Whose stories get told in our cities – and whose stay invisible?
In this episode, Christian Lunger speaks with Eugenio de Gregorio, founder of TravaPowa, a free, EU-funded travel platform focused on regenerative tourism and positive impact travel. His work connects storytelling with public space – from scouting sustainable travel initiatives to building learning modules on social tourism across Europe.
The conversation starts with a simple idea: public space is never neutral. Every street name, statue and city tour shows a choice about whose story gets told and whose gets left out. The real question is why so many stories, especially women’s stories, stay hidden in public life.
Two ideas run through the discussion. Feminist city tours look at familiar streets from a new, gender-aware angle, linking historical women’s stories to today. And the idea that public memory is both shared and selective, shaped less by what actually happened than by who had the power to decide what gets remembered.
Examples from cities across Europe show how a guided tour can turn tourism from simple sightseeing into a way of questioning space itself. Sometimes the most powerful change isn’t a new sign or route, but a human guide who links a hidden story to life today.
A conversation about memory, power and the quiet decisions that shape which stories a city tells.
Shownotes
Book Recommendation
Kern, Leslie (2020). Feminist City: A Field Guide.
Resource
TravaPowa (Etikbnb) – a free travel platform for regenerative tourism and positive impact travel.
https://transition-pathways.europa.eu/pledges/pledge-formulated-etikbnb-travapowa
Further Reading Tip
Haynes, Natalie. A Thousand Ships.