Women After Dark
This book represents a critical reframing of urban research, born from a persistent question: “What about the women after dark?”. Women After Dark critically interrogates the masculinised ideologies of the NightCity, long-standing concepts that have shaped urban night-time spaces while excluding women as active agents, both in the practice of the night-time economy and in broader urban decision-making. Women After Dark enters a conversation many cities still avoid: how night-time urban life is shaped by power, policy, and design. It invites us to see the night not as neutral, but as a system that decides who belongs, who is watched, and who is pushed out.
In conversation with Nourhan Bassam Feminist Urbanist, Author & Founding Director The GenderedCityDr. Nourhan Bassam is an architect and the first-ever feminist urbanist, holding a Ph.D. in Urban Design and Placemaking . As the CEO of The Gendered City a consultancy & urban design firm based in Amsterdam, she has dedicated her career to creating just, gender-equal cities through active citizen participation and radical placemaking.
She is the author of “The Gendered City” which got a global success purchased in over 40 countries, documenting the systemic restrictions and mobility failures women face in modern cities. And Women After Dark , the second book which is an in-depth exploration of the night-time city from safety to governance, drawing on 14 years of research to reclaim the “after dark” city as a space for all.
You can watch back the Gendered City booktalk via this link !
In June 2025, she inaugurated The Feminist Placemaking Academy, a global program designed to systemize feminist design principles. The Academy has taken the world by storm, expanding to 10 cities including sold-out launches in Mexico City and Athens and continues to tour major hubs like Barcelona, Tokyo, and London throughout 2026. She mentors Master’s students and teaches Feminist Spatial Design in various universities across Europe and USA. In 2023, she initiated FEM. DES., the world’s largest feminist design network that gathers over 600 feminist design experts from around the world.
