Un-Gendering the Everyday City

A growing body of academic literature illuminates the exclusion of women from the public realm which further translates into their absence from public debate, policy and action. In Indian cities where vehicular ownership usually lies with men, streets are imagined around automobiles thus invariably assuming the ‘universal citizen’ client to be male, car driving, leisurely, able bodied and wealthy. It thus becomes apparent that the street as a public space belongs more to a man than a woman. How do we then imagine a city that recognises the fact that half of its population does not own a vehicle? How do we then imagine a city where half of the population is a woman? This studio focuses on mapping and analysing the socio-spatial practices of gendered bodies in order to establish the unique challenges they face- of access, leisure and safety in the city. The movement of gender in the city will be mapped and a system of gendered movement defined to collectively re-imagine public space. The students will systematically translate the outcome of this analysis into a clearly articulated design strategy and detailed out design drawings in order to propose a solution that enables equal access to the city.