Queer Mobilities
Queer Mobilities is a research project that aims to understand the experience of non-binary people and lesbian, bisexual, pansexual and queer women when walking or cycling through the streets of Barcelona. To comprehend how these people feel, we use an interseccional perspective. That is, we study how different forms of oppression, such as homophobia, transphobia, racism or sexism, combine to influence the experience of walking and cycling in the public space.
Is the experience in public space neutral?
The creation of just cities involves recognising that experiences in the public space are influenced by oppressions and privileges, such as those associated with gender. By adopting a feminist and queer perspective, we can understand how sexual diversity affects mobility and, consequently, the access to the city and the well-being of people from the LGBTIQ+ community.
What have we done?
To understand these experiences, we have talked with non-binary people and women from the LGTBIQ+ community. Apart from the interviews, participants drew a ReliefMap, a tool that captures the emotions they felt through different journeys as a result of their identities (sexuality, ethnicity…).
Interviewees explain their experiences when they walk or cycle. According to their account, how they feel depends on their unique combination of identities and how these are associated with power structures, such as the cisheteropatriarcchy, white supremacism or colonialism.
Who are we?
Queer Mobilities is a collaboration between Grup d’Estudis de Mobilitat, Transport i Territori and Active Travel Academy.. This study has been funded thanks to the Queering Active Travel call from the University of Westminster.
News
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Publication of the results
The results of Queer Mobilities can now be downloaded. The publication summarises more than 22 hours of conversations with non-binary people and women from the LGTBIQ+ community about their experiences in the public space. According to their testimony, the participants instrumentalize a…
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New publication: “Our streets?”
We collaborate in issue 221 of Infogai magazine with the article “Our streets? The right to feel comfort when we walk” In this publication we reveal the emotional journey of women and non-binary people from the LGTBIQ+ community when…
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Exhibition in Barcelona 26/3-30/6
The exhibition of the results of Queer Mobilities, which can now be visited, explores the (in)visibility and emotions of queer people when they walk or cycle through the streets of Barcelona. The exposition combines the testimonies of the interviewees…
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Presentation in Brighton 3/9
On September 3, we echo our findings on strategies of queer (in)visibility and care at the 7th European Geographies of Sexualities Conference. We will participate at the session ‘Comfort and the city: towards a multiscalar and mobile approach of…
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Presentation in Dublin 26/8
Next August 26, we will be sharing insights from the interviews of Queer Mobilities at the upcoming 35th International Geographical Congress, set to take place in Dublin. The presentation will be part of the session focused on “Queer Spatialities”.…
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Presentation in Tokyo 29/5
On May 29, we share the findings about the experience of queer people when they walk accompanied. The presentation will be part of the seminar ‘What We Talk About When We Talk About Leisure: A multidisciplinary perspective’, which will…
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Presentation in Honolulu 17/4
Next April 17 we are presenting Queer Mobilities at the Association of American Geographers Annual Meeting. This year, the conference will be held in Honolulu. Our presentation will be part of the session “Queer Inconveniences: Tensions in Sexualities and…
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Presentation in Barcelona 16/2
Past February 16, we shared the results of the Queer Mobilities project in Bicihub, located in Barcelona. In this presentation, the audience was able to hear fragments from the interviews. Interviewees narrated firsthand experiences from navigating through Barcelona as…
Pictures: Mariona Gil and Martí Petit.
