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Doan, P. L (Ed). (2011). Queerying planning: Challenging heteronormative assumptions and re framing planning practice. Farnham, UK: Ashgate. 294 pp. ISBN: 978-1-4094-2815-2.
Petra Doan's edited book Queerying Planning (2011) provides a timely exploration of planning and development from the perspective of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) communities. It situates itself as the first published volume with such an emphasis in the discipline of planning. Its central focus hinges on the claim that the needs and interests of LGBT communities have been neglected and marginalised by the planning profession; particularly in comparison to other discipline areas such as urban studies, sociology and geography which have more robust literatures about sexuality and space. Therefore, the authors of this book argue, it is important to consider how heteronormative assumptions operate and impact in planning.
The contributors to this edited collection are academics predominantly located in the United States and Canada, with three chapters from contributors writing from Australia and the United Kingdom. Thus, the book has a strong North American emphasis and will be of strongest interest to readers in that urban, geographical and cultural context. It is a book primarily pitched to an academic authence (particularly the first section on theory), but should also be of interest to practitioners in the planning profession.
Queerying Planning is bookended by introductory and concluding chapters from the editor, Petra Doan, who also contributes a theoretical chapter on planning and the 'tyranny of gender'....