Women and urban spaces

For more than three decades now, organisations, networks and groups
of feminists, female scholars, and women politicians have uncovered the
ways in which the traditional forms of designing and planning city
policies and actions neglect women. Traditional city design and planning
often fails to recognise the complex and unequal relations between men
and women in our society. While women’s right to the city was largely
left unattended until the recent past, it is important to recognise that
women have always been active participants in the building of cities.
They have taken part in the shaping of human settlements by ensuring
better habitat conditions as well as the building, improvement and
maintenance of such settlements. This is especially true for women’s
social movements that have often successfully demanded women’s
rights to land, housing and services.

The social and cultural composition of cities is necessarily diverse. It is

in urban spaces that economic and cultural development, education, and
work flourish. Urban spaces also make it possible for social movements
and committed political action to de-construct social and gender
stereotypes, and challenge those traditions that often hinder the
implementation of women’s rights. The progress and success of city
policies will largely depend on the capacity to create and keep a shared
sense of commitment that ensures equal conditions and opportunities for
men and women alike, as well as for the diverse groups that still lack
recognition, such as transgender people and sexual minorities.

Women’s Right to the City

The failure to include women in the policy planning for urban

development is a form of rendering their specific needs and demands
invisible. Despite all this, women are and always have been organising
themselves, expressing their demands and advancing their rights around
the world. A number of feminist movements and women’s rights
organisations have been advocating the institutionalisation of women’s
right to the city for some time now.

This study is going to discuss about the ease of sociability for women in
temporarily used spaces like stores, restaurants, museums, libraries,
streets, plazas, parks, stations, public transit etc. The aim to find ways to
bring “freedom of street" that men possess in most cities to women too.
Few concerns that is affecting this “freedom of street" for women can be
listed down as,

• Travel

• Crime and fear of crime

• Harassment

• Restricted mobility and necessary activities

• Household and childcare facilities

Case study 1
Barcelona's “Feminist city"
What would cities look like if they were designed by women, for women?
Clearly, no simple answer exists. “Gender sensitive” urban design
projects have been few in number, with little time for long-term analysis.
These efforts, however, provide useful insights to what future egalitarian
cities may include in order to prioritize the needs of both men and
women.

The ongoing transformation of Barcelona into a so-called “feminist city”

illuminates the importance of having women at the forefront of the
planning process.

The city in many ways has come to embody its leader. Under Colau’s
guidance, Barcelona has passed landmark legislation and implemented
progressive urban design initiatives to improve women’s urban
experiences.

Pedestrian Super Blocks

Although over 80 percent of trips in Barcelona are made by foot or public
transit, over 60 percent of Barcelona’s public space is dedicated to cars
(source: Physical Activity Through Sustainable Transport Approaches).
Since women are more apt to walk than men, women are
disproportionately impacted by the city’s lack of pedestrian space.
Image: Barcelona Superblock (Credit: BBC News)

Janet Sanz, Barcelona’s deputy mayor for urbanism, is leading one of

the city’s most ambitious plans to allow pedestrians to reclaim the city
through “super blocks” or superilles. A super block is formed by
conjoining nine city blocks and closing it to most traffic (with the
exception of local traffic, which is restricted to a 10-kilometers-per-hour
speed limit). All parked cars go underground, allowing parks,
landscaping, seating and play areas filled with people to replace busy
junctions.

Barcelona built its first super block in 2018 and now has six. The
ultimate goal is to build over 500 super blocks.

Orthogonal Bus Network

Many cities around the world have radial public transport systems. This
means the majority of transit routes lead to a single downtown. The few
circular routes that exist are typically concentrated in the city’s center.
This system can be incredibly efficient for commuters, who prioritize
traveling to and from work quickly and efficiently. However, for people
who use transit for a greater diversity of reasons (grocery shopping,
visiting relatives, etc.), which often requires travel between different
neighborhoods, this system can be slow and cumbersome.

But transit systems cannot easily be improved, as Sánchez de

Madariaga, an urban planning professor at Madrid’s Technical
University, explained: “There is not much you can easily or cheaply do to
address this historical bias [of transit]. You can improve their
accessibility…and that’s about it. Buses, on the other hand, are flexible
and their routes and stops can and should be ‘moved and adjusted for
need” (source: Invisible Women).
And Barcelona did just that. In 2012, the city began building an
orthogonal bus network that complemented the subway’s spiderweb
transit map. To date, at least eight new bus lines have been installed,
with 28 more bus lines planned or underway. This systems allows for
greater ease of trip-chaining, which particularly benefits women who are
responsible for “care-related trips.”

