Designing a Metropolis Tailored for Women: The Role of Automobiles in Feminist Urban Architecture, Diminished Significance
Hey there! So, have our cities been built with a bias against women? The short answer is yes, and it's time we talk about it.
Cities and their infrastructures are a result of decades of planning and design, heavily influenced by patriarchal, economic, and capitalist ideologies. One of the main issues? Cars. You see, men are more likely to travel by car, while women opt for public transport and walking more frequently. This means that we have cities filled with large spaces dedicated to cars, which disproportionately affect women's mobility.
We chatted with Punt 6, a group of female architects, sociologists, and urban planners in Barcelona, to get a better understanding of the differences between a city designed for men and women, and the importance of gender inclusivity in urban design.
A Feminist City: Car-Free Dreams
To explain feminist urbanism, we need to acknowledge the infrastructure, architecture, and values of our cities that have all been shaped by patriarchal, economic, and capitalist mandates. The car is one of the main culprits of a male-oriented city, with 57.5% of men traveling by car daily compared to only 45.8% of women.
Urban Anthropologist, Katrina Johnston-Zimmerman, explains that building cities around cars makes cities more dangerous and difficult for women, who are often tasked with caring for children. Sara Ortiz Escalante from Punt 6 shares that men have more linear travel patterns, while women have more complex and diverse patterns due to combining unpaid childcare and domestic work with their paid jobs.
"Cities are based on a model that follows a pattern of mobility for a certain group of people, and this group is mostly men," says Ortiz Escalante. Traditional traffic planning has not prioritized pedestrian traffic, resulting in a lack of gender inclusivity in urban design.
The Future of Gender-Inclusive Urban Planning
So, how can we redesign infrastructure to account for women's mobility needs? The answer lies in gender mainstreaming, essentially incorporating an equal gender perspective in every stage and level of policies, designs, projects, and programs.
Vienna, Austria, is one of the most progressive cities in this field. Its government evaluated the needs of women by conducting a qualitative analysis and presenting a photography exhibition in collaboration with Punt 6, which led to the establishment of the City Women's office. As a result, the city has a long-term focus on improving pedestrian access and incorporating gender perspectives in all of its new infrastructure plans.
To follow in Vienna's footsteps, other cities must prioritize gender mainstreaming in their infrastructure planning process. Punt 6 suggests focusing on three key pillars:
- Prioritize everyday life: This means centering domestic and care work and considering economic needs afterward.
- Create safe cities: By keeping safety as a core priority, particularly for women and children, urban planning becomes more comprehensive and addresses the complex needs of everyone.
- Women as experts: Incorporate public participation and community engagement of women in every phase of planning, understanding that their experience and knowledge are crucial to informed decision-making.
If we continue to include a feminist perspective in urban planning, we can create cities that are enjoyable, cohesive, and promote a higher quality of life for all inhabitants. Let's work towards a future where our cities support and empower everyone, not just one gender.
Further resources: Urban assessment guide from a gender perspective (summary of car-reducing measures to create feminist cities found on page 110). Check out our article by Katja Diehl about sustainable mobility and gender.
- Embracing the principle of gender inclusivity in urban design, we could reimagine our cities' lifestyle to prioritize pedestrian traffic and daily life needs, such as caring for children and unpaid domestic work, making our cities safer and more accommodating for all, particularly women.
- In the world of fashion-and-beauty and home-and-garden, a feminist city can serve as a sanctuary where residents can comfortably live, work, and play, fostering a sense of belonging and elevating the quality of life for everyone, regardless of gender.
