Queering Space, Designing Queerly and Outlining a Queer Approach to Space, Spatial Studies and Spatial Design Through and Beyond Matters of Performance, Representation and Aesthetics

The purpose of this article is to outline and introduce research in the intersection of queerness, space and spatial design – temporarily pinning down the elusive, fluid and transitional character of queerness to make this lens more broadly available to students, practitioners and researchers in the many fields interested in space and its organisation. Hence, a normative project of making a queer perspective more accessible, while simultaneously attempting to negotiate narrow perceptions of queer spatial studies and design practices as mainly concerned with representation of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, intersex, asexual, and/or other diverse sexual/gender identities (LGBTQIA+) populations in spaces and cities or certain easily identifiable queer aesthetics. Drawing on existing research and design practice, we argue that queerness can support the deconstruction of dominance and privilege both within and beyond ‘overtly’ queer spaces or designer identities. We argue that more scholars and practitioners should take interest not only in what queerness is (because it is so inherently fluid in its oppositionality) but also in what it can do in terms of subverting normality and transgressing boundaries.