Routledge Publishing invites book chapter proposals for a peer-reviewed edited volume that will re-write the history of architecture, urban space and landscape before the modern age from an alternative, feminist point of view. Women as Builders, Designers and Critics will recover women’s agency within the built environment in the urban and rural setting from the perspective of distinct and often overlapping roles women have played as:

• Builders: manual labourers on constructions sites and in the building trades building material suppliers, and managers of construction projects
• Designers: amateur designers of architecture, interiors and gardens, artists influencing design through their architectural imagery, patrons directly engaged with design
• Critics: writers, mentors, tutors and patrons influencing the form of the built environment

Chapter authors should situate the women they study within the context of their social class, time period and region.  Within this context, authors may, if appropriate, choose to theorize about where these women fit within or challenge the canon of architectural history. 

The geographic scope is open and projects from earlier periods and addressing alternative roles are welcome.

Please send a 500-word abstract and a one-page CV by December 1, 2022 to Shelley E. Roff at [email protected].  Notification of acceptance of abstracts will be by December 10, 2022.

If your proposal is accepted, the deadline for full chapter submission will be January 15, 2024.

All chapters must be published in English.

Length: 5,000 to 8,000 words.