Geographies of sexualities and the right to the city: an emotional and intersectional perspective for the case of the LGTBI community (SEXITY)
![](https://www.ub.edu/gredi/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/Maria-Rodó-260x185.jpeg)
Geographies of sexualities and the right to the city: an emotional and intersectional perspective for the case of the LGTBI community (SEXITY)
This project aims to develop new conceptualizations and methodologies to collect, analyze and visualize inequalities that can contribute to a better understanding of power dynamics and to more inclusive and equal cities. The focus on the LGTBI (Lesbian, Gay, Trans, Bisexual and Intersex) collective, considering its diversity in terms of origin, religious identity, ethnicity, social class, disability or age, may not only account for discriminations based on sexual orientations and gender identity but also allow for an intersectional conceptualization of them.
Objectives
The general objective of SEXITY is to examine the way in which emotions, intersecting social positions and everyday places configure social inequalities for the LGTBI community in urban dynamics and that could advance a shift in the understanding of the right to the city.
1. Map experiences of discrimination and inequality of the LGTBI collective in Barcelona: collect, quantitatively and qualitatively analyze and visualize the spatialities of discrimination from an intersectional, emotional and geographical perspective.
2. Theoretically develop a new framework for understanding the right to the city in relation to geographies of sexualities that includes different layers of inequality, the emotional dimension of it and the relation between private and public space as a key element for understanding urban dynamics.
3. Technologically and conceptually develop the model of the Relief Maps as an innovative tool for theorizing and empirically researching on geographies of sexualities: create and apply a new visualization based on the digital development of the Relief Maps in order to represent social inequalities through Geographic Information Systems.
Methodology
The empirical research is carried out in Barcelona through the conceptual, methodological and analytical tool of the Relief Maps. This innovative digital method created by the principal investigator allows both quantitative and qualitative analysis of the intersecting inequalities from a geographical and emotional perspective.
The central part of the methodology is based on the Relief Maps as a conceptual model and a tool for collecting, analyzing and visualizing intersecting data on inequalities.
Relief Maps is a model that the principal investigator created for the study on social inequalities that relates three dimensions in a single image:
It has the potential of systematizing complex information on the lived experience of perceived discrimination and allows a deep reflection that promotes social transformation in the process of a research.
Understanding the way the discrimination against the LGBTI collective is lived from an emotional perspective and considering the places of the everyday life may provide a better understanding of how urban dynamics are configured and exclude different groups. The relationship with a wide range of associations and public institutions working on LGTBI issues will be fundamental for conducting the empirical work and will later ensure a fruitful dissemination plan based on presenting the results to policy makers, practitioners and activists.
Principal investigator