Eyes on the Streets

In order for a street to be a safe place, there must be “eyes upon the
street,” said author Jane Jacobs in her 1961 landmark book, The Life
and Death of American Cities. People should be engaged in activities
along the street, and people should be able to see the street from
nearby buildings. For there to be eyes on the street, public spaces must
be interesting and vibrant.

Image Credit: Justice for Families

Vibrant public spaces and streets are abundant in Barcelona, due in part
to its high density and stunning architecture. But some areas of the city
lack “transparency,” meaning it is difficult to see the outside from within a
building, and vice versa. Lack of transparency can also manifest along
streets themselves, as particular street designs can make it difficult for
people to see the urban environment in its entirety.

This is particularly relevant for those who fear sexual harassment and
violence — acts that often occur behind closed doors. Dark corners and
masked spaces invoke fear because they are perfect places for potential
attackers to hide.

Collective Point 6, a Barcelona architecture collective, is developing

design guidelines to increase women’s perceived and actual safety.
Among their suggestions:
 • Vegetation is no higher than one meter.
• Trees are properly maintained, to avoid blocking lighting.

Other municipalities in Spain have approved bylaws to ensure that the

entrances to new housing-related buildings are on street level and avoid
creating hiding spaces.

‘Anti-Sexist’ Stands
In an attempt to take a firm stance against violence and harassment,
“Anti-Masclista” (Anti-Sexist) stands were first set up outside of large
music festivals and areas of nightlife in 2016. Two specialists staff each
stand, offering information on sexual violence, explaining municipal and
public services offered in the city, and providing support should a sexual
aggression have occurred.

Image: ‘Anti-Sexist’ stand located at a music festival in Barcelona

(Credit: barcelona.cat)

The program that operates the stands (NOésNO) has also built a phone
application which allows people to anonymously report sexual
harassment and assaults (source: BBC News). Data from the phone
application eventually are shared with policy makers to help inform
decision making.

Diversifying Street Names

In cities across the world, most streets are named after men. A 2015
survey of the streets in seven different cities across the world found that
only 27.5 percent of streets were named after women (source: City Lab).
At the time, Paris fared the worst, with only 2.6 percent of its streets
named after women. Of course, streets alone are not the problem; it’s
also the male-oriented monuments and building names.

This patriarchal theme is ever present in Spain, where over 90 percent

of streets in Spain were named after men in 2016 (source: Quartz). That
same year, Spanish officials announced they would identify streets
named after members of Francisco Franco’s totalitarian regime and
replace them with names of prominent women leaders. Barcelona
gained a head start on this effort, with the number of streets named after
women soaring from 7 percent in 1996 to 27.7 percent in 2010. Murals
and public art, which pay tribute to feminist values and the contributions
of women, have also been implemented throughout Barcelona in the
past decade.

These improvements diversify Barcelona’s urban fabric. They may also

improve women’s perceived safety, reminding women that they are not
alone in cities that sometimes appear as if they were built only for able-
bodied men.

Questions for Urban Designers in Minnesota

In pursuing gender-equity in planning, policy makers and city designers
must consider the context-sensitive nature of urban initiatives. What is
effective in one area of the world may be less useful in another.
Ultimately, decisions will need to be made at the city and community
level.

As urban planners and designers in Minnesota, and beyond, consider

how best to meet the needs of girls and women, I would argue that we
examine our communities and ask:

• Do transportation options allow for safe, efficient and affordable

travel to nearby neighborhoods, in addition to downtown
employment centers?
• Are pedestrian facilities and public space amenities, such as
parks, safe and accessible for women, children and the elderly?
• Are streets and buildings designed to encourage residents to
engage and socialize with one another, and care for one another’s
safety?
• Do urban design elements (poor lighting, masked spaces)
contribute to girls and women feeling unsafe?
• Are resources available if someone faces sexual harassment or
assault while walking, biking or riding public transit?
 • Do the streets, monuments, murals and other features of the city’s
fabric embody the community’s demographics?

Case study 2

How Vienna designed a city for women

Vienna's government has made the city a safer and more convenient
place for women after incorporating a gender lens into urban design.
The city has improved street lighting, made parks more accessible for
young girls, widened pavements, and designed social housing and new
neighbourhoods for the needs of women. Planners have now completed
more than 60 urban projects designed specifically with women in mind.
Results & Impact

The city has carried out more than 60 projects that have used gender
mainstreaming in urban design. In one project, adding footpaths and
space for activities other than football to urban parks resulted in more
girls using the spaces. More than a kilometre of pavement has been
widened to ease use for pedestrians, who are more often women than
men. This especially benefits those with strollers. There have been 26
new street lighting projects, and additional seating has been brought to
nine different locations. A successful pilot apartment complex designed
by and for women has also led to gender analysis requirements for all
bids for city social housing contracts.

