ABSTRACT
Cities function as key sites in the production, consumption and reproduction of gendered norms and identities. At the same time, cities are themselves shaped by the gendered embodiment and social reality of daily routines – at home, in public and on the move. This co-constitution is not yet widely acknowledged in the legions of books on cities, towns, urban social policy and development. This is because the concepts of ‘urban’ and ‘gender’, ‘material’ and ‘social’ are usually maintained as separate fields of study. While most introductory urban studies texts now recognise gender differentiation across a range of measures – in relation to housing, transport, employment and caring responsibilities, for instance – the systematic treatment of urban and gender studies, as co-constitutive subjects, remains long overdue. Our aim is that this book populates a more joined-up place on the library shelf, bringing these sometimes antagonistic disciplines into constructive dialogue.
