Women Write Space*
A Badass Chorus**
(This post was originally published on Collecting Geographies Blog)
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Some weeks ago, curious as always, I started a quest on Twitter and openly asked on my timeline who were my followers´ favorite women writers on architecture, urbanism and design in order to find some possible women collaborators to *perhaps* appear in our upcoming book based on the project The (New) Book of Questions , which I am currently very lucky to be co-editing along with Athanasiou Geolas .
So far, I was familiar with the work of a few, and my always favorite women writers on these topics are Ethel Baraona ( not only an amazing writer, blogger, editor and co-founder ofDPR Barcelona, but also my Master Thesis Tutor and friend),Mimi Zeiger ( Deezeen´s blogger and MUCH MORE ) andAlexandra Lange ( in my opinion one of the best architecture/design critics from our time: she´s been featured in Architect, Domus, Dwell, Medium, Metropolis, New York Magazine, the New Yorker blog, and the New York Times…yes, you get the point.)
It was really surprising for me that a lot of users started answering my question and retweeting it. A LOT OF THEM WOMEN. It was really exciting to read the anwers, BUT MUCH MORE, to read women empowering each other. Alissa Walker, Urbanism editor at @Gizmodo, . took the initiative and just proclaimed herself as her own favorite women writer on architecture and urbanism. The ALL TIME FAVORITE for many, Alexandra Lange, drop the names of Inga Saffrom, Architecture critic at @Phillyinquirer, 2014 Pulitzer winner, Karrie Jacobs ( karriejacobs.com), Allison Arieff who writes an amazing opinion blog at the New York Times website, the charming and knowledgeable Ethel Baraona ( Who doesn´t LOVE her web presence?!) and Nicola Twilley (Edible Geography). Ethel Baraona share the names of Marina Ottero, Ana Maria León, Dubravka Sekulic, Vera Sacchetti , Malkit Soshan among others. I thought this was the end of the Twitter conversation.
@____thenomad @IngaSaffron @KarrieUrbanist @aarieff @ethel_baraona @nicolatwilley and I’m sure I’m forgetting many others.—
Alexandra Lange (@LangeAlexandra) June 19, 2014@____thenomad @loudpaper @LangeAlexandra some notables down under: @naomistead and @JustineClark—
Brendan Cormier (@BrendanCormier) June 19, 2014My (subjective) Nominees 3/3 @IngaSaffron @anamarialeon @lottesandberg @obstructa@laurasnoad @catherinecroft @awalkerinLA + @____thenomad!—
Nacym Baghli (@nacym_baghli) June 19, 2014
Many, many other Twitter users started to share their favorite women writers. It was fabulous to see everyone excited, participating two or three rounds to share their passion for some women work and writing pieces . It was an exciting experiment, because first of all, in that precise moment twitter became a platform for everyone interested in architecture and urbanism critique and analysis to shout-out for their woman writer du jour. Also, the concept that Tom Dychkhoff exposed in the amazing piece he wrote about #REMdamentals biennale was evident in this name-dropping virtual drill: CAMARADERIE. Women recognising each other´s work, inspiring each other, creating an incredibly strong network emerged. All of these women with amazing things to say around the topics of architecture, urbanism and design are now part of our list: Women Write Space.
The women voices out there representing our generation of writers on the architecture/urbanism and design field are , in the words of Mimi Zeiger a “badass chorus”, empowering each and constructing new and exciting approaches to architecture analysis and critique. A lot of them are also engage with new ways of education in these fields. They are instigators and believers.
Do you know more amazing women writers on those fields?
- Thanks to @athangeolas for letting me use his amazing titles. ** Mimi Zeiger amazing description of some of the women I am talking about on this post.
- Cover Picture from UNCUBE Mag. No. 12
