The [en]gendered City

Abstract

Despite the increasing demand for women’s participation in the growing economy, the persisting gender inequality in current societies has a significant spatial factor contributing to inhibiting women from accessing various facilities and economic opportunities, further undermining them from enhancing their social mobility and decreasing gender inequality. The spatial structure of public spaces, including the mobility networks, functional distribution, and presence of appropriable spaces and co-creative processes emerge as critical dimensions within which women’s needs must be met in order to achieve a state of social resilience in these systems, and promote women’s spatial and social mobility across the city. While urban planners and designers highlight ecological and economic resilience, social resilience is vital to establish, in order to achieve a balanced system of resilience. This research proposes an evolutionary approach to addressing and mitigating gender inequality in cities through urban planning and design practice using a strategic planning framework. This is proposed with the goal of increasing women’s capacity for participation through the strategic shaping of their local contexts according to their spatio-temporal needs. By redefining the parameters through which urban planning and design decisions are made, and addressing who is needed to make these decisions, the research proposes a guide to decision-makers on enhancing the socio-spatial integration of city residents. Through the comparison of the three distinct cultural contexts of Cairo, The Hague, and Seoul, across the dimensions of society, economy and space, the unique needs and variables contributing to women’s inhibition are pinpointed, and actions can then be proposed, using the local conditions, to tackle the spatial issues. This allows the framework to be implementable across cultural specificities, and provides a guide for urban planning practice holistically. The strategic framework proposed is therefore a tool that utilises local stakeholders and conditions to co-create and anchor urban transformations in the local context, and does not provide a definite spatial plan. Through addressing the role of urban planners and designers in creating conditions for gender equality, the research aims to provide a frame of reference for actor dynamics in co-creation processes, empowering women to appropriate public spaces as they see fit to reach their needs.