The Feminist Park Podcast – Un/Seen Spaces: Designing for Liberation!

The Feminist Park Podcast
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Welcome to The Feminist Park Podcast! I'm Kwame, and this is Leilani. We're launching a groundbreaking show from The Feminist Park Project by Husseim Stuck, revolutionizing access to academic research. We'll dissect scientific papers on environmental justice, feminism, intersectionality, and anti-colonialism, making complex topics understandable. This podcast is also an AI-generated exploration into how AI can serve social good and academia, addressing the shocking reality that urban green spaces are often gendered. Join us to build truly equitable urban futures, one paper at a time!

  1. 1d ago

    Feminist Commons: Care, Autonomy, and Radical Alternatives

    Feminist Commons: Care, Autonomy, and Radical AlternativesSeason 2 Episode:15. August 04, 2026Provides models of feminist urban commons in Montevideo and Rome that prioritize care and mutual aid, demonstrating how to sustain collective spaces while resisting institutional co-optation.Summary: Analyzes Las Pioneras (Montevideo) and Lucha y Siesta (Rome) as spaces managed collectively to provide childcare and support services.Connection: Functions as a commons with horizontal decision-making, providing childcare, community gardens, and meeting areas for mutual aid groups.Key Takeaways: • Feminist commons prioritize care over capital accumulation• Social reproduction and mutual aid provide essential services outside market and state• Commons sustainability requires institutional support paired with group autonomy• Feminist urban commons create radical alternatives to the neoliberal city• Collective space management fosters political solidarity and community resilienceKeywords: Feminist commons, ethics of care, urbanism, commoning, social reproduction.Source: Care and Feminist Urban Commons: The Cases of Las Pioneras in Montevideo and Lucha y Siesta in Rome, Charmain Levy and Chiara BelingardiThe Feminist Park is a pioneering intersectional feminist urban initiative that reimagines public green space through the lived experiences of women, migrants, LGBTQI+ people, and racialised communities. Rooted in care ethics, anti-racism, and queer theory, the project challenges the androcentric design of cities by co-creating inclusive, safe, and ecologically regenerative parks. By combining rigorous scientific research with grassroots feminist praxis, the Feminist Park advocates for the right to the city for all bodies,particularly those historically excluded from public space. Learn more and join the movement at www.feminist-park.org.

    Feminist Commons: Care, Autonomy, and Radical Alternatives

  2. Jul 28

    Berlin CSD Attack🏳️‍🌈: The Psychology of Radicalization, Feminist Geographies, Queer Safety & the Geography of Hate

