ABSTRACT
This chapter provides an overview of concepts and debates around gender, space and development in the European context, acknowledging differences but focusing on commonalities and recent developments. In many contexts, a reconceptualisation of both space and gender as socially constructed and as process categories can be observed, however the potential of this constructivist “turn” has not yet been fully exploited. Gender justice in spatial development must move towards an “engendering” of spatial development and planning in more general terms. This is particularly important in pursuit of sustainable spatial development (both as a normative goal and legal obligation), since gender-oriented concepts offer valuable critical perspectives on economic relations, socio-spatial resources, the needs of different target groups, ideals of democracy and unequal power relations in spatial development and planning. This can also offer new insights to expose blind spots in current sustainability debates, as gender perspectives criticise (gendered) power relations and dominations that also hinder societal transformation towards more sustainable (spatial) development.
