Mariangela Veronesi Building and Social Housing Foundation @MariVeroUK #MyQueerCity
Programme • Background • #MyQueerCity workshop • Findings: What does an inclusive city look like from an LGBTQIA+ perspective? • Examples in practice: – Stonewall Housing – Sexual Avengers
• Open discussion: – How does this compare with other aspirations for citymaking? – What does this tell us about inclusion
Background • Started research on LGBTQIA+ housing issues with BSHF • Habitat III conference by UN: New Urban Agenda guiding urban development for next 20 years – LGBTQIA+ rights were excluded • LGBTQIA+ issues largely absent from fields of planning, placemaking, urban development, both in the UK and abroad = needs not met and reinforcement of exclusionary power structures • Raised question…. What are these specific needs exactly and would cities look like if they were to be more inclusive of LGBTQIA+ people?
What issues are we talking about? • ATK (2015) estimates 24% of homeless youth are LGBT. Despite this, only 2.6% of the housing services surveyed recognised unique needs of homeless LGBT young people and had targeted services. • 4/5 LGBT people experience hate crimes, ¼ experience violence hate crimes, 1/10 experience sexual violence as part of the hate crime (Galop 2016). • Homophobic hate crimes increased by 147% in the three months following the Brexit vote (Galop 2016). • GLA found that 40% of LGBTQ people suffer from mental health issues (vs 25% non-LGBTQ). • LGBTQIA+ spaces are closing at worrying rate of about 30% per year, with women and BAME spaces being disproportionately affected. • LGBTQIA+ charities and services are closing down due to lack of funding, including major charities like Broken Rainbow and PACE • There is currently no permanent LGBTQIA+ history or culture center in London. The GLA does not provide any funding for queer spaces. • Despite some councils running schemes to address LGBTQIA+ issues and inequalities, many public services lag behind in understanding and addressing needs of gender and sexual minorities
#MyQueerCity Workshop • About 15 attendants, mostly but not exclusively involved in various aspect of urban practice and research • Magic wand • Workshop organised broadly in three topics: – Housing – Infrastructure and public space – Facilities and services • Themes emerges across topics
Findings: Themes • • • • •
Visibility Adequate spaces Adequate services Community solidarity and action Financial and political support by society and authorities • Intersectionality
Visibility (of people and issues) • Representation (public figures, decision-makers, architects, planners, etc.) • Public space (art, statues, advertisement, information campaigns) • Education (from primary to higher, different models of families, history, literature, sex education, etc.) • Widespread understanding and celebration of LGBTQ+ history/culture (museums, queer events, etc)
Adequate spaces • Design e.g. accessibility, bathrooms, etc. • Safety in public + private spaces (street, public transport, housing) • Inclusionary spaces • Exclusionary spaces • Variety • Affordability of gaybourhood + of queer spaces
Adequate services • Training of staff (e.g. in medical services, police, transport, prison, elderly care, asylum seeker services, etc ) • Recognise and eliminate heteronormativity and cisnormativity • Design services so that appropriate and fit needs (and ask what these needs are!) • Recognition of mental health across sectors • LGBTQ+ specific services (e.g. youths, trans, housing, etc)
Example: Philadelphia's John C. Anderson LGBT-friendly senior apartments
Or… sometimes need housing to ‘go incognito’ and be discrete for security reasons
Community solidarity and action • Explore heritage/identity/history in order to understand legacy • Spaces of engagement and mobilisation • Alliances (e.g. people with disabilities, refugees/asylum seekers, miners, etc) • Take over! e.g. Repoliticise pride, spacehacking, mapping, tours, street art/street messages, etc
Financial and political support by society and authorities • Recognition of issues and commitment by authorities • Public provision (e.g. funding of education programmes, LGBTQIA+ specific services and spaces, cultural events, etc) • Rights-based • Non-monitarisation
Intersectionality and Diversity • Understanding privilege and lack of it within LGBTQIA+ groups • Solidarity and further engagement with underrepresented groups • Acceptance of different needs/spaces • Space for dialogue across different realities
Who can do something about this • Us! (LGBTQIA+ people): – Solidarity, build community of support, facilitate alliances and dialogue, direct action – Call out institutional heteronormativity and cisnormativity – Act through our everyday jobs/roles
• Allies – Be informed and inform, listen and ask – Fight battles with LGBTQIA+ community everyday (not just during Pride) – Gain awareness of patterns of heteronormativity and cisnormativity and challenge them
• Policymakers/authorities – Clarify position of solidarity explicitly – Redesign policies/services/infrastructure to be truly inclusive
Thank You!
Links/Resources Academy of Urbanism – Young Urbanists Network www.academyofurbanism.org.uk Twitter: @AoUYU Building and Social Housing Foundation www.bshf.org www.worldhabitatawards.org Twitter: @bshf Stonewall Housing http://www.stonewallhousing.org/ Useful links: http://www.stonewallhousing.org/links.html Twitter: @stonewall_housin Sexual Avengers – Activist Network (Facebook Group) https://lgbtqispaces.wordpress.com/ Twitter: @SexualAvengers Other organisations mentioned at the event: Queer Spaces Network Queer Spaces East Centered