    Dedicated to the victims of the July 25, 2026 Pride attack in Berlin's Tiergarten, and to the LGBTQIA+ community grieving alongside us. Why did a car and machete attack happen in a park, during Pride, in the heart of Berlin? In this episode of The Feminist Park, we break down why the geography of the July 25 Christopher Street Day attack was never incidental, using feminist geography, spatial justice, and radicalization research to explain how public space becomes a target. We connect this to our core research: parks and public space are never neutral ground. Studies on gendered and queer safety in green space show that visibility itself, the very thing Pride claims for one day a year, is what draws targeting. Reclaiming a central Berlin park for Pride was an act of spatial justice decades in the making. That is exactly what was attacked. This episode covers: feminist and queer geography, the psychology and "affective scaffolding" of radicalization, why inclusive public space design is a safety issue and not a symbolic one, and what solidarity looks like right now. Concepts from the : 1. Situated Affectivity (the core theory) The premise is that emotions aren't just internal, private mental states. They're shaped, sustained, and sometime manufactured by the environment around a person. A few key mechanisms: Affective scaffolding: External tools or structures that prop up an emotional state, the way a stress ball scaffolds calm, or a ritual scaffolds grief. Extremist groups build scaffolds deliberately: propaganda, music, symbols, group chants.Mind invasion (affective mind shaping): Environments don't just support emotions you already have, they actively reach in and install new ones, often without the person realizing it's happening. Affective arrangements: A "constellation" of people, objects, spaces, and language that work together to produce and reinforce a feeling. Self-stimulatory loops of affectivity (SSLA): Feedback loops where a person keeps returning to the same resource (a forum, a video series, a ritual).2. How radicalization actually works, emotionally The source pushes back on the common assumption that hate and anger are the main drivers. It argues positive emotions do more recruiting work: belonging, pride, love, purpose. Two specific mechanisms. 3. Structural "push" factors Radicalization isn't purely psychological, it's also a response to real social conditions: Social trauma and injustice: systemic discrimination creates a "seeking" phase where people become receptive to ideologies that promise justice or revenge.Rank abuse: those with social power ("center") habitually ignore the grievances of those without it ("margins"), which builds pressure toward vengeance-seeking ideologies.Phenomenology of whiteness: describes how non-white bodies are made hyper-visible and "stopped" in a white-dominated social world, a form of chronic social trauma.4. Case studies as illustrations Brenton Tarrant (Christchurch)The *SIS child defector casePakistan's "Ziaism"5. Anti-queer extremism specifically This is the part most relevant to your episode. The source describes a "dual threat": queer communities face rising violence from both far-right anti-gender movements and Islamist extremism that frames Pride as Western decadence. Critically, it names reciprocal radicalization, where these two ideologically opposed movements end up reinforcing each other, with the far-right sometimes performing "instrumental empathy" for queer people specifically to fuel anti-Muslim sentiment, rather than out of genuine solidarity. Sources: Foregrounding Affectivity in the Pathways to Extremism. Authors: Saad Shaheed and Hina Haq.Radicalization Through the Lens of Situated Affectivity. Authors: Hina Haq, Saad Shaheed, and Achim Stephan.Radicalization from a societal perspective. Authors: Delaram Shafieioun and Hina Haq.THE AFFECTIVE ARCHITECTURE OF EXTREMISM: Understanding Extremism through Situated Affectivity. Author: Hina Haq.

  3. Jul 20

    Bad Bunny and The Feminist Park: Trojan Horse of Resistance?

    Bad Bunny and The Feminist Park: Trojan Horse of Resistance? What does it mean when activism becomes aesthetic, and how do we tell the difference between solidarity and strategy? In this episode of Un/Seen Spaces: The Feminist Park Podcast - Designing for Liberation, we explore the cultural power and deep contradictions of Bad Bunny, one of the world’s most influential Latin music artists. Drawing on academic research on reggaeton, trap, gender performativity, and social critique, this conversation examines how Bad Bunny’s work can be read through a “double discourse”: on the one hand, he publicly supports feminism and LGBTQ+ rights; on the other, some of his lyrics have been criticized for sexism, misogyny, and the objectification of women. We also look at how his music videos often carry the strongest social critique, using cinematic references and visual storytelling to challenge double standards that the lyrics alone may not fully confront. At the same time, the episode raises a bigger question about whether visible activism in global pop culture represents genuine transgression or a strategic branding of social justice for commercial gain. This episode is not just about Bad Bunny. It is about how global music industries shape ideas about gender, power, race, sexuality, and resistance. Through a feminist and intersectional lens, we ask what it means when progressive messaging, anti-patriarchal aesthetics, and market success coexist inside the same cultural product. For listeners of The Feminist Park Podcast, this conversation connects directly to the project’s mission: to examine how public culture, representation, and power shape the spaces we inhabit, and to ask who gets to define liberation, visibility, and belonging. The research gives Feminist Park a strong example of how symbolic inclusion can coexist with harmful structures. Bad Bunny’s public support for feminism and LGBTQ+ rights, alongside lyrics criticized for sexism, mirrors a broader feminist urbanism problem: spaces and institutions often claim inclusion while still reproducing hierarchy. Liberation has to be measured by practice, not branding. A park, like a song or music video, can look progressive while still reproducing exclusion if the underlying power dynamics stay intact. The article cluster connects gender, sexuality, race, colonial power, and commercial influence, which fits your project’s mission to understand how systems of domination operate across both space and culture. Academic Sources: Interpretación de “Tití me Preguntó”, Felipe Covarrubias-Melgar, Mariana Martínez-Castrejón, Cristiana Verónica-GasgaMedia event and Latin performance: Bad Bunny at Super Bowl LX and the symbolic reconfiguration of “America”, J.P. Pérez-Rufí“Esta es mi tierra/Esta soy yo”: Teaching US colonialism and Puerto Rican resistance through Bad Bunny, Vanessa Díaz, Petra R. Rivera-RideauBad Bunny Beyond Borders: Where the Plantation Meets the Platform, Keith NegusBad Bunny’s Transgressive Gender Performativity, Luis Rivera FigueroaBad Bunny Perrea Sola: the gender issue in reggaeton, Laura Álvarez TrigoBad Bunny: masculinities or misogyny? ,Keylor Robles MurilloSubversión, postfeminismo y masculinidad en la música de Bad Bunny, Silvia Díaz FernándezBad Bunny y Bach: mitos e imaginarios culturales, Francisco Castillo GarcíaSociophonetic convergence of Bad Bunny and J Balvin, Elizabeth Naranjo HayesBad Bunny: identidad, idioma e intertexto, Víctor Maldonado SantiagoSociophonetics and lyrical codemixing of Bad Bunny and J Balvin, Elizabeth Naranjo HayesDiscourse and women’s objectification in Bad Bunny’s songs, Fabiana Molina Rojas, with related work by Romina Yris Rivera Bravo and Gessel Massiel Robles MezaSapiencia: Una Revista Para La Academia, Vol. 10, No. 1 (2026), editorial board and assorted articlesBad Bunny: A Tale of Artificial Intelligence — Rita H. PicklerNociones de género, música urbana y cultura popular — Sarah Platt

