/1OZc3wrnWQIsO4uJfDZ0QQtK9qSiSLa5t/view Reporting on the Payal Tadvi case - Livemint, TheWire https://www.livemint.com/mint-lounge/features/payal-tadvi-suicide-case-the-death-of-a-doctor-1559891147950.html https://thewire.in/law/payal-tadvi-suicide-case-supreme-court-allows-accused-doctors-to-pursue-higher-education Journey to Social Awareness, with Deepa Pawar, The New Indian Woman Podcast https://www.thenewindianwoman.com/post/journey-to-social-awareness-with-deepa-pawar The Right to Pee Campaign (article), Refinery29, Video Explainer, Mumtaz Shaikh, BBC https://www.refinery29.com/en-us/2015/12/99116/right-to-pee-india-safe-bathrooms-campaign https://www.bbc.com/news/av/world-asia-34861876 Infographic: Study on the socio-economic and educational status of denotified tribes (DNTs), Vijay Korra, EPW Engage https://www.epw.in/engage/article/denotified-tribes-evidence-undivided-andhra-pradesh Arbitrary & Disproportionate Criminalisation of Marginalised Communities, Srujana Bej, Nikita Sonavane, Ameya Bokil, Oxford Human Rights Hub https://ohrh.law.ox.ac.uk/arbitrary-disproportionate-criminalisation-of-marginalised-communities-a-countermap-of-pandemic-policing-in-india/ Countermapping Pandemic Policing - Sanctioned Violence in Madhya Pradesh, Criminal Justice and Police Accountability Project https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.indiaspend.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/Countermapping-Pandemic-Policing-CPAProject.pdf&sa=D&source=editors&ust=1614954882938000&usg=AOvVaw3dVHY_-EEamYrD1AOyLOk8

Producer and Host: Sneha Visakha; Intro Music: Wehrmut by Godmode; Outro Music: Opheliea's Blues by Audionautix Trigger Warning: references to gender-based violence and domestic violence It has been a decade since the publication of Why Loiter? a book that changed the way we think about women's safety, autonomy and how women and girls occupy the Indian city. In the seventh episode of the Feminist City, Sneha Visakha is in conversation with Dr. Shilpa Phadke, one of the authors. They talk about the ways thinking around women's safety has changed or remained the same, about women claiming political citizenship, the way ‘love jihad' is constructed to target the Muslim community while exercising control over women and girls, about how one can understand and embody the lessons of Why Loiter? a decade later in the background of the paternalistic, anti-democratic and neoliberal contexts we increasingly find ourselves in. They also discuss Dr. Phadke's work on desexualising safety, the right to claim risk, what it means to be a feminist parent to children, and how does one nurture feminist imagination? Dr. Shilpa Phadke is an Associate Professor at the Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai. You can read about her work here: https://www.tiss.edu/view/9/employee/shilpa-phadke/ Readings Why Loiter? Women and Risk on Mumbai Streets, Shilpa Phadke, Shilpa Ranade, Sameera Khan, Penguin India https://books.google.co.in/books/about/Why_Loiter.html?id=HWi-S1ZAdOgC&redir_esc=y Unfriendly Bodies, Hostile Cities: Reflections on Loitering and Gendered Public Space, Shilpa Phadke, Economic and Political Weekly https://www.academia.edu/4550964/Unfriendly_Bodies_Hostile_Cities_Reflections_on_Loitering_and_Gendered_Public_Space Dangerous Liaisons; Women and Men: Risk and Reputation in Mumbai, Shilpa Phadke, Economic and Political Weekly https://www.epw.in/journal/2007/17/review-womens-studies-review-issues-specials/dangerous-liaisons.html If Women Could Risk Pleasure: Reinterpreting Violence in Public Space, Shilpa Phadke, in Bishakha Datta (ed.) Nine Degrees of Justice: New perspectives on violence against women in India, Zubaan https://zubaanbooks.com/shop/nine-degrees-of-justice/ Feminist Mothering: Some Notes on Sexuality and Risk from Urban India, Shilpa Phadke, Journal of South Asian Studies https://www.academia.edu/3624227/Feminist_Mothering_Some_Reflections_on_Sexuality_and_Risk_from_Urban_India Sexual Violence and Sexuality Education - The Missing Link, Ketaki Chowkhani, Kafila https://kafila.online/2012/12/25/sexual-violence-and-sexuality-education-the-missing-link-guest-post-by-ketaki-chowkhani/ Habits of Leaking: Of Sluts and Network Cards, Wendy Chun & Sarah Friedland https://www.researchgate.net/publication/282302834_Habits_of_Leaking_Of_Sluts_and_Network_Cards Making a Feminist City - Planning Safety and Autonomy in the City, Sneha Visakha https://vidhilegalpolicy.in/research/making-a-feminist-city-planning-safety-and-autonomy-for-women/ Reclaiming Our Public Spaces, Shiny Varghese, The Indian Express https://indianexpress.com/article/express-sunday-eye/room-for-dignity-public-places-shivaji-park-india-gate-nariman-point-shaheen-bagh-central-vista-redevelopment-6232703/ Rest As A Form of Social Justice, NPR Interview with Tricia Hersey, founder, The Nap Ministry: Rest as Resistance https://www.npr.org/2020/06/04/869952476/atlanta-based-organization-advocates-for-rest-as-a-form-of-social-justice The History of Doing, An Illustrated Account of Movements of Women's Rights and Feminism in India (1800 – 1990), Radha Kumar, Zubaan https://zubaanbooks.com/shop/history-of-doing-an-illustrated-account-of-movements-for-womens-rights-and-feminism-in-india-1800-1990/ How to Raise a Feminist Son, Sonora Jha, Penguin India https://penguin.co.in/book/how-to-raise-a-feminist-son/

