The meaning and purpose of public space continues to be discussed across the disciplines of geography, urban studies, and gender studies. Gendered access to public space has been widely deliberated in both academic and activist contexts in this century, with significant research on its relationship with caste, class, gender, and disability. Although public spaces are considered integral to cities, there is growing interest in the meaning and purpose of public spaces in sub-urban and peri-urban areas as well in the context of increasing rural-urban migration, digitalisation, and rising political discontent and protests. Given the diverse ways in which public space has been understood and conceptualised, it is necessary to contextualise what public space means, how it is configured and what meanings it invokes across political cultures and geographies, particularly in the so-called ‘global South’.

This Issue of Gender & Development invites diverse and interesting perspectives to contribute to the body of scholarship and practice on gender and public space. We seek to address the question of gender and public space in a range of contexts and geographies (like urban, rural, small towns, digital spaces, health and humanitarian crises) as well as from multi-disciplinary approaches. We invite scholars, activists, designers, policy makers, planners and artists to share their latest research and best practices to understand how inclusive, equitable, and participatory public spaces and infrastructures could be collectively conceptualised, designed and claimed. This Issue will be guest edited by Iromi Perera, Dr. Nazanin Shahrokni, Dr. Pumla Gqola, Dr. Shilpa Phadke and Dr. Sofia Zaragocin Carvajal.