  4. Jul 14

    Against Artwashing: Artists in Solidarity with Housing Justice

    Against Artwashing: Artists in Solidarity with Housing JusticeSeason 2 Episode:12. July 14, 2026Exposes cultural co-optation in gentrification, guiding our commitment to authentic community arts partnerships that resist rather than enable displacement.Summary: Investigates "artwashing" in Berlin, where developers use art to rebrand neighborhoods while planning the eventual eviction of communities.Connection: Rejects artwashing by paying local artists fairly and using cultural programming to support rather than undermine housing justice and tenant organizing.Key Takeaways: • Real estate developers weaponize art and culture to facilitate gentrification• Artwashing represents profitable neoliberal urbanism that displaces communities• Artists face pressure to choose between co-optation and solidarity with housing justice• Artist-led resistance movements collaborating with housing activists offer alternatives• Cultural production can serve either capital accumulation or community empowermentKeywords: Artwashing, Berlin, gentrification, real estate, resistance, urban geography.Source: Artists and urban artwashing in 2020s Berlin: co-optation, gentrification, and resistance, Claudia SeldinThe Feminist Park is a pioneering intersectional feminist urban initiative that reimagines public green space through the lived experiences of women, migrants, LGBTQI+ people, and racialised communities. Rooted in care ethics, anti-racism, and queer theory, the project challenges the androcentric design of cities by co-creating inclusive, safe, and ecologically regenerative parks. By combining rigorous scientific research with grassroots feminist praxis, the Feminist Park advocates for the right to the city for all bodies,particularly those historically excluded from public space. Learn more and join the movement at www.feminist-park.org.