Producer and Host: Sneha Visakha; Intro Music: Wehrmut by Godmode; Outro Music: Opheliea's Blues by Audionautix Trigger Warning: references to violence against women, sexual harassment, carcerality, and extra-judicial violence Legal approaches to women's safety have tended to be highly dominated by discussions around criminal justice and carcerality. In this episode, Sneha Visakha is in conversation with Alok Prasanna Kumar about why tackling violence against women must shift away from criminal approaches to bringing about structural changes towards correcting gendered power imbalance in society - making questions of municipal law, education and social and economic justice mechanisms sites for feminist legal intervention. They discuss the contrast in the State's paternalistic protectionism towards women's safety versus the targeting of young women by the State's criminal apparatus, changing goals of feminist movements, varied state responses to violence against women belonging to marginalised communities, about carcerality, trauma and why the criminal justice system doesn't seem to work for women. Readings: Making a Feminist City - Planning Safety and Autonomy in the City, Sneha Visakha https://vidhilegalpolicy.in/research/making-a-feminist-city-planning-safety-and-autonomy-for-women/ Power, An open letter to the Supreme Court changed the way many Indians thought about women's rights, Sarita Santhoshini, FiftyTwo.in https://fiftytwo.in/story/power/ The Unconstitutionality of the Marital Rape Exemption in India, Agnidipto Tarafder and Adrija Ghosh, Oxford Human Rights Hub https://bit.ly/3qzaFmo Submission to UNSR on Violence Against Women on Thematic Report on Rape, Sandra Fredman, Anjali Rawat, Aradhana Cherupara Vadekkethil and Meghan Campbell, Oxford Human Rights Hub https://ohrh.law.ox.ac.uk/publications/submission-to-unsr-on-violence-against-women-on-thematic-report-on-rape/ Feminism in Legal Education, Catherine Mackinnon; Feminist Legal Theories, Summary http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/journals/LegEdRev/1989/7.html https://cyber.harvard.edu/bridge/CriticalTheory/critical3.txt.htm The “Public Secret” of Torture, Its Dimensions and Context, In conversation with Jinee Lokaneeta, Indian Journal of Law and Public Policy https://ijlpp.com/in-conversation-with-prof-jinee-lokaneeta-the-public-secret-of-torture-its-dimensions-and-context/ On sexual harassment, why complain, strategic inefficiency, nodding as a non-performative, in the thick of it, complaint and survival, Sara Ahmed, Feminist Killjoys https://feministkilljoys.com/2015/12/03/sexual-harassment/ Book Review: Sheela Reddy's Mr And Mrs Jinnah: The Marriage That Shook India, LiveMint https://www.livemint.com/Leisure/5ZctNxvhWGgJWAIfWjr5MM/Book-review-Mr-And-Mrs-Jinnah.html Most Harassment of Transgender People is by Police, Times of India https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/chennai/Police-harass-transgenders-most-says-study/articleshow/51869919.cms One in Every Three Under-Trial Prisoners in India Is Either SC or ST: Study, The Wire https://thewire.in/rights/one-in-every-three-under-trial-prisoners-in-india-is-either-sc-or-st-study People of denotified tribes continue to bear the burden of an unjust colonial past, Nikita Sonavane , Srujana Bej , Ameya Bokil, The Indian Express https://indianexpress.com/article/opinion/people-of-denotified-tribes-continue-to-bear-the-burden-of-an-unjust-colonial-past-7095613/ What to Say to Your Daughter About Campus Sexual Assault, Nicole Bedera, Slate https://slate.com/human-interest/2020/03/daughter-advice-sexual-assault-college.html A detailed list of readings is here: https://vidhilegalpolicy.in/podcasts/the-feminist-city-trailer/shifting-away-from-criminal-approaches-and-carcerality-for-gender-justice/

