Last Wednesday we had our second online Expo, so happy to see so many familiar and new faces joining us! This time we hosted the speakers Veerle Alkemade and Catherine Koekoek, the women behind the architecture podcast Respons. Their first episode just aired and we had the scoop!
Veerle and Catherine both studied architecture, but went in a slightly different direction after graduation: Veerle started working at the Rijksvastgoedbedrijf (the real estate agency of the government) and Catherine started a PhD in Philosophy at the Erasmus University in Rotterdam. And they are not the only women who end up not in a design office. During studies, the gender split is around 50:50, but it seems that not many of those women actually end up in the field. Why is this and where do they go? That is the question Veerle and Catherine ask themselves and their guests in the first episode of the podcast.
The architecture podcast Respons aims to build a space for researching and discussing feminist questions in architecture - very similar to the Urbanistas goals! Together we discussed these topics, seeing if we could find the answers and sharing our experiences. There were fascinating conversations touching on a range of subjects such as work culture and positive discrimination.
It was a great evening, talking about these issues really strengthens the Urbanistas! Thank you for joining and all of your input.
Do you have any additional thoughts or ideas? Don’t hesitate to get in touch! You can reach Veerle and Catherine at responspodcast@gmail.com or via the Instagram of Respons.
The podcast is available on many channels:
Plus, an extra tip from Respons:
