Gendering urban public space

Public space is a key concern for the politics of the city and for its physical design. A focus on gender has been pivotal in expanding approaches to urban public space beyond classical and often narrow ways of thinking about and making spaces for public life in the city. This discussion draws on insights from feminist theory, planning and design, and urban social research and analysis to explore critical themes around gender and public space including: typologies of spaces and uses; safety, access and amenity; everyday mobility and political mobilization. These are long-standing issues for gendered understandings of urban public space, but they have also been foregrounded in the recent context of a global public health crisis, and the acute challenges this has posed for the public life of cities and the management of urban space.