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The design of cities and buildings affects women more than men because they were designed by and built for men. Design continues to favour the ‘universal man’, i.e., a white, able-bodied man of about 40 years. The traditionally male-dominated vision of cities produces and reproduces spaces according to reconceived gender roles. The design of external spaces and facilities such as streets, parks, transport and infrastructure, community, and workplace spaces – traditionally associated with the male sphere – all work in a way that women are unable to use them fully. So, the city is divided spatially and temporally by gender- spaces are not fully usable by 50 per cent of the population that women constitute. Failing to consider a gender perspective in design could deteriorate, increment, and catalyse an already gendered environment. At the same time, the city of the evening and night is violent and frightening for women, who have also been subjected to sexual violence, harassment, and discrimination in such spaces during the day. The fact that globally, women outnumber men has not given them the agency to change matters; the fact that the world has seen many women in positions of power, yet much remains to be done in advancing women’s position in society; and the fact that women are heading design practices, yet women-friendly design remains uncommon. The number of women architects, urban planners, surveyors, and engineers still remains low, so gender mainstreaming of urban design is not commonplace. Are these a problem of those in power who do not yet consider the practical, political, and legacy issues arising from a gendered city? Or is this a long-standing problem of patriarchy and history that cannot be overcome so easily? Or can it be a matter of thinking differently, designing innovatively, and working inclusively? We will look at issues of urban design that affect women more, initiatives, and examples of inclusive urban design that empower women and girls from all over the world, reflecting on the relationships between spatial and social models and the role of design in these processes.
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No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.
Sumita Singha OBE RIBA is an architect, teacher, and writer with awards including UIA: UNESCO, Women In Business, Atkins Inspire and an OBE for services to architecture. She set up Architects For Change, the Equality forum for architects, and is past Chair of Women In Architecture, UK. She taught the course ‘Women in Architecture’ at Politecnico Di Milano and is the author of Thrive: A Field Guide for Women in Architecture, 2024.
Arianna Scaioli is an architect and PhD candidate at Politecnico di Milano, DAStU, Italy. Her research explores the spatialisation of gender equality and understanding how this notion can shape the morphology of the built environment. She is collaborating with Sumita Singha on the research project, ‘Feminist by Design’ which investigates urban design from a feminist perspective.
This paper was presented as a keynote speech by Sumita Singha at the SPACE International Conference 2022 on Gender, Space and Architecture and selected for publication in this Journal.
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