The ways in which we can better consider the needs of women and girls when planning our towns and cities is a subject that has been gathering increasing interest both in planning academia and practice. Questions are being asked as to what planning can do to make practice more inclusive, and planners are increasingly interested in how this can be applied to their own work. It is in the context that the Women and Planning: From Theory to Practice conference welcomes academics and practitioners to come to Leeds, UK and explore this.
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.
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.