Prefigurative feminist practices of democratic city–making: learning from socialist feminism and the Greater London Council (GLC)

This chapter explores feminist politics in architecture and urbanism through a focus on democratic practices of shaping the built environment. It follows the UK–based socialist feminists Sheila Rowbotham, Hilary Wainwright and Lynne Segal, in their work Beyond the Fragments and their entry into the radical municipalism of the 1980s Greater London Council (GLC). It describes the ethos of the feminist organizing of the women’s consciousness – raising groups and their emphasis on prefigurative practices. The chapter introduces two key cases: the Popular Planning Unit and their work with communities in developing an alternative plan for the London Royal Docks, and the GLC Women’s Committee, who were able to develop an alternative infrastructure of support for otherwise marginalized populations to shape the city. The chapter situates the power of socialist feminist prefigurative practices in acting within and against the state, specifically in the context of the contemporary neoliberal city and more recent municipalist movements. The chapter argues that in practicing a more equal and decentralized politics and developing self-recognition and constitution as collective subjects, municipal feminist work remains relevant today for those seeking more democratic ways of making and sustaining the city.