#WomenSpatialActivism

Designing for the re-appropriation of public spaces by women in New Delhi, India

Authors

  • Sugandha Gupta Delft University of Technology
  • Luisa Calabrese Delft University of Technology
  • Akkelies van Nes Western Norway University of Applied Sciences

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DOI:

10.31182/cubic.2019.2.019

Keywords:

gender sensitive urban design, spatial activism, community building, citizen participation, stakeholder coalition

Abstract

The first attempt to reinvent the public spaces, #WomenSpatialActivism, reclaims the women’s right to the city in India. Women Spatial Activism (WSA) proposes a gender-sensitive approach to urban design in the neighbourhood of Malviya Nagar in Delhi in India, that inspires the reappropriation of the front door by an old woman, the street by a working girl and the public park by mothers. The proposal is to reclaim women’s right to the city through the recontextualisation of their public spaces which have been lost or need to be developed in urbanised India. The project has three main components: bottom-up strategic spatial interventions, the creation of a strong coalition of local stakeholders, and the use of digital technology. The hashtag #WomenSpatialActivism or #WSA aims to spread this movement through social media. The Women Spatial Activism project calls for a spatial gender agenda for an inclusive urban future for all.

How to Cite

Gupta, S., Calabrese, L., & van Nes, A. (2019). #WomenSpatialActivism: Designing for the re-appropriation of public spaces by women in New Delhi, India. Cubic Journal, 2(2), 76–99. https://doi.org/10.31182/cubic.2019.2.019

Published

2019-07-01

Issue

No. 2: GENDER IN DESIGN: Other · Different · Willful

Section

Articles

License

Copyright (c) 2020 Sugandha Gupta, Luisa Calabrese, Akkelies van Nes

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Author Biographies

Sugandha Gupta, Delft University of Technology

Ir. Sugandha Gupta graduated from the Department of Urbanism in the Faculty of Architecture at Delft University of Technology in 2017. She developed the project #WomenSpatialActivism as a part of her master thesis in Urbanism. At the same time, she was working on the implementation of the project with various local stakeholders. Previously she studied Architecture at Aligarh Muslim University in India, which gave her a sense of the built environment in her life. She loves being her own motivation and working towards creating a sustainable and inclusive world. She presently works with BFAS & Placemaking Plus in Amsterdam and wants to specialize in temporary Urbanism and Placemaking.

Luisa Calabrese, Delft University of Technology

Dr. Ir. Luisa Maria Calabrese is associate professor (Chair of Urban Design) at the Department of Urbanism in the Faculty of Architecture at Delft University of Technology. Her background brings together humanities, architecture, planning and interaction design. Luisa has always combined her academic work with a strong engagement in design practice. Currently her field of interest is the strategic role of urban design in guiding the development of inclusive cities.

Akkelies van Nes, Western Norway University of Applied Sciences

Prof. Dr. Akkelies van Nes is professor at the Department of Civil Engineering at Western Norway University of Applied Sciences and assistant professor at the Department of Urbanism in the Faculty of Architecture at Delft University of Technology. She specialises in the study of the relationship between urban space and socio-economic activities such as the location pattern of shops, crime, social segregation, property prices, building density and degree of land use diversity. She has also developed various spatial tools for analysing the relationship between buildings and streets. Akkelies has been a Space Syntax expert for over 15 years and is a highly recognised scholar in the field of spatial modelling. She is regularly invited to give keynote presentations at conferences worldwide.

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