Host: Sneha Visakha; Intro Music: Wehrmut by Godmode; Outro Music: Opheliea's Blues by Audionautix In the fifth episode of The Feminist City podcast series, we speak with Prem Chandavarkar, Bengaluru based architect about the central vista redevelopment project. Some of the issues we touch upon are the background and recent developments around the central vista redevelopment project, the paradigms of urban development in India, implications of the Supreme Court ruling on participatory planning in the context of imagining feminist cities and the role of the everyday citizen in constructing and participating in the city. Central Vista Redevelopment Project: The Architecture of Democracy: Central Vista and a Tale of Three Axes, Prem Chandavarkar, India Forum (Essay and Podcast episode) https://www.theindiaforum.in/article/architecture-democracy Monumental Mistakes, The undemocratic vision behind the redevelopment of Delhi's Central Vista, Prem Chandavarkar, Caravan https://caravanmagazine.in/government/undemocratic-vision-behind-redevelopment-delhi-central-vista SC's Central Vista Verdict Equates Development With Development Projects, Interview with Kanchi Kohli and Manju Menon, The Wire https://thewire.in/law/supreme-court-central-vista-project-verdict-manju-menon-kanchi-kohli-interview Supreme Court Ruling in the Central Vista Case: Central Vista Ruling Sets Dangerous Precedent for Judicial Review, Jahnavi Sindhu and Vikram Aditya Narayan, The Quint https://www.thequint.com/voices/opinion/central-vista-supreme-court-ruling-judicial-review-dangerous-precedent Central Vista, Executive's Caprice and Rule of Law, Suhrith Parthasarathy, The Hindu https://www.thehindu.com/opinion/lead/central-vista-executives-caprice-and-rule-of-law/article33545045.ece Urban Governance and Participatory Planning: Urban Governance, How Democratic? Urban Policies and the Right to the City in India, UNESCO, New Delhi https://www.researchgate.net/publication/280638109_Urban_Policies_and_the_Right_to_the_City_in_India_Rights_Responsibilities_and_Citizenship Planning from below: using feminist participatory methods to increase women's participation in urban planning, Sara Ortiz Escalante & Blanca Gutiérrez Valdivia, Gender and Development https://www.researchgate.net/publication/273922111_Planning_from_below_using_feminist_participatory_methods_to_increase_women's_participation_in_planning Videos: Urban Design Politics: The proposed redevelopment of the Central Vista in New Delhi, Bangalore International Centre (Presentation on the history and proposed redevelopment of the Central Vista Project followed by a panel discussion) https://bangaloreinternationalcentre.org/event/urban-design-politics/ Structures of Power Being Built Over the Ruins of Environment, NewsClick (Hindi) https://www.newsclick.in/structures-power-being-built-over-ruins-environment (NewsClick has a series of videos, articles and interviews on various aspects of history, heritage and environmental issues related to the Central Vista Redevelopment Project that can be accessed here) https://www.newsclick.in/articles/Central%20Vista/videos

