Shaping Our Own Reality

Author(s): Sherry Ahrentzen

Source: The Women's Review of Books, Vol. 10, No. 5 (Feb., 1993), p. 26
Published by: Old City Publishing, Inc.
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/4021463
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 Shaping our own reality
When I compared female- and male- ing, showing thatit can be done, and how.
by SherryAhrentzen headed households of the same income Spreadingthe word is crucial: other ar-
levels, amongotherthingsI foundgreatdis- chitects and developersmust see that such
Jt is my convictionthatliving in a decentenvironment is a civil right. parities in the quality of their homes and housingis notonlyfeasible,it hasworkedfor
differencesin housing preference.Women nearlytwentyyears.
The federal and local governments should provide good, affordable lived in apartmentsor townhousesrather Recently,withcolleaguesJosefStaggand
than single-familydwellings. Women also KristenDay,I completedsystematicbuilding
housing options for people in a wide varietyof situations.Good housing seemed to care more about neighborhood evaluationsof the two transitionalhousing
can do more than shelter: it can restore the spirit-civic as well as quality and services. I began realizingthat developmentsinMilwaukee.Weinterviewed
single parentsneededa greatdeal more,not staff and residents and documented the
individual. only in their housing, but in their com- anduses of thehous-
physicalcharacteristics
munities,thanthey alreadyhad. ing. Onedevelopmentoccupiedtwo floorsof
These beliefs have infused both my under the Carter administration), which in- The concems arisingfrom my graduate a twelve-storypublichousingcomplex;the
teaching and my research. For nearly ten cluded talents like Donna Shalala, an- work have continuedto drive my research otherincludeda largeapartment buildingand
years I've been on the architecturefaculty at nounced a new dissertation program for stu- and teaching. In particularI have tried to threehouses, each of which was converted
the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. In dents interested in housing. The main project understandhow housingmightnot only ac- intofourapartments. The.Universityof Wis-
my undergraduate and graduate teaching, was to analyze a database from HUD's huge commodatewide varieties of families and consin-Milwaukee funded our research.
which includes directing master's and doc- Housing Allowance experiment. Carried out householdsbut also empowerthem.Usually Therehave been very few empiricalevalua-
toral dissertations, I've tried to show how in the 1970s, this was the largest national we think about empowennent as home tion studiesof such housing,so thereis no
research and social theory can be applied to study of the living conditions of the poor, ownership.If you own a home,you have an sense of whatworkssuccessfully,for whom,
architectural design and how a broad range covering low-income families in twelve US investment;you're looked up to in society. and why. I'm beginningto investigateall of
of methodologies can fuel architectural in- cities over a three-yearperiod. ButI thinktherearemanyotherways we can this.
quiry. At this time Shalala and others at HUD createhomesso thatpeoplecanfulfill them-
In my research I have tried to attendto the were starting to accumulate statistical and selves financially, socially and psycho- I N A REQUIREDUNDERGRADUATEclass, "Ar-
ways architecturecan bc more responsive to demographic evidence showing that most logically. Having a businessspace in one's chitectureandHumanBehavior,"I have
social change in the US, particularly for people living in poor-quality housing were home, for instance,can help the house pay the 70 studentsenrolled in it conduct
women and other groups with little access to women and children. In general, housing for itself (through tax deductions).Good e 'aluationstudies,usuallyof settingsof their
power. I'm especially interested in new and design and siting are insensitive to women design is importantin this kind of housing choice. I've never had them look at transi-
nontraditional fonns of housing for people and female-headed households: most hous- use: the architectmust thinkaboutways to tional housing since access to residentsis
the privatc market generally neglects-for ing is far from workplaces, and designed so minimizeconflictsbetweenactivitiesandoc- limitedand I've alreadydone studiesof the
instance single parcnts. I've found it crucial that mutual aid and close contact among cupantswithoutisolatingthe space in ques- only two in Milwaukee. But some have
to focus not just on design but on context, the neighbors aren't facilitated. I wasn't a single tion. talked with residentsin Milwaukeepublic
social and political conditions and the factors mother, but I had long felt that both the housingdevelopmentsas well as in homeless
of human behavior architects must consider private market and federal programs should F OR NEARLYTEN YEARSI've been par- shelters, married-studenthousing, group
in approaching any housing problem. embrace all households. I saw the dilemmas ticularlyinterestedin the possibilities homes for mentally disabled persons and
I began to sec housing as a women's issue faced particularly by elderly women living transitional housing holds for em- nursinghomes.The objectiveis to have the
during my graduate studies at the University alone and single mothers with their families, poweringits residents.Transitionalhousing studentsenter worlds differentfrom their
of Califomia at Irvine. Around the time I was and decided that my dissertation should ad- accommodateswomen in various crises; own andsee how otherslive andwantto live.
looking for a dissertation topic HUD (then dress their problems. batteringand homelessness are prime ex- Formost students,thisis thefirstcontact
amples. Because these women lack money they have with real housingoccupants,and
