Adam Nathaniel Furman and Joshua Mardell’s new book, ‘Queer Spaces,’ makes the case for bringing queer designers into the fold.

There’s a park in the Bangladeshi capital of Dhaka that serves two very different functions, depending on the time of day: leisure by day, cruising by night. This is a common refrain in cities around the world: when parks and buildings and cities aren’t designed for queer people, queer people will do whatever it takes to make them their own. But what if they didn’t have to?

A new book paints a kaleidoscopic portrait of gay-friendly spaces around the world. Titled Queer Spaces: An Atlas of LGBTQIA+ Places and Stories, the book is a collection of bars, clubs, public parks, community centers, theaters, and private houses that have nothing in common but the queerness of their occupants. Some, like the Bangladeshi park, have been subverted by the queer community; others, like the Victorian Pride Center in Melbourne, were created to give LGBTQIA+ a space to come together. But for all the diversity highlighted in the book, Queer Spaces makes one thing very clear: You cannot design queer spaces if you’re not queer. But if you want everyone to feel included, you can—and should—hire queer designers.