Host: Sneha Visakha; Intro Music: Wehrmut by Godmode; Outro Music: Opheliea's Blues by Audionautix In the fourth episode of The Feminist City podcast, we speak with Dr. Naveen Bharathi, Post-Doctoral Fellow at the Center for the Advanced Study of India (CASI), University of Pennsylvania. Naveen's work is at the intersection of political sociology and political economy of identity and he has worked on spatial segregation in contemporary urban India. Some issues we touch upon are: urbanisation and how cities are segregated on the lines of caste and religion, history of urban development in Bengaluru, housing discrimination and impact of ghettoisation on people's everyday life. Explore these questions in the Feminist City podcast series, hosted by Sneha Visakha. You can read more about our guest, Dr. Naveen Bharathi here. For background reading, we recommend perusing the literature provided below. Neighbourhood-scale Residential Segregation in Indian Metros, Naveen Bharathi, Deepak Malghan & Andaleeb Rahman https://www.epw.in/journal/2019/30/notes/neighbourhood-scale-residential-segregation-indian.html Why Lucknow, Jaipur don't see communal riots but Delhi and Ahmedabad do, Naveen Bharathi & Kashif-Ul-Huda https://theprint.in/opinion/why-lucknow-jaipur-dont-see-communal-riots-but-delhi-and-ahmedabad-do/380171/ In Ahmedabad's Juhapura, exploring the paradoxes of Muslim ghettoisation, Sharik Laliwala, Christophe Jaffrelot & Priyal Thakkar https://scroll.in/article/983339/in-ahmedabads-juhapura-exploring-the-paradoxes-of-muslim-ghettoisation Muslims in Indian cities: Degrees of segregation and the elusive ghetto, Raphael Susewind https://kclpure.kcl.ac.uk/portal/en/publications/muslims-in-indian-cities(80cf21c9-1c8d-46ea-826d-9b379d255a55).html Employment, Exclusion and 'Merit' in the Indian IT Industry, Carol Upadhya https://www.epw.in/journal/2007/20/special-articles/employment-exclusion-and-merit-indian-it-industry.html Divided Cities Cannot Be Smart Cities, Alok Prasanna Kumar & Srijoni Sen https://thewire.in/culture/divided-cities-cannot-be-smart-cities Let's Talk About Housing Discrimination, Gautam Bhatia https://thewire.in/culture/lets-talk-about-housing-discrimination

Host: Sneha Visakha; Intro Music: Wehrmut by Godmode; Outro Music: Opheliea's Blues by Audionautix; In Part 2 of the third episode of The Feminist City podcast series, we speak to Dr. Sarayu Natarajan, Founder, Aapti Institute about their work on women in the platform economy and political participation of women in cities. Some issues we touch upon are: how do women participate in the platform economy, the disproportionate emotional labour women workers shoulder, algorithmic surveillance, gender roles, future of work and finally, engage with questions of political participation and the value of representation. Explore these questions in the Feminist City podcast series, hosted by Sneha Visakha. For background reading, we recommend perusing the links provided below. Readings: Futures of Workers, Shruti Gupta and Dr Sarayu Natarajan https://www.aapti.in/blog/futures-of-workers Covid-19 Calls for Re-Thinking Social Security for India's Platform Workers, Sneha Visakha https://vidhilegalpolicy.in/blog/covid-19-calls-for-re-thinking-social-security-for-indias-platform-workers/ Towards A Gender Equal Future of Work for Women, Saloni Atal https://tandemresearch.org/publications/towards-a-gender-equal-future-of-work-for-women-a-preliminary-case-study-of-women-in-the-gig-economy-in-india-during-covid-19

Host: Sneha Visakha; Intro Music: Wehrmut by Godmode; Outro Music: Opheliea's Blues by Audionautix In Part 1 of the third episode of The Feminist City podcast series, we speak to Dr. Sarayu Natarajan, Founder, Aapti Institute about her work on challenges faced by migrant workers in accessing housing and other basic services in the city. Some issues we touch upon are: how do migrant communities navigate the city, what are the patterns in female migration and what are the specific challenges they face in participating in urban areas, the critical role of public provision of urban infrastructure and services for migrant women, and how the absence of the state providing basic services leads to private markets engaging in exploitative profiteering for access to basic urban infrastructure for vulnerable communities. Explore these questions in the Feminist City podcast series, hosted by Sneha Visakha. For background reading, we recommend perusing the links provided below. Readings: Where and How Are Indian Women Migrating? Economic and Political Weekly https://www.epw.in/engage/article/where-and-how-are-indian-women-migrating-route-map The Invisible Majority - Women form 70 per cent of total internal migrants, but public policy is blind to their concerns The Indian Express https://indianexpress.com/article/opinion/columns/the-invisible-majority-women-urban-migrant-workers-5185862/ Women Hold Up Economy Yet Continue To Disappear From Workforce, Namita Bhandare, IndiaSpend https://www.indiaspend.com/womenwork/women-hold-up-the-economy-yet-they-continue-to-disappear-from-workforce-701865?type=xhr&startIndex=3#:~:text=But%20between%202001%20and%202011,58%25%2C%20Mazumdar%20told%20IndiaSpend. Crossroads and Boundaries, Labour Migration, Trafficking and Gender, Indrani Mazumdar and Neetha N, EPW https://www.epw.in/journal/2020/20/review-womens-studies/crossroads-and-boundaries.html Futures of Workers, Shruti Gupta and Dr Sarayu Natarajan https://www.aapti.in/blog/futures-of-workers

