Women and Planning: From theory to practice

In 2019, Leeds Beckett University hosted the Women and Planning Conference. This sought to build on the earlier women and planning work undertaken in the UK in the 80s-early 2000s with key actions such as The Women’s Design Service and Matrix architects (Berglund with Wallace, 2016), the insights of academics (Greed, 1994; Little, 1994) and attempts to include gender mainstreaming in planning practice (Greed, 2005; Reeves, 2002; RTPI, 2003; Reeves et al., 2023). The conference recognised a burgeoning interest in the issues again with the founding of Women in Planning and Urbanistas in 2012, online materials from the RTPI and broader discussions of gender mainstreaming (Roberts and Sanchez de Madriaga, 2013; Sanchez de Madriaga and Neuman, 2016) and gender and the rights to the city (Beebeejaun, 2017). The conference sought to (re)invigorate this conversation, including both academics and practitioners and led to a special edition of Town Planning Review featuring papers from the conference (Horwood, 2022). Horwood et al. (2022) made the case for the need to bring practitioners and academics together, to cultivate a conversation across boundaries where expertise and experience is shared to move planning practice forward.

Interest in women and the built environment more broadly has, and is continuing to grow, with moves to the mainstream in the UK (Criado-Perez, 2019; Kern, 2020, Make Spaces for Girls, 2024). There is work ongoing to apply this to planning practice, for example with the declaration of Glasgow as a feminist city (GCC, 2022), and work in London and West Yorkshire (GLA, 2022; LLDC, 2021; WYCA, 2023). Planning consultancies and public bodies have also produced reports (Arup, 2022; UN 2021) and lobbied Government (Turley, 2023). Outside of the UK, there are more examples to learn from (Dutton et al, 2022). With this, we have started to see welcome moves towards moving from theory to practice.

Our audience

This conference is firmly located in the intersection between academia and practice as it is only through this connection that we can work together to develop inclusive practice.  The conference welcomes anyone with an interest in women and planning, from academia and practice, across all levels and sectors. We will bring together academics and practitioners (and those in-between) to explore the current research and practice landscape in women and planning.

Content

Final speakers and sessions will be confirmed once abstract submissions have closed and been finalised. We expect there to be papers from academics and practitioners researching women and planning, papers from relevant practitioners about their practice, panels of both practitioners and academics exploring current practice, historical practice, the role of practitioners and insights into how practice can become more inclusive.

Publication

We are currently in the final stages of organising a special edition of an academic journal featuring papers from the conference.  In 2019 papers from the conference were published in a special edition of Town Planning Review which can be viewed open access here: Contents | Town Planning Review 93, 6 (liverpooluniversitypress.co.uk)

We are also in discussions for practice focused publication and communication of the conference materials.