A Review onWomen’s Attendancy in Urban Space

Subject Areas : architecture

Razieh  Rezazadeh ¹ (Ph.D of Urban Design, Iran University of Science and Technology)
Maryam  Mohammadi ² (Ph.D. Candidate, Iran University of Science and Technology.)

Received: 2010-03-15 Accepted : 2010-04-26 Published : 2012-12-21

Keywords:

Abstract :

Urban spaces are domains for public and communal life.  Presence and activity in public open spaces, not only provides place for face to face interaction between people, is also effective in creating vitality and contributing to mental and spiritual health of users.  There are two main perspectives which are inclusionary and exclusionary perspectives to women presence in urban spaces.  Modern society with the slogan of equality of men and women produced environments which was insensitive to different requirements due to gender difference. It took men's needs as the prototype of human needs and hence produced male responsive environments, of which women had to adopt themselves to it.  The planning and design profession was gender blind in this sense.  Zoning regulations and transportation policies all reinforced exclusion of women from active urban life and created additional obstacles for working mothers.   This article studies the inclusionary perspective to presence of women in urban open spaces in relation to globalization theories as well as Islamic viewpoints.  In this article, the necessity of women's presence in urban open space is discussed based on the requirements to respond to their basic needs which in turn require interaction in space. Here presence of women is an aim to itself. Also the necessity of women presence in space is discussed based on the viewpoints of civil society and citizenship rights which would emphasize their right as equal citizens to participate in and enjoy the urban life. Principle of pluralistic citizenship requires the presence of all groups including women as one criterion for civil society.  In other words presence of women is not an aim to itself, but a means to achieve broader goals and basic principles In addition, there is emphasize on the significance and authenticity of family and through this perspective, presence of women is justified in the urban environment to respond not only to their personal needs but also to respond to the needs of people under their care, namely children, sick and elderly.  There is a joint cause supporting women's presence in urban space and that is equity which is respected both by Islamic philosophy as well as contemporary global perspectives which justifies and aims for easing presence of women in public domain and urban space.  This article also reports on a neighborhood study in Tehran.  The results of the study shows that in general necessary activities are the major cause for presence of both gender groups in urban spaces, however there are gender differences.  Women presence is significantly higher in urban spaces for conducting their necessary activities, such as daily shopping while men's presence for social and optional activities are much higher than women's.  This shows that probably there are physical obstacles as well as social perspectives which keep women out of urban space for their social and optional activities.  It is important in that sense that the most public of spaces are not suitable and do not respond to the need to perform social and optional activities of women proposing equity question.

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