Trophy Cities

Reviews / Votes

'Another recent book by Dorina Pojani, Trophy Cities, is relentlessly critical of the underlying gender bias that undergirds these ventures. As its subtitle proclaims, she offers "a feminist perspective on new capitals." She documents "the patriarchal character of most nationalisms," including the male-led predilection to found new capitals. Importantly, this intersectional feminist lens centres "not only gender by also class, race, ethnicity, religion and other systems of domination."' -- Lawrence J. Vale, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, US 'In Trophy Cities, Dorina Pojani offers a much-needed feminist analysis of the planning of capital cities across the globe. With a diverse set of case cities and an abundance of well-researched examples from them, this book makes a significant contribution and offers a fresh perspective to our understanding of cities, how we plan them, and with what consequences. The book, or select chapters, would be excellent additions to include in cities and urbanization courses, as well as feminist theory courses. Pojani's accessible writing style makes the book suitable for both undergraduate and graduate students, as well as policymakers and practitioners. This book challenges us to re-evaluate the traditional and dominant planning paradigms and envision something different - something better.' -- Megan E Heim La Frombois, Journal of the American Planning Association 'Feminism is not only about political representation or economic freedom, it is also about liberating our cities from only the pursuit of capital and making them the sites of play and community, about freeing all people in the way they occupy space and live out their daily lives, about giving dignity to the lived experience. Trophy Cities is a bold proposal for planning our cities around people and not money, for prioritizing joy over wealth. I'll be thinking about it for some time to come.'