Conference Program

In her seminal work on peace, Galtung (1969) defines peace as “absence of violence” and indicates that violence is also “structural,” linking it with social injustice. This structural character is also reprised in the “Council of Europe Convention on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence” (2011), which identifies violence against women and gender-based violence as an outcome of historically unequal power relations between women and men.

The practice presented in this proposal builds on these assumptions, applying them to our realm of work and research: cities and territories, which are a materialisation of power relationships. Our reflections have resulted in identifying structural violence in territories as deriving from the invisibility of women and other subjectivities in their urban experience (Matrix, 1984), which is considered minor with respect to the “mainstream” one, which corresponds to that of an adult, white, able-bodied male (Sandercock, 2004). The same occurs with women’s projects, contributions, and proposals, which have been overlooked in the history of architecture and urban and territorial planning (Muxì, Orellana, 2022). Even if these critiques have a long tradition in feminist reflections on the city (Matrix, 1984), they still do not have space in education: architecture and urban planning are still taught as technical and therefore neutral.

We saw that numerous solutions and proposals that come from a different view on cities and territories (Belingardi, Poli, Ragozino, 2025) are overlooked, as well as the virtuous experiences that come from an authentic listening of the territory (Esposito et al., 2025).

To counterbalance this situation, we decided to establish a master’s programme (a specialisation course for graduate students and professionals) to teach a different way to plan and design: “Gender Cities: Methods and Techniques of Urban and Regional Planning and Design.” The course is now in its fourth year. It is organised by the University of Florence, in cooperation with the University of Trieste, the University of Naples Federico II, the University of Palermo,Sapienza University of Rome, the Politecnico of Bari, and the IRISS Institute of CNR. It is a practice of transformative education (Freire, 2002) and of freedom (hooks, 1994).

The course is composed of eight teaching units that cover different topics such as genealogies, or the “herstory” of architecture and urbanism; geography and the observation of the territory and its inhabitants; a specific unit on intersectionality and exclusions; public and social services; commons and care; urban public policies; housing; and urban and regional planning and design.

Three dimensions are embedded in the course: an international one, which means that scholars and professionals from other countries are involved, and some activities are carried out with them, such as seminars and workshops; a practical one, realised in numerous workshops and laboratories; and a social one, which involves visiting and interacting with civil society organisations, especially, but not limited to, feminist organisations and collectives.