Flâneuse from the year 2023: An Ethnographic study on Women Students’ City Walk in Nanjing, China

Abstract

This paper focuses on the City Walk of female university students in China. In 2023, City Walk has become a trend in China, with a large number of young women, especially university students, taking part in spontaneous walking activities in the city streets. These city walkers resemble the revolutionary identity in the history of feminist geography, the flâneuse, which challenges and even subverts the existing gender order in public space. In this study, the researcher conducts go-along interviews with ten female university students living in Nanjing University’s Gulou Campus to explore their walking behaviour, specific experiences and attitudes towards City Walk. The study shows that female city walkers expand the boundaries of their exploration of urban space. Their walking experiences and narratives also reflect a uniquely female perspective that focuses on features and things in the city that are easily overlooked and marginalised. On the other hand, women who walk on the streets are exposed to more stares and judgement, making female city walkers face challenges in the still male-dominated urban spaces.