    Against Artwashing: Artists in Solidarity with Housing Justice

  5. Jul 7

    Feminist Plazas: Co-Creating Gender-Just Public Squares

    Feminist Plazas: Co-Creating Gender-Just Public SquaresSeason 2 Episode: 11. Provides models of feminist urban co-creation in Montreal and Montevideo, demonstrating how grassroots movements can transform public space through horizontal partnerships with municipalities.Summary: Examines how feminist movements influenced urban planning to create gender-sensitive squares like Plaza las Pioneras.Connection: Implements horizontal governance where racialized and working-class women have decision-making power through feminist mapping and co-design workshops.Key Takeaways: • Feminist urbanism requires securing the right to the gendered city• Social reproduction and safety must be prioritized over male-centered design• Horizontal partnerships between governments and feminist collectives enable transformative change• Visual storytelling and participatory methods preserve marginalized cultural knowledge• Collective sensemaking allows communities to resist external erasure of their narratives• Traditional knowledge systems maintained through craft and art require protectionKeywords: Visual storytelling, heritage mapping, weaving, participatory research, traditional knowledge.Keywords: Feminist urbanism, public space, Montreal, Montevideo, gender equality, self-management.Source: The creation of feminist urban public squares: The cases of Montreal and Montevideo, Charmain Levy and Sylvie Paré Source: Visual Participatory Storytelling: An Art-Based Creative Mapping of Everyday Weaving Storylines, Meanings and Heritage, Muzeyi Yelyen and Godfred AmankwaaThe Feminist Park is a pioneering intersectional feminist urban initiative that reimagines public green space through the lived experiences of women, migrants, LGBTQI+ people, and racialised communities. Rooted in care ethics, anti-racism, and queer theory, the project challenges the androcentric design of cities by co-creating inclusive, safe, and ecologically regenerative parks. By combining rigorous scientific research with grassroots feminist praxis, the Feminist Park advocates for the right to the city for all bodies,particularly those historically excluded from public space. Learn more and join the movement at www.feminist-park.org.

    Feminist Plazas: Co-Creating Gender-Just Public Squares

  6. Jun 30

    Care Blocks: Building Solidarity Through Public Care Infrastructure

    Care Blocks: Building Solidarity Through Public Care InfrastructureSeason 2 Episode:. Demonstrates how care infrastructure creates unexpected social networks, guiding our vision of parks as sites where care is collectivized and caregivers find mutual support.Summary: Highlights Bogotá's "Care Blocks" and how public services foster support networks among women caregivers, challenging the privatization of labor.Connection: Features community kitchens, childcare areas, and tool libraries to transform care from an isolated domestic labor into a collective, visible practice.Key Takeaways: • Care infrastructure builds social capital and transforms domestic isolation into collective solidarity• Institutional support catalyzes recognition of care as valuable labor• Public spaces function as essential "third places" providing social connection and wellbeing• Pandemic exposed significant spatial inequalities in access to caring infrastructures• Mundane social interactions in public spaces serve as essential scaffolds for community life• Care infrastructure creates unanticipated social networks among caregiversKeywords: Care infrastructure, public space, pandemic, third places, Sydney, storying. Keywords: Care Blocks, Bogotá, SIDICU, care infrastructure, social capital, unremunerated care.Source: Care networks as unanticipated gains of local public policy, María José Álvarez-Rivadulla, Sebastián Orlando Espejo Fandiño, Friederike Fleischer, et al. Source: Public spaces as infrastructures of care: mundane doings of/in ordinary places, Miriam Williams, Justine Lloyd, Harriet Narwal, et al.The Feminist Park is a pioneering intersectional feminist urban initiative that reimagines public green space through the lived experiences of women, migrants, LGBTQI+ people, and racialised communities. Rooted in care ethics, anti-racism, and queer theory, the project challenges the androcentric design of cities by co-creating inclusive, safe, and ecologically regenerative parks. By combining rigorous scientific research with grassroots feminist praxis, the Feminist Park advocates for the right to the city for all bodies,particularly those historically excluded from public space. Learn more and join the movement at www.feminist-park.org.

    Care Blocks: Building Solidarity Through Public Care Infrastructure

  7. Jun 23

    Green Pathways: Children's Right to Nature in Urban Design

    Green Pathways: Children's Right to Nature in Urban DesignSeason 2 Episode:9. June 23, 2026Centers children's environmental rights and development needs, informing our design of safe, green routes and biodiverse spaces accessible to all children regardless of neighborhood wealth.Summary: Reveals inequalities in children's access to nature based on neighborhood wealth and advocates for "green walkability" metrics.Connection: Prioritizes safe, green pathways for school commutes and integrates nature into play areas, supporting both children's health and mothers' mobility.Key Takeaways: • Children's nature exposure is determined by neighborhood layout and infrastructure• Planning must prioritize "green-walkable" school routes for healthy development• Urban nature is an essential service that must be accessible within 15 minutes• Socio-environmental inequalities are embedded in children's commute paths• Biodiversity access should be a key metric for child-friendly urban planning• Green walkability is a vital measure of urban social justiceKeywords: Greenery exposure, school commute, children, walkability, urban heterogeneity.Keywords: 15-minute city, urban nature, biodiversity, children, environmental health.Source: Resetting the clock by integrating urban nature and its biodiversity into the 15-minute city concept, Mojtaba Khanian et al.Keywords: School commute, environmental inequality, greenery, children, GIS.Source: Exposure to greenery during children’s home–school walks: Socio-economic inequalities in alternative routes by Mojtaba Khanian et al. Source: Urban heterogeneity of the trade-offs between exposure to greenery and walking distance in children’s routes by Mojtaba Khanian et al.The Feminist Park is a pioneering intersectional feminist urban initiative that reimagines public green space through the lived experiences of women, migrants, LGBTQI+ people, and racialised communities. Rooted in care ethics, anti-racism, and queer theory, the project challenges the androcentric design of cities by co-creating inclusive, safe, and ecologically regenerative parks. By combining rigorous scientific research with grassroots feminist praxis, the Feminist Park advocates for the right to the city for all bodies,particularly those historically excluded from public space. Learn more and join the movement at www.feminist-park.org.

    Green Pathways: Children's Right to Nature in Urban Design

  8. Jun 16

    Gardens of Belonging: How Green Spaces Heal Loneliness

    Gardens of Belonging: How Green Spaces Heal LonelinessSeason 2 Episode:8. June 16, 2026Demonstrates green spaces as vital social infrastructure combating isolation, guiding our design of parks that foster connection and collective belonging.Summary: Establishes that parks serve as vital sites for social support and belonging, especially for marginalized communities facing discrimination elsewhere.Connection: Combats isolation (especially for migrant and elderly women) through seating circles, communal tables, and shared programming like language exchanges.Key Takeaways: • Green spaces function as catalysts for social cohesion and public health• Nature access significantly mitigates loneliness in diverse communities• Environmental equity is inseparable from social well-being• Green spaces are landscapes of belonging where community ties form• Parks must be designed to facilitate social interaction, not just provide greeneryKeywords: Social cohesion, urban green space, public health, environmental equity, loneliness.Source: The Dynamic Relationship between Social Cohesion and Urban Green Space in Diverse Communities, Viniece Jennings et al.The Feminist Park is a pioneering intersectional feminist urban initiative that reimagines public green space through the lived experiences of women, migrants, LGBTQI+ people, and racialised communities. Rooted in care ethics, anti-racism, and queer theory, the project challenges the androcentric design of cities by co-creating inclusive, safe, and ecologically regenerative parks. By combining rigorous scientific research with grassroots feminist praxis, the Feminist Park advocates for the right to the city for all bodies,particularly those historically excluded from public space. Learn more and join the movement at www.feminist-park.org.

    Gardens of Belonging: How Green Spaces Heal Loneliness
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About

Welcome to The Feminist Park Podcast! I'm Kwame, and this is Leilani. We're launching a groundbreaking show from The Feminist Park Project by Husseim Stuck, revolutionizing access to academic research. We'll dissect scientific papers on environmental justice, feminism, intersectionality, and anti-colonialism, making complex topics understandable. This podcast is also an AI-generated exploration into how AI can serve social good and academia, addressing the shocking reality that urban green spaces are often gendered. Join us to build truly equitable urban futures, one paper at a time!

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