More of a personal account than a guide for city planners
3 stars
My expectation was off, and probably colored my enjoyment. I was hoping for practical advice for creating a city which is "feminist". This book is not that. It is an introduction to the philosophical framework of feminist geography, specifically about cities, and more specifically about the author's experiences in North American cities.
The most interesting thought from the book was about how our cities - roads, zoning and transit - are designed for single origin-destination work commutes. This prioritizes the privileged.
This was fine! I’m not a geographer and don’t mind basic, but if you’re looking for something a bit more academic, this isn’t for you. If you want an easy to read and intersectional approach to feminist geography of cities, this is great.
Good introductory book to a gender-based look about cities
3 stars
Admittedly, it is not what I expected. After reading the title, author's bio and summary, I thought this would be an essential book to build a theoretical framework about urban studies with a gendered approach, which is what I was looking for. Instead, it is a very personal book in which the author shares her lived experiences around feminism and cities (that relationship is not always so clear).
Being said that, I have enjoyed reading it. The book is well written, the stories are interesting and very illustrative and the text is full of bibliographical references for those who want to know more. This combination makes it a very good introductory book for those (like me) who want to start learning about urban studies with a gendered perspective.
Admittedly, it is not what I expected. After reading the title, author's bio and summary, I thought this would be an essential book to build a theoretical framework about urban studies with a gendered approach, which is what I was looking for. Instead, it is a very personal book in which the author shares her lived experiences around feminism and cities (that relationship is not always so clear).
Being said that, I have enjoyed reading it. The book is well written, the stories are interesting and very illustrative and the text is full of bibliographical references for those who want to know more. This combination makes it a very good introductory book for those (like me) who want to start learning about urban studies with a gendered perspective.
Un joli tour sur le sujet du Genre dans la ville. Le livre se décompose en cinq parties : la ville des mères, la ville des ami.e.s, la ville de la solitude, la ville des luttes, et enfin la ville de la peur. Ces différents sujets dressent le portrait de ce que c'est qu'être une femme dans l'espace public, et des besoins que nous avons, ou sommes susceptibles d'avoir. Comment rendre la ville accessible et agréable aux enfants et à leurs parents ? Comment permettre aux ami.e.s de se retrouver, aux adolescent.e.s d'utiliser la ville de manière safe pour sociabiliser avec leurs ami.e.s, sachant les restrictions spatiales et budgétaires qu'on a à cet âge ? Quelle expérience de la ville a-t-on en tant que femme seule ? Comment prendre place dans la ville dans un cadre militant ? Comment la violence sexiste façonne-t-elle notre rapport à l'urbain ? Cet ouvrage …
Un joli tour sur le sujet du Genre dans la ville. Le livre se décompose en cinq parties : la ville des mères, la ville des ami.e.s, la ville de la solitude, la ville des luttes, et enfin la ville de la peur. Ces différents sujets dressent le portrait de ce que c'est qu'être une femme dans l'espace public, et des besoins que nous avons, ou sommes susceptibles d'avoir. Comment rendre la ville accessible et agréable aux enfants et à leurs parents ? Comment permettre aux ami.e.s de se retrouver, aux adolescent.e.s d'utiliser la ville de manière safe pour sociabiliser avec leurs ami.e.s, sachant les restrictions spatiales et budgétaires qu'on a à cet âge ? Quelle expérience de la ville a-t-on en tant que femme seule ? Comment prendre place dans la ville dans un cadre militant ? Comment la violence sexiste façonne-t-elle notre rapport à l'urbain ? Cet ouvrage nous amène à nous questionner sur tout un tas de sujets, et apporte des pistes de réflexion ou parfois des solutions. L'autrice souligne bien l'importance d'avoir une approche intersectionnelle, et de penser le féminisme pour toutes les femmes -et hommes- : personnes handicapées, non-blanches, SDF, âgées, queers, etc... L'autrice est géographe et féministe, et nous livre sa vision en tant que telle : en tant qu'architecte et urbanistes, ce livre est un outil précieux pour nous inciter à penser à des mesures concrètes d'amélioration des villes. Au niveau de la lecture, étant francophone, et n'ayant pas pratiqué l'anglais depuis longtemps, j'ai trouvé que la lecture était très fluide et très claire et n'ait pas eu de problèmes de compréhension.
________ ENGLISH VERSION : A great approach on the subject of gender and city. The book has five parts : city of moms, city of friends, city of one, city of protest, and city of fear. These different subjects make a portrait of what it feels like to be a woman in public space, and what needs do we (possibly) have. How could we make the city accessible and agradable for children and their parents ? How could we make it possible for friends to gather, and in peculiar for young people / teenagers, who may need to use the urban space as a safe place of sociabilisation (due to spatial and financial concerns) ? How are we experiencing the city when we are alone, as women ? How can we take place in the city in order to protest ? How the sexist violences are challenging our vision of the city ? This book makes us question a lot of subjects, and gives us some line of thought and solutions. The author
The author underlines the importance of having an intersectional approach, and also the imortance of thinking feminism for all women -and men- : disabled, BIPOC, homeless, elderly, queer, etc... The author is a geographer and a feminist, and gives us her vision as such: for us architects and urban planners, this book is a precious tool in order to encourage us thinking about practical measures to improve cities. As for the reading, being a French speaker, and not having practiced English for a long time, I found the reading very fluid and clear and had no problems of comprehension.
I don’t think I learned anything new reading this. The book proposes or introduces no theory, and describes very little except the lived experience of the author, certainly never lifting its eyes to the broader picture. I understand the need to situate knowledge and all that, but this feels more navel-gazing and meandering than anything else. The book hasn’t given me any new way of thinking about urban planning that a basic feminist understanding and some common sense already gave me.
