The London Women and Planning Forum is an information network for planning officers, architects, academics, students and community and voluntary organisations involved with urban environment and gender equality issues. It aims to change and improve the position of women in relation to planning issues; to provide a productive opportunity to share experiences of problems and difficulties encountered by women in the field; and to promote feminist thinking in planning organisations and urban studies. The Forum meets three times throughout the year to discuss contemporary urban issues from a gender perspective.

LWPF was formerly based at the Women's Design Service [New window] and during the last five years the Forum has held regular forum events and debated a wide range of contemporary issues including urban regeneration, public surveillance systems, Unitary Development Plans, Best Value, town centre management, public and community art, community safety, women as planners, and planning education. These events have been written up in the Women's Design Service Broadsheet Series.[New window]

The move to Queen Mary hopes to create more of a dialogue between academics and practitioners working with the urban environment.

Seminar - London Olympics: What's in it for Women?
06 July 2011, 1:30 - 5:30 pm, Arts Lecture Theatre

This free half-day seminar will explore how much and in what ways gender has been taken into account in planning 2012.

• Has the Olympic site been designed to address gender issues relating to ergonomics, safety, transport and accessibility?
• Have the competition facilities been designed to raise the profile of women's sports
• Have the Olympic boroughs used the 2012 opportunity to increase the provision of women-friendly sporting venues?
• Will the Olympic legacy result in more women participating in exercise and sport?
• What are the wider implications for urban design of policies aimed at increasing women's participation in and access to sports?

Speakers:
Rimla Akhtar - Chair, Muslim Women's Sport Foundation
Jayne Caudwell - Senior Lecturer, Chelsea School, University of Brighton
Alison Nimmo CBE - Director of Design & Regeneration, Olympic Delivery Authority
Tim Woodhouse - Head of Policy and External Affairs, Women's Sport and Fitness Foundation

Discussant:
Louise Mansfield - Senior Lecturer, Department of Sport Science, Tourism and Leisure, Canterbury Christ Church University

The event will be chaired by Alison Blunt, Professor of Geography and Chair of the London Women and Planning Forum.

Registration is at 1.30pm and the event will begin at 1.45pm, with a reception at 5.30pm.

Join us for an afternoon of presentations and discussions - all welcome!

Book online at www.qmul.ac.uk/events, or email events@qmul.ac.uk, including the name of the event and the number of places you wish to book.

Recent seminars have included:
Women and Worship: New Approaches to Sacred Spaces
Women, House Design and Domestic Space
Space for Dance
Home, Mosque and Street: Muslim Women and Urban Design

Steering group members:
Wendy Davis - Women's Design Service
Alison Blunt - Queen Mary, University of London
Amanda Claremont - University of Brighton
Clare Melhuish - Brunel University
HaeRan Shin - The Bartlett School of Planning

For seminar archives, see www.lwpf.org.uk

For further information, please contact the LWPF Administrator, Evelyn Owen, at e.owen@qmul.ac.uk