ABSTRACT
I do not intend to give a comprehensive historical account, but to highlight the influence of beliefs in public/private dichotomies on the conceptualization of town planning. First, to provide a context, I will consider how the town planning agenda prioritized issues related to the (male) working-class and industrialization. These concerns fell within the public side of urban affairs, but had implications for the private sphere of domestic life. This is the period when domestic ideology was promoted, and the first-wave of feminism developed, as women, especially middle-class women (cf. Levine, 1987) faced increased social and spatial restrictions. Second, I will outline the mainstream town planning movement, highlighting its gender bias. Those unfamiliar with the period are recommended to consult more detailed accounts (such as Ashworth, 1968; Cherry, 1974, 1981; and see Appendix II), but with caution. Booth (1986) in his article on textbooks most frequently cited for this period lists no books by (or presumably about) women. However, redressing the balance somewhat, Gordon Cherry (1991) in an article on recent developments in planning history does mention women and planning. Third, I will rerun the spool to identify women’s contribution to the development of town planning, highlighting how women as planners (in various manifestations) acted as zone zappers seeking to break down public/private dichotomies.
