ABC RN By Design: Public toilets: The design, history and politics of who gets to go

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Michael Barnett OAM

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May 31, 2026, 4:41:11 AM (2 days ago) May 31
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Public toilets: The design, history and politics of who gets to go

Tue 26 May 2026 at 6:00am
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‘The sewer is the conscience of the city’, or so the French writer Victor Hugo once claimed. It’s a confronting idea, but a revealing one: the way a society deals with waste can tell us a lot about its values, priorities and politics. And yet our toilet habits are something we’re usually taught to ignore, avoid or feel embarrassed about. We look at one everyday object that sits right at the intersection of design, morality and public life: the public toilet. Used by everyone, discussed by few, and designed very differently across cultures and centuries, it turns out the humble loo has a lot to say about who we are.

Guests: 

  • Olivia Meikle, Professor of Women’s and Gender Studies at Naropa University, Colorado and co‑author A Stinky History of Toilets
  • John Choi, Architect at Choi Studio
  • Dr Kerry Shannon, Historian of Modern East Asia at California State University, Dominguez Hills
  • Brooke Jackson, Brooke Jackson Director of the Master of Architecture programme at the University of Technology of Sydney
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