The tyranny of gender and the importance of inclusive safe spaces in cties | Petra Doan | TEDxFSU

This talk integrates the speaker’s life experiences as an out transgendered woman with her reflections on her profession as an urban planning and professor. The speaker first explores why the Tyranny of Gender is the source of so much misunderstanding and unfortunate results. She uses a set of auto-ethnographic reflections to illustrate why safe spaces are an essential component of urban areas.

Dr. Petra L. Doan is Professor of Urban and Regional Planning at Florida State University. She has published numerous peer-reviewed articles and book chapters on international planning as well as planning for marginalized communities, with a special focus on lesbian, gay bisexual, and transgendered individuals. Her two papers in Gender Place and Culture explore transgendered perceptions of cities and public spaces and are considered path-breaking articles in the field. In 2011 her edited book, Queerying Planning: Challenging Heteronormative Assumptions and Reframing Planning Practice, was published by Ashgate. In Fall 2012 she served as the John Bousfield Distinguished Planning Visitor at the University of Toronto. In Spring 2015 Routledge will publish her next edited volume, Planning and LGBTQ Communities: The Need for Inclusive Queer Spaces.

This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at http://ted.com/tedx