Queering Spaces
If we think of “normative” spaces, they’re usually defined based on an objective view, and of their use and materiality. Often defined by people who have more power, leaving behind individuals, minorities, and those considered Queer, defined as “strange” or “odd” in comparison to others.
In his article “Planning as a Heterosexist Project,” Michael Frisch argues that urban planning structures promote cis and straight identities while suppressing queer people. Just as queer people exist outside of the “normal” structures of society, Queer Urbanism follows principles that are outside the “normal” forces of urban development. Welcoming and celebrating the identities of those who have not had a world made for them,
Queer spaces can be created based on the individual, subjective needs and experiences. Often when we talk about spaces, they are easily categorised. Whereas queer spaces often focus on support, relying on the community, and allowing people to feel comfortable by creating a space that’s open and flexible to those needs, and giving people agency over their own spaces. In fact, in trying to define Queer Spaces you risk de-queering them.
In “Queer Spaces”, a RIBA-published Atlas of LGBTQ+ Spaces they focus on how train carriages, although not built “for” queer people, can help foster queer identities. It follows someone's experience, of getting ready to go into the city, putting on their make-up, and how they see this space as having helped them in forming their identity. Each carriage acts almost as a cocoon and a bubble outside of time, holding a different world at different moments.
