Cohort: SOMET 38°
Topic of the thesis: Bodies, Selves and Spaces: Gendered Experiences of Milanese Urban Settings

Abstract: Research consistently demonstrates that urban environments are neither neutral nor equally accessible to everyone, being structured by uneven power relations and exclusionary practices that disproportionately affect women's sense of safety, mobility, and belonging (Kern, 2020). Decades of feminist scholarship have extensively analyzed the complex relationships between marginalised bodies and urban spaces; yet, the underlying social mechanisms shaping women's fears remain insufficiently unpacked, leaving women's habitual discomforts, emotional negotiations, and embodied adaptations as invisible yet persistent barriers to their right to the city (Lefebvre, 2014). Despite feminist critiques highlighting that gender-based violence predominantly occurs during the day, in familiar, populated environments or behind closed doors, women continue to report heightened vulnerability primarily in unfamiliar public spaces and at night (Condon, Lieber & Maillochon, 2007; Bastomski & Smith, 2017). Addressing the critical gap between women's socially structured fears in public spaces and the actual circumstances under which gender-based violence, this research investigates women's presence in urban environments, exploring the emotional, embodied, and social dimensions structuring their daily experiences in Milan, Italy. Grounded in intersectional feminist theory and informed by multidisciplinary perspectives, this study adopts a participatory feminist methodology aimed explicitly at producing situated, counter-hegemonic knowledges that contest dominant gender-space paradigms. Data collection involved ethnographic observations, semi-structured in-depth interviews, and focus groups structured around participatory methods such as collective walks, photovoice, photo-elicitation, community and emotional mapping. In this research, the term "women" refers to everyone who identifies as such, or was socialised as such, or was assigned female at birth.

Research interests: feminist methodologies; emotional and embodied experiences of minority groups; gender; migration; spatial justice; ethics of care and responsibility in research practice; participatory and creative methods; politics of knowledge production.

Graduated from: BA @ Goldsmiths University of London, MA @ UCL University College London

Degrees obtained: BA in Sociology- First Class Honours, MA in Sociology of Childhood and Children's Rights - Distinction

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