Building equitable cities is the focus of a new speaker series

Together with YWCA Kitchener-Waterloo, YWCA Cambridge and The Feminist Shift, the City of Kitchener presents a speaker series focusing on building equitable cities. This is an important event in YW Kitchener-Waterloo, YWCA Cambridge, and The Feminist Shift's ongoing advocacy work to provide a feminist perspective on post-COVID recovery. Registration for the virtual talk, being held on Monday, Jan. 31 at 12/noon is now open.

The speaker series will include four talks, starting with the first talk on How Cities Fail Women: Towards Safety and Inclusion in a Feminist City. In the first session, Leslie Kern, author of Feminist City: Claiming Space in a Man-Made World, will look at how cities have long failed women by refusing to acknowledge gender differences in how people live, work, and move in cities.

Speakers will be invited by the City and community partners throughout the year to present topics related to equity and systemic bias within city planning. In addition to discussing inequity, inclusion, and access, the talks will also examine the relationship between these factors and how they influence cities and how they are developed.

“The series will provide a unique interdisciplinary perspective on equity, inclusion and access along with practical tools that can be used to create more equitable and sustainable spaces, " said Jennifer Gordon, Director of Advocacy, YW Kitchener-Waterloo. "Participants will gain a more comprehensive understanding of building equitable cities from a feminist perspective, and have the opportunity to collaborate with community members, advocacy groups, non-profits, and researchers.” 

"As COVID-19 has progressed, socioeconomic disparities have widened even further, and this is especially apparent within our cities," said Councillor Christine Michaud. “Taking part in events like these allows for a fresh perspective on prevalent issues of accessibility, sustainability, and social justice and enables us to identify and address inequalities in practices related to city placemaking."     

Registration is open for the first virtual talk, on Monday, Jan. 31 at 12/noon. Topics for future sessions will be announced closer to the session dates. To join the conversation online visit www.engagewr.ca/speakerseries

For more details on the speaker series and to stay up to date on upcoming speakers visit www.kitchener.ca/speakerseries or www.thefeministshift.ca/building-equitable-cities.  

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For more information:

Jennifer Gordon   
Director of Advocacy, YW Kitchener-Waterloo    
jennifer.gordon@ywkw.ca

Shawn Falcao
Manager, Corporate Communications
shawnfalcao@kitchener.ca