Women in planning in the twenty-first century (Editorial)

An important part of the feminist planning project is to make visible the many and varied contributions of women in planning. However, despite the substantial advances of feminist movements, planning education and practice has yet to consistently understand and address the needs of marginalised groups, particularly women, and has struggled to adopt intersectionality as a fundamental planning concern. This has significant practical and political implications. Spatial and kyriarchal power structures create gendered experiences of the built environment and the planning and provision of infrastructure and services can have significant impacts on women’s safety, quality of life and access to opportunities. This special issue explores the multiple ways that women are the objects and subjects of planning within structures of power. This editorial positions the contributions in this issue by considering the extent to which planning has addressed the needs of women. While we cannot trust that progress in this regard will continue to be linear and cumulative, we find cause, through these contributions, to celebrate both the legacy and the future of women in planning