Leslie Kern
1978
Canadian geographer who asks something urbanism almost never considers: which body is the city designed for.
Kern starts from the concrete: a pram on metro stairs, a park that becomes frightening after a certain hour, a journey that is not home-to-work but nursery-to-doctor-to-shops. The city is built around a commute that is not the majority's.
Her second book dismantles the idea that gentrification is a natural and inevitable process. She argues that each step — a rezoning, a permit, an eviction — is a concrete decision somebody took, and that calling it inevitable is the most effective way of not arguing about it.
On Leslie Kern in this archive
- Public space
Leslie Kern Reimagines Cities Through Feminist Urbanism
Leslie Kern, a Canadian scholar and author, has become an influential voice in the field of feminist urbanism.
Leslie Kern 3 min read - Public space
Intersectionality in Urban Space: Uncovering People's Experiences
Intersectionality in urban space is an approach that makes it possible to examine how social identities, such as…
Leslie Kern 2 min read - Public space
Gender Inequality in Urban Space: A Critical Challenge
Gender inequality in urban space reveals how cities—through their design and governance—often overlook the specific…
Dolores Hayden 1 min read
