Leslie Kern wants your city to be feminist. An intrepid feminist geographer, Kern combines memoir, theory, pop culture, and geography in this collection of essays that invites the reader to think differently about city spaces and city life.

From the geography of rape culture to the politics of snow removal, the city is an ongoing site of gendered struggle. Yet the city is perhaps also our best hope for shaping new social relations based around care and justice.

Taking on fear, motherhood, friendship, activism, and the joys and perils of being alone, Kern maps the city from new vantage points, laying out a feminist intersectional approach to urban histories and pathways towards different urban futures.

Leslie Kern is the author of three books about cities, including Gentrification Is Inevitable and Other Lies and Feminist City: Claiming Space in a Man-Made World. She is an associate professor of geography and environment and women’s and gender studies at Mount Allison University. Leslie’s research has earned a Fulbright Visiting Scholar Award, a National Housing Studies Achievement Award, and several national multi-year grants. She is also an award-winning teacher. Leslie’s writing has appeared in The Guardian, Vox, Bloomberg CityLab, and Refinery29. Leslie is also an academic career coach, helping academics find meaning and joy in their work. She lives in Sackville, New Brunswick with her partner and two cats.

Leslie Kern's profile page

“This volume definitively establishes Kern as a leading and impassioned voice in the second generation of North American feminist urban geography. Kern deftly and refreshingly interweaves her personal biographical narrative and a synthesis of feminist urban scholarship to capture the tensions between city-as-barrier and city-as-possibility that continue to infuse so many women’s daily urban experiences.”

Damaris Rose, honorary professor of social geography and urban studies, Institut national de la recherche scientifique, Montreal, Quebec

“Feminist City is the next-generation urbanism book I’ve been waiting for! Leslie lays out a comprehensive guide to feminist world-building that our cities so desperately need. A must-read for all city officials and budding urbanists alike as we move into the female future of our urban environments.”

Katrina Johnston-Zimmerman, MUS, urban anthropologist and adjunct professor, Lindy Institute for Urban Innovation, Drexel University; co-founder of The Women Led Cities Initiative

“Leslie Kern provides a refreshingly clear analysis of contemporary urban life. Feminist City seamlessly weaves together theory and lived experience, revealing again and again just how essential feminist geographic thought is to understanding urban space. Feminist City is a book to be shared and discussed by anyone who loves cities.”

Lauren Hudson, SolidarityNYC

“Feminist City is a damning stab at the subtle and overt manipulation of women in urban spaces. Kern's interwoven references to her personal experience through childhood, adulthood, and motherhood make her deeply researched and whip-smart work infinitely readable. Kern shows that the ability of all women to exploit the city fully is a valuable, necessary gauge for city worth.”

Lezlie Lowe, author of No Place To Go: How Public Toilets Fail Our Private Needs

“I wish I could have read this book years ago. The experiences Kern reflects upon are ubiquitous, if not universal. Kern blends the best of academic literature with popular culture references to explore the ways in which urban space is gendered. Reading the book is a pleasure, like a deep conversation with a wise friend.”

Winifred Curran, professor of geography, DePaul University