The City that could have been. Urban theory through the women of the Chicago School
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 23309783 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Monica Bernardi (0000-0002-8860-8779, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2026 |
| Issue | 140 |
| Pages | 92-120 |
| Publication date | 2026-07-01 |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | SOCIOLOGIA URBANA E RURALE (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0392-4939 • E-ISSN: 1971-8403 |
| Publisher | Franco Angeli (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.3280/sur2026-140005 |
| OpenAlex | W7171710925 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 30 |
The article reconsiders the formation of urban sociology through the overlooked contribution of the women of the Chicago School. Focusing on Jane Addams, Florence Kelley, Edith Abbott and Sophonisba Breckinridge, it argues that their work developed a distinct way of knowing the city, grounded in situated observation, empirical proximity and attention to the social organization of inequality. By reconstructing this feminist-pragmatist genealogy, the article shows how questions of embodiment, intersectionality and everyday urban experience were already central to their research and reform practices. The discussion then examines Vienna, Barcelona, Toronto and Seoul as contemporary cases in which this legacy reappears, in different forms, through gender-sensitive planning, proximity policies, gender-responsive budgeting and women-friendly smart urbanism. Recovering this lineage allows urban sociology to rethink its conceptual foundations and to imagine more equitable urban futures.
Conceptual framework · Everyday life · Intersectionality · Situated · Social theory · Urban sociology · Urban theory · Contemporary Sociological Theory and Practice · Spatial and Cultural Studies · Urban Planning and Governance · Urban Studies
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For Public Sociology
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Slumdog Cities
Décoloniser le féminisme
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Situated Knowledges
The Complexity of Intersectionality
| Highly cited | No |
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