An Urban Innovation Agency, Genre et Ville is a Think and Do Tank, co-founded and operated by Chris Blache an Urban Anthropologist and Pascale Lapalud, a Geographer and Urban Planner.  Genre et Ville is a research and action lab, supported by a team of experts, architects, artists, urban planners, philosophers, sociologists, which goal is to make territories more inclusive and equal.

Combining urban planning, architecture and social organization, our actions question and transform territories, through a gender lens, in an intersectional approach, considering gender, age, social background, culture, identity and sexual orientation.

Our work is strongly infused by gender studies, urban anthropology, critical geography, feminist and queer art.

Genre et Ville provides its gender urban planning expertise and innovative methodologies to institutions, cities, metropolitan areas, real estate developers, architects, public transportation companies, …

Our main goals

Taking gender into account very early on and over the full course of a project, allows to question territories planning and organization models in various spaces and make them evolve.

• Being proactive on general design and atmosphere, furniture and amenities design, light and sound design, space layout and organization.
• Fighting stereotypes by reorganizing public and private spaces to induce more diversity and inclusivity.
• Questioning differentiated usages of buildings, housing, professional offices, schools, social and cultural facilities, by women, men, or according to various identities, at different stages of life, and impact and transform social construction leading to specific and discriminatory social roles.

The gender mainstreaming approach applied to the creation of a structure, or an urban or landscaping project, allows to intervene both on key elements of a program, the technical specifications, and act on formal research, for example on mobilities, atmosphere, time frames and design.

To « standardize » its gender approach, Genre et Ville has worked towards the establishment of a number of indicators, which allow to prepare upstream, or to evaluate downstream, the relevance of a project in its egalitarian dimension.

Our Actions :

• We conducts numerous research and evaluation programs, as well as awareness and training sessions. Both with the institutions, urban planning professionals and the public.
• We co-elaborate project definitions.
• We produce gender inclusive urban planning and technical specification guides.
• We conduct an international benchmark on best practices, on a regular basis.
• We elaborate innovative inclusive urban design solutions.

Following are a few examples of project both achieved or in progress:

• Training Programs and Awareness raising actions: European Council; AFD (French Development Agency); French Congress – Women’s right department; Ville de Paris; Aubervilliers; Villiers le Bel; Plaine Commune; Bordeaux; Lille; Grenoble; Nantes; Charleroi; Brussels; Naples; Berlin; Lisbon …
• Guides: Co-participated in the Public Space Equality Guide, Ville de Paris. Elaborated a housing equality and public space equality technical specification guide for ANRU (French National Agency for Urban Renovation).  Inclusive City Guide, Ville de Lyon.  Equality Guide, Plaine Commune (metropolitan area in Ile de France Region).
• Inclusive Urban Design Solutions: Villiers le Bel (Housing and Public Space). Panthéon and Madeleine in Paris (reinventing the squares).  Aubervilliers.
• Research on gender equality: Aubervilliers, Brive.
• Real Estate Development: La Courneuve (Groupe Pichet); Paris Bruneseau (Nexity; Icade; Les Nouveaux Constructeurs); Strasbourg (Nexity).

To conduct our work in a multidimentional way, we also founded, CestBeauLePouvoir, an ArtCtivist extension of Genre et Ville.  CBLP helps us further our research, by creating art installations and public interactive performances.