Planning and LGBTQ Communities: The Need for Inclusive Queer Spaces

Description

Although the last decade has seen steady progress towards wider acceptance of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgendered, and queer (LGBTQ) individuals, LGBTQ residential and commercial areas have come under increasing pressure from gentrification and redevelopment initiatives. As a result many of these neighborhoods are losing their special character as safe havens for sexual and gender minorities. Urban planners and municipal officials have sometimes ignored the transformation of these neighborhoods and at other times been complicit in these changes. Planning and LGBTQ Communities brings together experienced planners, administrators, and researchers in the fields of planning and geography to reflect on the evolution of urban neighborhoods in which LGBTQ populations live, work, and play.　 The authors examine a variety of LGBTQ residential and commercial areas to highlight policy and planning links to the development of these neighborhoods. Each chapter explores a particular urban context and asks how the field of planning has enabled, facilitated, and/or neglected the specialized and diverse needs of the LGBTQ population. A central theme of this book is that urban planners need to think "beyond queer space" because LGBTQ populations are more diverse and dispersed than the white gay male populations that created many of the most visible gayborhoods. The authors provide practical guidance for cities and citizens seeking to strengthen neighborhoods that have an explicit LGBTQ focus as well as other areas that are LGBTQ-friendly.　 They also encourage broader awareness of the needs of this marginalized population and the need to establish more formal linkages between municipal government and a range of LGBTQ groups. Planning and LGBTQ Communities also adds useful material for graduate level courses in planning theory, urban and regional theory, planning for multicultural cities, urban geography, and geographies of gender and sexuality. Cover......Page 1 Half Title......Page 2 Title Page......Page 4 Copyright Page......Page 5 Table of Contents......Page 6 List of Figures and Tables......Page 9 List of Contributors......Page 11 Acknowledgments......Page 15 1 Why Plan for the LGBTQ Community?......Page 16 Part I Planning and LGBTQ Populations in Traditional Gay Neighborhoods......Page 32 Introduction to Part I......Page 34 2 Gay Commercial Districts in Chicago and the Role of Planning......Page 36 3 The Dallas Way: Property, Politics, and Assimilation......Page 54 4 Fractures and Fissures in ‘Post-Mo’ Washington, DC: The Limits of Gayborhood Transition and Diffusion......Page 71 Part II Planning and LGBTQ Populations Outside the Gay Village......Page 92 Introduction to Part II......Page 94 5 Thinking Beyond Exclusionary Gay Male Spatial Frames in the Developing World......Page 96 6 The Pervasiveness of Hetero-Sexism and the Experiences of Queers in Everyday Space: The Case of Cambridge, Massachusetts......Page 109 7 Understanding LGBTQ-Friendly Neighborhoods in the American South: The Trade-off Between Visibility and Acceptance......Page 126 Part III Expanding Planning Horizons: Recognizing LGBTQ Intersectionality......Page 140 Introduction to Part III......Page 142 8 Finding Transformative Planning Practice in the Spaces of Intersectionality......Page 144 9 Southern Discomfort: In Search of the LGBT-Friendly City......Page 162 10 Queer Cosmopolis: The Evolution of Jackson Heights......Page 182 11 Lesbian Spaces in Transition: Insights from Toronto and Sydney......Page 196 Part IV Linking Planning and LGBTQ Activist Groups to Ensure Service Delivery......Page 214 Introduction to Part IV......Page 216 12 Act Up versus Straighten Up: Public Policy and Queer Community-Based Activism......Page 217 13 Place/Out: Planning for Radical Queer Activism......Page 232 14 The Racial Politics of Precarity: Understanding Ethno-Specific AIDS Service Organizations in Neoliberal Times......Page 250 Part V Conclusions......Page 264 15 Beyond Queer Space: Planning for Diverse and Dispersed LGBTQ Populations......Page 266 Index......Page 275