WHAT WOULD A CITY DESIGNED

BY WOMEN LOOK LIKE

Cities are supposed to be built for all of us, but they aren't built by
all of us," says Stephanie Hegarty in a video report.
She talks to members of Col·lectiu Punt 6, a feminist collective of
urban designers in Barcelona, about how cities can better serve
women and the innovative projects happening in the city.

For example, women use public restrooms more often and for
longer periods of time than men, and they often need to bring in
strollers. And men can stand while women need stalls, meaning
that women’s restroom spaces should be larger. Research says
that women spend three times as long on average in toilet. Most
of the time men can stand up, so in the same space, you can fit
more men’s toilets. In theories, women’s bathrooms should be at
least three times in the size.

Redefining a city along a femisit philosophy where everybodies

needs are considered equally is about more than just security
and services. Its about thinking how each of us uses space
differently. From the very early age, the spaces that we use are
segregated. The design team wanted to make a playground
where everyone has a equal access to space. So they divided
the area, using paths and benches and then they asked the
neighborhood what they wanted, so they can have different types
of play at the same time. they also looks at how public spaces,
like playgrounds, are segregated and ways design can better
integrate these places. Barcelona has more male-centric tranport
system. The statistics show that women travel on foot and use
public transport more than men. So the movement of women is
more sustainable. In Barcelona about 60% of public spaces
across the city are taken up by cars.
Punt 6 and Janet Sanz, Barcelona’s Deputy Mayor for Urbanism,
also advocate for more accessible transportation spaces and less
car-centric urban design Barcelona has developed a series of
innovative superblocks, areas where nine smaller blocks are
combined to create a larger network of streets that support
biking, pedestrians, and public spaces and where car use is
limited. Women in Barcelona have also expressed an
overwhelming desire for more benches, and the city has installed
hundreds of them in neighborhoods, along with trees and more
greenspace. A big part of the superblock project was asking the
community what they wanted, and the answer was benches.
They have put 500 benches in that area. Any time of the day
people come and sit there, they chant hang out and sometiimes
help each other out. They say, benches are not just for
socialising, or for faciliating relationships among people. They are
a basic necessity for mobility, for who are sick, for people with
disabilities and for carers or childminders.

Barcelona is also known as a party town where women do not

always feel comfortable and safe. "Now the city is saying no to
sleaze with these anti-machismo stands," Women can go to the
stands to get more information about resources that are available
in Barcelona, and also about the new app ‘no es no’ that the city
has put out to report incidents of sexual harassment or violence.
And the idea was to create a map of where sexual assualts are
happening so the city can stop them.

"Seeing what a city built by women would look like is still just a
fantasy. But these women are giving a glimpse of what that future
could be”.