Imprint: Triarchy Press
Publication: January 2024
Extent: 185pp.
Size: 14 x 21 cm
ISBN: 978-1-913743-87-1
Price: £15

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About the Author: 
May East's blog: ​Fostering Gender Equality - An Essential Aspect of Good Urbanism
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​Readership:

What if Women Designed the City? is intended for a diverse audience, including private- and public-sector urban planning officials, developers, architects, landscape architects, policy makers, educators, students, and city design enthusiasts. 
 
Feminists, community practitioners, urban scholars, regenerative sustainability theorists are likely to engage with and critically examine the leverage points presented in this book.
 
Furthermore, this book is intended for innovators and change agents, visionaries and dreamers or anyone with an interest in bridging the gender gap in urban planning.
Related titles:
Designing Regenerative Cultures
​Flourish

What if Women Designed the City?
33 leverage points to make your city work better for
women and girls

May East
​​

The discussion of how cities would look if designed by women lies at the heart of this book, which explores the symbiotic relations between women and cities towards the attainment of regenerative neighbourhoods.

What if Women Designed the City? offers a fresh perspective on urban development by giving voice to local women from many different countries and backgrounds who reveal multiple untapped potentials rooted in the uniqueness of their neighbourhoods.
​
Drawing on in-depth walking interviews with 274 women, Dr May East identifies 33 leverage points ranging from the very pragmatic such as how cities could look if pavements were built, public transport networked, alleyways illuminated, and neighbourhood funds distributed; to the influence that shifts in mindset, distribution of power and rules of the system may have in democratising the way women and girls use and experience public spaces.
 
Embedded in the richness of women’s everyday life experiences of walking and living in the city, this book offers new lines of work for urban planners, policy-makers, practitioners, and communities to intervene in urban planning systems so that their cities can be greener, more inclusive, more liveable, wilder and poetic.
Picture
​UN SDG SUMMIT- THE SYMBIOTIC RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN WOMEN AND CITIES TOWARDS REGENERATIVE URBAN ENVIRONMENTS
18th September 2023

Hosted by UNITAR and facilitated by May East, UNITAR Fellow and author of 'What if Women Designed the City?'

For more information click here

Read May East's blog post FOSTERING GENDER EQUALITY – AN ESSENTIAL ASPECT OF GOOD URBANISM AT THE #SDGSUMMIT​  

Read May East's article 'A Voyage from Brutalism to Biophilia' at The Nature of Cities:. It ends:
"Concrete-built Brutalism has left its mark in our urban environments. Biophilic design as informed by women can foster healthier and more beautiful places and holds the potential to rectify the negative impacts that brutalist architecture descending from modernist planning has codified in sterile and unsociable housing schemes. By reweaving broken links, fostering local food systems, and coevolving lively green arteries coursing through brutalist settlements, women may place biophilia at the heart of 21st-century urbanism."
What those who are shaping cities say about the book?
 
"The book challenges us to rethink urban development, incorporating the powerful perspectives of women into the fabric of our cities. It calls for action, encouraging us to embrace diverse perspectives towards a future where cities work better for women and girls, ultimately benefiting us all."
Ana Paricio Cárceles - Urban Psychologist, Barcelona Regional

 "What if Women Designed the City? is an exceptional book, containing tangible and practical ideas to bring about positive change in how women shape and experience public spaces. As an urban planner, I believe the insights in this book could be transformative for those of us in the frontline of delivering this change. A book that is insightful, tangible and practical whilst, I dare to say, quite emotional."
Daisy Narayanan MBE - Head of Placemaking and Mobility
Edinburgh City Council
 
"Through the lived experiences of women, this book invites us to imagine urban spaces that benefit everyone. It emphasizes the role of women as active contributors rather than passive subjects, highlighting their transformative role in shaping and revitalising the city. Drawing from diverse real-life examples, this pragmatic book serves as a valuable source of inspiration."
Audrey Hénocque - 1st Deputy Mayor, Responsible for Gender-Sensitive Budget,
City of Lyon
 
"Give women a greater voice in city making and what would you get? A more human centred, emotional satisfying, well balanced, seamlessly connected, safer and probably more beautiful place which thrives on its distinctiveness, values of togetherness and care. So, if women designed the city, that is actually what all of us want, whoever we are. Thank you May East for letting us hear those 274 women’s voices and their proposed catalytic interventions and not to forget the marvellous examples interwoven throughout from across the world."
Charles Landry - Author: Creative City: A Toolkit of Urban Innovators
  
"What if Women Designed the Cities? beautifully presents a sense of hope and power in how we can reset the urban planning gender gap. East’s book provides a rich tapestry of leverage points on how cities can regenerate into safe and vibrant communities, allowing everyone to flourish. Politicians, city planners, construction and consultancy firms should read this."  
Councillor Holly Bruce - Scottish Green Party, Glasgow City Council
 
"This is a very timely book, an effective antidote to the soulless, angular, concrete and glass high-rise city that is designed to serve the interests of capital rather than of ordinary people. Will anybody listen? Yes, I think so. Women-inspired urban ‘regenerative development’ is now an urgent necessity. This is an important book that should be essential reading for anybody concerned about the future of the human habitat."
Herbert Girardet - Author: Creating Regenerative Cities
 
"The book skilfully guides the reader into the complexity of gender, power and our urban environments. It shows concrete examples that serve as an inspiration while at the same time showcasing how important it is to acknowledge complexity and not least to inform and remind the reader that women are experts of their own space. The book offers guidance and strength to all who want to re- think our urban environments."
Linda Gustafsson - Gender Equality Strategist , City of Umeå
 
"The book is both moving and inspiring. It positions cities as a vehicle for women's emancipation. Achieving this would undoubtedly be a tremendous accomplishment for Glasgow."
Sarah Shaw - Head of Planning, Glasgow City Council