Settlement study of street study of

The study was conducted in groups. It was showcased in an exhibition held in our college. This study was presented not in sheet but were made in 3D interactive models.

The street study taught us the interaction buildings have with streets and what impact do they have on people when they are on streets.

Gender Inclusive Design

How does Gender inclusive design help in making Cities and spaces accessible for the working women and make them comfortable in the public realm so that they can exercise their right to the city?

Why do we need inclusion of women?

Economic Growth

The latest McKinsey & Company study states that advancing women’s equality can add $12 trillion to global growth. India could add $700 billion of additional GDP in 2025 if it improved women’s equality, increasing its annual GDP growth by 1.4 percentage points.

This research aims to understand that how is gender inclusive design being used in cities order to make these spaces more accessible for working women.

Quality Of Life In Cities

Understand the hierarchy of public space and the gender roles and perceptions of these spaces

Understand the spatial accessibility by a specific gender

Researching how responsive are women in gender inclusive spaces as compared to others

Understand the use of public spaces by working women and how comfortable are they in them.

Analyze the factors in a public space or a work space in which women are comfortable in, to understand the attributes of that space which provides comfort to the women.

The forms of accessibility and the conditions and quality of life that cities offer to people are different according to their gender, or other socially constructed identity categories.

Equity

Gender Equity is the process of allocating resources, programs and decision-making fairly to both males and females. This requires ensuring that everyone has access to a full range of opportunities to achieve the social, psychological and physical benefits that come from participating and leading in sport and physical activity.

Society in India has always been very complex. Diversity of culture, religion, philosophy and political thought has been the essence of India. In spite of the fact that women are treated as goddess, history tells us that women were and still are ill-treated and neglected in various aspects of life.

Women are seen as birth givers and an emotional supporter, whereas, men are seen as strong and economical provider. Women have always done more than what they are expected to do. Still, in modern times women are not treated as equals and are discriminated at every stage of their lives. In India women are seen as a burden because of many reasons. So, there has always been a boy child preference, which has led to an alarming girl to boy ratio, 944 females to 1000 males. (Census, 2011)

This gender inequality with many factors added up has led to violence and crime against women. These crimes are, female feticide, abduction, sexual harassment, eve teasing, rape, marital rape, harassment for dowry, acid attacks, and these crimes are commonly committed in public.

A recent report released by the Ministry of Human Resource Development of India reveals that the ratio of the male and female graduates is almost equal but the difference between the numbers of those who join the workforce is vast. There are many invisible barriers in the society that are holding women back in the working sector, amongst which fear of crime is the most common.

Behind the reasons that the crime has been committed there is always a spatial factor. There is no doubt that architecture and city planning has always been a male dominated area. “Men planned cities with participation of women but largely without their presence.” (Kumar, n.d.). There is a possibility that since the planning of public spaces were done mostly by men, the spaces are not accessible by women and it is stated by many planners and sociologists that women experience city life differently from men and hence women feel disconnected from these spaces.

Women’s lack of safety is a serious obstacle to achieving gender equality it reduces their mobility and ability to participate freely and fully in cities and hence hindering their “Right to the City”.

Gender Inclusive Design and city policies are being put in action in countries like Australia, South Korea and Vienna. This research focuses on understanding how does Gender Inclusive Design helps working women in exercising their right to the city freely.