In their review of Mujeres, casas y ciudades. Más allá del umbral, Roser Casanovas and Sara Ortiz (from Col·lectiu Punt 6) foreground Zaida Muxí Martínez’s monumental contribution to feminist urbanism, which not only recuperates overlooked contributions by women in shaping domestic and urban spaces but also redefines the epistemological foundations of architectural historiography. The book is structured into ten chapters that offer a non-linear historiography, allowing for both thematic and chronological exploration. Muxí challenges the disciplinary canon by replacing the abstract categories of “architecture” and “urbanism” with experiential terms like “houses” and “cities”, privileging the everyday knowledge produced through caregiving, community building, and domestic negotiations. The work situates these contributions in a wider critique of the patriarchal logic underpinning spatial production, where the private sphere has long been devalued and feminised. The book thereby aligns itself with a growing body of herstorical scholarship, aimed at reconstructing alternative genealogies that contest dominant narratives of urban modernity. By recognising the centrality of care, the fluidity between private and public, and the value of situated knowledge, Muxí proposes a paradigm shift in how we conceptualise urban theory and practice. The authors of the review emphasise the book’s timeliness, coinciding with a renewed global visibility of feminist movements, and highlight its dual role as both academic intervention and homage to past generations of feminist thinkers and doers. This volume, they argue, is essential not only for feminist scholars but for anyone committed to building inclusive, equitable cities that recognise and honour plural spatial subjectivities.
Casanovas, R. and Ortiz, S. (2019) ‘Reseña de Zaida Muxí Martínez. (2018) Mujeres, casas y ciudades. Más allá del umbral’, URBS. Revista de Estudios Urbanos y Ciencias Sociales, 9(1), pp. 193–194.