Host: Sneha Visakha; Edited by: Resonance Studio; Intro Music: Wehrmut by Godmode; Outro Music: Opheliea's Blues by Audionautix; Assisted by: Vyshnavi Moola TW - references to women's unsafety in cities, harassment In Part 2 of the second episode of The Feminist City podcast series, we continue our conversation with Dr. Sneha Annavarapu, Social Sciences Teaching Fellow, University of Chicago about her work on the politics of women's safety, attitudes to public kissing in Mumbai, gender and class politics in urban India. Some issues we touch upon are: how urban infrastructure and its politics are a deeply feminist issue, the relationship between safety and freedom for women in the city, if the city has space and time for seeking out pleasure or intimacy, and where do the lovers go in the city? Explore these questions in the Feminist City podcast series, hosted by Sneha Visakha. You can read more about our guest, Dr. Sneha Annavarapu and her work, here: https://www.snehanna.com/ For background reading, we recommend perusing the literature provided below. Readings: How to Build a Non-Sexist City, Dolores Hayden https://adlc.hypotheses.org/files/2016/01/Hayden_What-Would-a-Non-Sexist-City-Be-Like-Speculations-on-Housing-Urban-Design-and-Human-work-1980.pdf Risky Choices: Women and Cabs in Hyderabad, Dr. Sneha Annavarapu https://www.publicbooks.org/risky-choices-women-and-cabs-in-hyderabad-india/ Where do all the lovers go? The cultural politics of public kissing in Mumbai, India, Dr. Sneha Annavarapu https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/johs.12205?casa_token=TDCDxW8A0IMAAAAA%3A7-8fGywjV9vM-g038sBGPxaQWqWRkQym8WpyeSVBOlJJdGmGwIoU-KRSNlOGgJvpkMCPsvtgKldYtg ‘Aap Karthe Mere Saath Sex?' Dr. Sneha Annavarapu http://agentsofishq.com/aap-karthe-mere-saath-sex/ The Karnataka Town and Country Planning Act, 1961 http://dpal.kar.nic.in/pdf_files/11%20of%201963%20(E).pdf Transgender individuals demand safer, gender-neutral bathrooms in India post-Section 377 verdict, FirstPost https://www.firstpost.com/india/transgender-individuals-demand-safer-gender-neutral-bathrooms-in-india-post-section-377-verdict-5414801.html Reshaping the Boundaries of Public and Private Life: Gender, Condominium Development, and the Neoliberalization of Urban Living, Dr. Leslie Kern https://www.researchgate.net/publication/239567466_Reshaping_the_Boundaries_of_Public_and_Private_Life_Gender_Condominium_Development_and_the_Neoliberalization_of_Urban_Living A Feminist Public Restroom, The Safer Sweden Foundation www.mynewsdesk.com/material/docume…source_document Want to get in touch? Email sneha.visakha@vidhilegalpolicy.in

Host: Sneha Visakha; Edited by: Resonance Studio; Intro Music: Wehrmut by Godmode; Outro Music: Opheliea's Blues by Audionautix; Assisted by: Vyshnavi Moola TW - references to women's unsafety in cities, street harassment In Part 1 of the second episode of The Feminist City podcast series, we speak to Dr. Sneha Annavarapu, Social Sciences Teaching Fellow, University of Chicago, about her work on driving, road safety, gender and class relations in urban India. Some questions we engaged with are - Why do we not see more, or any, women driving autos and cabs? Whose experiences are deemed legitimate knowledge to consider for planning cities? What is the role of sociology in planning cities? How do we understand feminism in the context of cities? Explore these questions in the Feminist City podcast series, hosted by Sneha Visakha. For background reading, we recommend perusing the literature provided below. Readings: How to Build a Non-Sexist City, Dolores Hayden https://adlc.hypotheses.org/files/2016/01/Hayden_What-Would-a-Non-Sexist-City-Be-Like-Speculations-on-Housing-Urban-Design-and-Human-work-1980.pdf Risky Choices: Women and Cabs in Hyderabad, Dr. Sneha Annavarapu https://www.publicbooks.org/risky-choices-women-and-cabs-in-hyderabad-india/ Where do all the lovers go? The cultural politics of public kissing in Mumbai, India, Dr. Sneha Annavarapu https://bit.ly/2JkzSRi ‘Aap Karthe Mere Saath Sex?' Dr. Sneha Annavarapu http://agentsofishq.com/aap-karthe-mere-saath-sex/ The Karnataka Town and Country Planning Act, 1961 http://dpal.kar.nic.in/pdf_files/11%20of%201963%20(E).pdf Transgender individuals demand safer, gender-neutral bathrooms in India post-Section 377 verdict, FirstPost https://www.firstpost.com/india/transgender-individuals-demand-safer-gender-neutral-bathrooms-in-india-post-section-377-verdict-5414801.html A Feminist Public Restroom, The Safer Sweden Foundation http://www.mynewsdesk.com/material/document/94697/download?resource_type=resource_document Want to get in touch? Email sneha.visakha@vidhilegalpolicy.in.

