THE CONCERNING TRUTH ABOUT THE HIDDEN PATRIARCHY IN
OUR BUILT ENVIRONMENT!
Today, we live in cities which have been designed based on generalisation of users, where women’s experiences are shaped by a patriarchal society. The concept of feminist urbanism, as argued from my reviewed literature, studies the historical causes, and impacts of female exclusion from our built urban environment, decision-making, design, and urban scholarship. This research is centred from a western European perspective, where women and marginalised groups are facing a current system of oppression in cities. They must adjust their lives, routines, and expectations to be safe and comfortable.
Opportunity
This was a co-design project created through University of the Arts London as my master thesis. The purpose of this project was to draw on previous learning throughout the MA (Master of Arts) at UAL to develop a live project that demonstrates my approach to eco-social design. The focus of this project was to apply sustainable research methods and design theory and practice to an issue that I am passionate about, feminist urbanism.
Process
This project contains a report that shows the research, context, methodology, conceptualisation, and critical reflection of a design project about the concept of feminist urbanism. The aim of this project is to encourage a more reflective practice, for inclusivity, in the urban development industry, situated in Oslo, Norway. The task is an attempt to make use of participatory and co-creative processes, testing and evaluating my design interventions with stakeholders in Oslo, to demonstrate the nascent eco-social impact I have created. Complementary to the report is a visual documentation, a type of document which will act like an appendix to the report.
Outcome
The goal of this project was to reach equality in cities that are currently excluding the female perspective in city development and are designing based on generalisation of users, while enforcing patriarchal family, social and labour roles. At an attempt to reach that goal, I collaboratively worked with stakeholders, utilising distinctive design research methods, such as interviews, survey, and literature reviews, to synthesise my design intervention, as well as my major findings leading to that intervention. The ‘Feminist City Model’ was then created, which is a tool that should be integrated into urban planning as a first-principles foundation to create equality in cities.
You can access the whole report through the website below:
https://mellefsen.wixsite.com/feministurbanism