Key Parties

City of Vienna Women’s Office, Coordination Office, Vienna Urban

Planning Group, Collectiu Punt 6
How

To work out how women’s urban needs differ from men’s, gender
differentiated data is essential. Vienna's government has gathered
information in several ways. The first qualitative analysis came with a
photography exhibit in the early 1990s on how women use the city,
which was part of the inspiration behind setting up a City Women’s
Office. In 1999, this office conducted a large-scale survey on gendered
transportation use, which resulted in a long-run focus on improving
pedestrian access, from widening crosswalks to providing more lighting.
Another analysis, this time done by two sociologists, revealed stark
discrepancies in girls’ and boys’ access to public parks. This led to a
government project to redesign these spaces to make them more
approachable for girls, such as by bringing in space for new activities
other than football and increasing numbers of footpaths. Gender
differentiated analysis has now been institutionalised as a necessary
consideration in plans for much of the city’s new infrastructure. For
example, bidders for social housing construction contracts are assessed
not only for functionality and aesthetics but also for their gender impacts
Hurdles

One challenge is that there has been limited statistical evaluation of

either the cost or the impact of many of the pilot projects that have taken
place. Another is that from the start, gender mainstreaming in Vienna
has been met with resistance from various levels of city administration.
For an example, an exhibition organised by the city in 1991 to
understand how women's use of public space differed to men's was met
with scepticism by male reviewers in another department. More recently,
Stockholm's efforts at gender mainstreaming by changing snow
ploughing routes have also been met with online backlash and ridicule.

The Story
The whole idea of designing a city that works for women as well as men
started in Vienna. Since the early 1990s, when nobody else was
speaking about the gendered impact of infrastructure design, the city
has brought a gender lens to much of its urban planning. It has carried
out more than 60 pilot projects - and now other places following its lead.
The first essential step in understanding how women’s urban needs
differ from men’s was gender-sensitive data collection. In 1991, Vienna
decided to assess the percentage of male and female residents using
particular types of transport (the "modal split").
“We analysed what percentage of car journeys were done by men
versus women, and did the same for pedestrian traffic and public
transport,” said Eva Kail, Gender Expert in the City's Urban Planning
Group.
The analysis found stark differences in transport use patterns. Men use
cars and bikes more frequently, whereas women are more often
pedestrians and public transport users. “At that time nobody talked about
pedestrian needs, but two-thirds of pedestrian journeys were done by
women,” said Kail.
That same year, Kail was instrumental in the organisation of a
photography exhibit, "Who Owns Public Space - Women’s Everyday Life
in the City." The exhibition documented the everyday lives of various
women residents - from a schoolgirl to a Turkish housewife to an elderly
lady - and depicted clearly that safety and ease of movement were real
priorities.
At this early stage, few in Vienna’s public sector were on board with the
idea of gender mainstreaming. “Resistance was quite huge in the
beginning. A reviewer in one sub-department said that if there was to be
an exhibition of women in the city, there should also be one for dogs and
canaries too!” said Kail.
Despite resistance, the exhibition helped bring about a broad change in
mindset for many involved in urban planning. “Unpaid invisible work was
not in the head of designers. It has changed over the years, but at that
time it was really 9something new,” she said. It also was part of the
inspiration behind setting up a City Women’s Office, the institution
responsible for promoting the empowerment of women in the city.
References

K.A. Franck and L. Paxson. Women and urban public space: Research,
design and policy issues. In I. Altman and E. Zube (Eds) Public Spaces
and Places. New York: Plenum, 1989: 121-146.

Donna Asteria, Herdis Herdiansyah, NL Ni’mah IOP Conference Series:

Earth and Environmental Science 126 (1), 012146, 2018
Margaret L Schmitt, David Clatworthy, Tom Ogello, Marni Sommer
Water 10 (9), 1193, 2018

Kim England Urban Geography 15 (7), 628-643, 1994

https://www.hindustantimes.com/analysis/redesigning-urban-spaces-for-
women/story-xkw0YpAZDPlEQoICgJgiAM.html

https://streets.mn/2020/05/22/how-can-cities-be-designed-for-women/

https://apolitical.co/en/solution_article/vienna-designed-city-
women#:~:text=Vienna's%20government%20has%20made%20the,for%
20the%20needs%20of%20women