Episode - 1: Introduction to Feminist Urbanism Host: Sneha Visakha; Edited by: Resonance Studios, Bangalore; Intro Music: Wehrmut by Godmode; Outro Music: Opheliea's Blues by Audionautix; TW - Broad references to violence and unsafety in cities In the introductory episode of The Feminist City podcast series, we explore why we should look at cities from a feminist perspective. How is space produced? What produces safety in cities? What is the relationship between safety and urban planning? What is feminist urbanism? What does this approach entail? What do we understand by feminist utopias? For background reading, we recommend perusing some of the literature and videos provided below. Readings Sultana's Dream, Begum Rokeya Sakhawat, 1905 http://digital.library.upenn.edu/women/sultana/dream/dream.html (Highly recommend you read this before listening to the episode!) The Death and Life of Great American Cities, Jane Jacobs http://www.petkovstudio.com/bg/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/The-Death-and-Life-of-Great-American-Cities_Jane-Jacobs-Complete-book.pdf How to Build a Non-Sexist City, Dolores Hayden https://adlc.hypotheses.org/files/2016/01/Hayden_What-Would-a-Non-Sexist-City-Be-Like-Speculations-on-Housing-Urban-Design-and-Human-work-1980.pdf Why Loiter? By Shilpa Phadke, Sameera Khan & Shilpa Ranade https://penguin.co.in/book/why-loiter/, https://warwick.ac.uk/fac/arts/english/currentstudents/undergraduate/modules/globalcityliterature/term2/why_loiter_radical_possibilities_for_ge_1.pdf For our more enthusiastic listeners, The Production of Space, Henri Lefebvre https://myweb.fsu.edu/jjm09f/1%20Final%20Project%20Materials/lefebvreintro.html Reading Law Spatially, Dr. Antonia Layard (on legal geography) (draft paper) http://antonialayard.com/s/Reading-Cases-Spatially.docx Videos What is feminist urbanism? Col·lectiu Punt 6, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dI4TOCPMMBA Why Loiter? Dr. Shilpa Phadke, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nlgGNv5t92A The Feminist City, Dr. Ellie Cosgrave, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rNkB7afesco Gender Perspectives in Urban Planning, Dr. Ana Falú, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sop4fqc2NV8 Want to get in touch? Email sneha.visakha@vidhilegalpolicy.in.

In the podcast series, The Feminist City, we think about the city, explore our relationships with it and examine exclusions within it from a feminist perspective. In paying attention to the big, small and mundane aspects of urban existence, we hope to centre the everyday lives of women, gender and sexual minorities in critically engaging with the city. This is an attempt to delve into what it means for a city to be built on feminist principles, to cultivate feminist imagination and explore pathways to realise it collectively. In this series, we speak to people who think about cities, are invested in feminist politics, and engage themselves in the never-ending task of imagining and realising equitable cities. This is based out of Bangalore, Karnataka. The Feminist City is hosted by Sneha Visakha, Research Fellow, Vidhi Centre for Legal Policy, Karnataka. Sneha has a background in law and liberal arts, and is interested in cities, feminist politics and strongly believes in (inter)disciplinary convergences. You can write to her at sneha.visakha@vidhilegalpolicy.in or reach out to her at @magicanarchist (Twitter).

What does a fully inclusive city look like? With issues like policing, housing, child care, surveillance, and education in the news, due to the uprising and the pandemic, Leslie Kern and I consider what a city that is built for the use of all people -- not just the professional class -- could look like. Support this podcast: http://patreon.com/publicintellectual http://jessacrispin.com