Race at the margins: A Critical Race Theory perspective on race equality in UK planning.

Despite evidence of the growing ethnic diversity of British cities and its impact on urban governance, the issue of racial equality in UK planning remains marginal, at best, to mainstream planning activity. This paper uses Critical Race Theory (CRT) to consider the reasons why the ‘race’ and planning agenda continues to stall. CRT, it is argued, offers a compelling account of why changes in practice over time have been patchy at best, and have sometimes gone into reverse

Join the queue: Including women’s toilet needs in public space

The trend towards desegregated women’s and men’s toilets, including installing Gender Neutral Toilets (GNTs), and the implications of revisions to the Gender Recognition Act for women-only spaces, have brought into focus the pre-existing lack of female toilet provision in the UK. Looking at the problem from a town planning perspective, I argue that austerity-driven cuts are coming together with GNT provision to reshape the public toilet landscape in ways that continue to be detrimental to women. Typically women are only provided with half as many facilities as men, resulting in queues for the Ladies, and GNT provision based on relabelling rather than redesigned or additional provision can, in fact, increase competition for the cubicles in the Ladies. The historical, legislative and cultural reasons for this inequality are explored, along with the different types of public toilet and the different requirements of male and female users. The article draws on previous research project findings, many of which foreshadow the problems currently coming to the fore as a result of toilet desegregation. In conclusion, recommendations are made as to how to deal with the conundrum of providing adequate facilities for all women and men, whilst providing all sorts of individuals with choice and privacy to create inclusive, accessible cities for all

Geographies of shit: spatial and temporal variations in attitudes towards human waste

Taboos surrounding human waste have resulted in a lack of attention to spatial inequalities in access to sanitation and the consequences of this for human, environmental and economic health. This paper explores spaces where urgent environmental health imperatives intersect with deeply entrenched cultural norms surrounding human waste and the barriers they create for the development of more appropriate excreta management systems. The primary focus is on the global South (particularly India), although literature on sanitation histories in Europe and its colonies is drawn upon to illustrate spatial and temporal differences in cultural attitudes towards excrement

Theoretical and Practical Reflections on Sharing Transcripts With Participants

This article is a critical reflection on the process of creating transcripts and sharing them with interviewees. It relates to two elements of the research process: first, sharing transcripts with research participants and, second, participants’ seeing extracts from transcripts in academic writing. The authors explore participants’ experiences of revisiting the interview in written form by reflecting on the interconnections between social research methods and epistemology. They also consider the ethical implications of this process. They consider the relationship between the transcript and the representation (re-presentation) of what participants believe to have occurred within the interview. This leads to a discussion of the importance of developing reflexivity with respect to the practice and processes of sharing transcripts

Overcoming the factors inhibiting the mainstreaming of gender into spatial planning policy in the United Kingdom

This paper investigates why gender is not being effectively mainstreamed into the work of local planning authorities in the UK. It discusses means whereby this reluctance might be overcome. Research undertaken for the Royal Town Planning Institute is drawn upon to illustrate the situation. Whilst generic mainstreaming is widespread, it predominantly relates to personnel matters and social policy issues; but there is little evidence of the mainstreaming of gender issues into spatial policy. Factors that hinder progress are identified at central and local government levels. Drawing on principles from a gender mainstreaming toolkit, developed as part of the research, key stages and components of the planning process are identified through which gender might be more successfully mainstreamed into substantive spatial policy. © 2005 The Editors of Urban Studies