andotherbasics-transportation,childcare, theirfirst consciouseffortto considerclient
job skills-they can't find permanenthous- needs.Inmostarchitecture coursesthestudio
ing on the regularmarket.They (and their projects are fictitious and so are the oc-
families, if they have children)usually live cupants.I tryto makesurethatthe residents
Coke-a-Bye-Baby in transitionalhousing betweensix months the students interview are different from
and two years before they move on to per- themin class, familysituation,ethnicityand
on the treetop whenthe windblows crackjumpsover manenthomes.Transitionalhousingmayin- gender.(About75 percentof undergraduate
the candlestickhickorydickorydickorychinawhite clude job-trainingprograms,psychological architecturestudents are men.) While the
see how theyrunthreeblindpakalolocrystalbooze services, day care-the kinds of provisions projectusuallyisn't "real"-that is, it won't
the cradlewill speedspliff iced formulatweaking people need to get themon theirfeet. Some necessarilybe built-it helps studentstake
happyhourthis littlepiggy wastedrig rattlerug transitionalhousing developmentsprovide the viewpointof "theother."
bong spoonrazorcoke littleJackHomersits in a sharedliving spaces (kitchens,eatingareas, In a seminar,"GenderIssuesin Architec-
crackhouseshootingoatmealcorkscrewnipple lounges)for people who mightbenefitfrom ture and UrbanDesign,"I also let students
six-packwhenthe boughbreaksthe cradle peer support and sharing-teenaged choose their own projects. A few have
will freebasebabypowderspeedballJackand mothers, batteredwomen and women re- studiedtransitional housing.Onemaninves-
Jill shrumsformulaganjaringson herfingersand coveringfromsubstanceabuse,forexample. tigated campus housing for single parents
bells on acidfalls downstepson a crackand When transitional housing was first and theirfamilies.Only a few campusesin
breaksheroinpacifierhammeredtokepottypot launchedin Denver in 1974, other cities, the countryhave consideredsingle-parent
crayonsdownwill come ecstasymarblessnorting agencies and especially bankerswere very housing.GoddardCollegein Vermontis one
threeblindwiredfreebiefreebasehumptyhorse sceptical.The bankersrequiredall kinds of of them:aftertalkingthereto campusoffi-
horsierastadiaperdustdoll crackcrackclock design restrictions:if the expeiment failed, cials and the architects who originally
sock shootbabycradleandall. thestructureshouldeasilybe convertibleinto designed Goddard'shousing, the student
markethousing.Not only did it not fail, but came up with design recommnendations for
anothertransitionalhousingproject(of over othercollege campuses.
100 units)hadto be builtin Denvertenyears Master's thesis and doctoral students
later.The StewartP. McKinneyAct passed who want to look at architecturein new
by Congress in 1987 assisted in funding ways-lient-centered healthcenters,hous-
emergencyand transitionalhoulsing,and so ing that accommodatesmixed households
morecities beganto ventureintothistypeof (multigenerational,mixed-income and the
Friendly Fire development. like), alternativebirthingcenters-usually
Today's tranlsitionalhousing is largely seek me out. One studentworkedwith me
Someonewantsto knowhow I feel aboutwomenin war,womenin urban.It's diverse in size, householdcom- and a Milwaukeewomen'sgroupon a Wis-
war,I meansendingwomen,I meanwe're talkingmothershere, position, services and spaces provided. consin-fundedstudy that investigated thie
some kid if the womangets shot loses his mother,hey they'vebeen While most large cities have transitional feasibilityof cohousingfor women leaving
losingfathersdown the tubessince who knowswhenbutwhatthehell housing, it can be fouandin several small transitionalhousing. (In cohousing, which
no one ever sent a fatherhomefor the kid'ssake,fathersI guess ones: it exists in Boston but also in other usuallyaccommodates30 to 35 households,
they figurefathersexpendable,send the womanhome,haveto Massachusettstowns like Holyoke andYar- each householdhas an apartmentbut there
takecareof ourwomen,sendherhome, someonewantsto k-now mouth. Milwaukeehas two such develop- are sharedareas-ommunity kitchensand
whatI thinkaboutwomenandrape,someonewants,everysix ments;a thirdis beingbuilt.Thereis at least dining rooms, space for child-care,and so
minutesa womanis rapeda daughteris rapeda wife is beatenevery one book devotedto the subject-Joan For- on.) The studentproduceda video of the
eighteenseconds,someonewantsto know whatI think,have to take rester Sprague's More than Housing: residents'interviews,documentedhousing
careof ourwomen,sendherhome,whatI think,sendherhome Ltfeboatsfor Womnen and Children(Butter- experts' opinions, and displayed designs
to raisethe kid, the kid theycareso muchabout,the one thatwill grow worth-Heinemann,1991, reviewed in The basedon herresearch.Anotherdoctoralstu-
andgo to war Women'sReviewin January1992),andthere dent did an excellent study of sharedhous-
is a section on transitionalhousing in a ixig,which also includeddesignrecommen-
volume I coedited with Karen A. Franck, dations.Thewomenshe interviewedlived in
New Households, New Housing (Van a wide variety of circumstances-from
-Frances Payne Adler NostrandReinhold,1989). single parents sharing homes, to "room-
In the courseof my workI have searched mates,"to elderlywomensharingwith non-
for andlocatedtransitionalhousingprojects; relatives.
taLkedinformallywith residentsabouttheir In all my work- research, teachingand
experiencesandhousingpreferences;talked consulting-I'm inspired by a line from
with architects,developers and advocates Bertolt Brecht:Art is not a mirrorheld up
aboutdesignanddevelopment.I havespoken to reality, but a hammnerwith which to
publiclyandwrittenabouttransitionalhous- shapeit.

2 The Women's Review of Books / Vol. X, No. 5 / February1993

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