What Are We Reading
This section is an online bookshelf—a curated collection of materials that we find interesting and thought-provoking on topics of inclusive design, architecture, urban planning, research methodology, and more.
Here, you’ll discover a diverse range of resources, including books, digital mappings, toolkits, and events. As a continuously growing archive, we hope this bookshelf serves as a guidepost, shaping our work and thinking within the broader intellectual landscape while helping us reflect on our own practices. We invite you to explore, reflect, and engage with these resources as we continue to expand this archive and deepen our collective understanding of the fields we are passionate about.
The Gendered City: How Cities Keep Failing Women
Nourhan Bassam
2023
From the lens of feminist urbanism, Nourhan Bassam examines how cities produce and perpetuate gender inequality, reinforcing systemic injustices against women and other marginalized groups. Writing as a woman of color with intersecting nationalities, Bassam emphasizes the critical role of intersectionality in shaping everyday gendered experiences, highlighting how class, race, age, sexuality, and disability intersect to create diverse urban space encounters. Drawing on rich data from women’s experiences across cities worldwide, she illustrates the diverse challenges faced by women within the constructed spatiality of urban fear and examines how these experiences impact mobility, hygiene, as well as physical and mental well-being.