Spring 2024
Histories of Urbanism, Gender & Urbanization

Taught by Dr. César Reyes Nájera, Dr. Jens van de Maele,
Dr. Marija Maric

Anna Thorne with son, photographed by Liz Millen, Archway. London. Pluto Press 1984.

Often framed as neutral, objective, and rational, the history of urban planning has predominantly been narrated from a patriarchal point of view. As is in capitalism, this narrative hides a gender bias disguised under an apparent universality. Urban planning theories of the Twentieth Century were mainly centered on an understanding and organisation of society in which economic efficiency and productivity dominated. As a result, the reproductive and care activities mainly carried out by women – who provided and nurtured the labour necessary for industry and cities to flourish – were often absent in these narratives.

With the advance of capitalism during the Twentieth Century, the division of labour and class also accentuated a gender division. If the Second World War created the conditions for the development and spread of international architecture throughout the Western world, the techniques and materials developed by the war industry also catalysed the development of household appliances marketed for women, in order to efficiently manage housework. But these developments didn’t call into question the seclusion of women to the domestic sphere and the denial of interaction in circles beyond those related to childcare and housework.

This seminar builds on the work of women scholars who are developing an alternative reading of urbanism and spatial planning from the critical perspectives of gender and feminism, thereby challenging canonical urban histories. Such established, normative histories have been championed by and are often dominated by middle-aged white men; their conception of gender roles is usually rooted in patriarchal and hierarchical structures that ensure their reproduction throughout generations. The seminar will enable students to mobilise history as a tool to help them critically read the construction of the city and urbanisation. It will do this by dismantling the apparently innocuous barrier of gender roles that have relegated women to the domestic sphere and reproductive labour.

The seminar will be developed through a presentation of histories in which women’s contributions have been fundamental in the spatial construction and social advancement of the city. It will show a history of women writing about the city, women advocating for social rights and women planning homes, neighbourhoods, and cities. The seminar follows a chronological order, to contrast women’s contributions with some established milestones of the normative history of urbanism.