Fighting for a Feminist City in Glasgow

Hello. My name is Christine Murray, and welcome to the developer podcast where we talk about how to make cities worth living in, which often has to do with the spaces between the buildings as much as the buildings themselves. Today, I'm speaking to Scottish Greens councillor Holly Bruce. She's been instrumental in bringing feminist town planning to Glasgow City Council. Today, we talk about violence against women and girls, why parks need better lighting at night, the provision of public toilets, and many more. Let's listen in. Okay. I'm here with Scottish Greens' councillor Holly Bruce from Glasgow City Council. Holly, tell me a little bit about you and what it is that you do. Hi, Christine. Thank you so much for having me on the podcast. So, yeah, I'm a local city councillor for Glasgow. I was elected back in May 2022, So I'm almost, three years into my term. And, I I was elected, as a Scottish Green candidate, and I live in the area that I represent in Glasgow. So it's Langside Ward. And, a bit before that, so, back in around 2020 when when we were all locked down in our houses and, either working from home or or not working, and, my my interest went to reading as a lot of people did at that time. And, I stumbled across the well, I feel like it was sent to me, the feminist city book by Leslie Kern, and that is where my my interest in, violence against women and girls policy and also in the feminist time planning, gender mainstreaming agenda came from. And there was a bit of a journey till that point, which we'll maybe unpack later. But, ultimately, it led to, a policy being packed passed within Glasgow City Council in, October 2022 that helps to embed a feminist lens on the city planning. So I think that book being hugely influential, I know in this audience, lots of us have have read it. Leslie Kern spoke at the Festival of Place. I had the pleasure of interviewing you there. Fab. And I I think one of the, between her work and then also the work of Corriado Perez with Invisible Women, we started to see how these spaces are are not designed. What came to your mind, or what inspired you, with that link to, you know, Langside where you you live or also in Glasgow? How did that, that, you know, feminist lens, help you see some issues where you were? Yeah. I think Leslie did a really good job of painting a picture of what it's like to be a woman within, living within a city. I'd I'd previously lived in Aberdeen as a student and then moved to Glasgow, so I had been living in cities for over around ten years. And, as a young woman as well, The book really spoke to me in that I I I felt like I wasn't able to be as …