On October 27, Glasgow Metropolis Council unanimously backed a movement stating that girls needs to be on the coronary heart of all side of metropolis planning, turning into the primary metropolis within the UK to embrace 'feminist urbanism'.
Feminist urbanism advocates for a kind of city planning that promotes inclusivity and places the wants of girls, non-binary and genderfluid individuals on the forefront of the way in which we consider the city panorama. As a result of, maybe unsurprisingly, our cities are removed from being gender-neutral.
Students of feminist urbanism argue that males have traditionally been accountable for designing the cities we dwell in, and so they did so considering of their very own wants and habits, typically overlooking or sidelining problems with security and accessibility affecting ladies and sexual and gender minorities.
The cities we inhabit and the areas inside them are skilled in numerous methods by all of us, with components like gender identification, background, ethnicity and age enjoying an necessary position in the way in which we transfer throughout the city panorama. A straight white man, a homosexual Black teen, or a middle-class 80-year-old girl with a incapacity will all expertise the town in numerous methods.
However our cities weren't constructed considering of every and everybody's particular wants. For a very long time, gender-neutral defaulted to male.
"[Glasgow] Council notes a gender-neutral strategy to metropolis improvement doesn't work, that girls and other people of marginalised genders have various wants that aren't at the moment mirrored in apply and that an intersectional, inclusive and climate-friendly strategy is required," mentioned Glasgow Inexperienced councillor Holly Bruce, who pushed ahead the groundbreaking movement within the Scottish metropolis.
"Council agrees that so as to create public areas which can be protected and inclusive for girls, and accessible for all members of the group, it's basic that girls are central to all elements of planning, public realm design, coverage improvement and budgets," she added.
What does a feminist metropolis seem like?
A feminist metropolis is one the place the wants of all individuals residing in it are met - not solely these of white, cis, able-bodied males. In concrete phrases, which means constructing a metropolis the place everybody, together with however not restricted to ladies, feels equally protected and empowered, and the place each group has the identical entry to providers.
In line with Holly's movement, the primary options of a gender-equal metropolis embrace walkability, proximity to providers, protected public areas and open inexperienced areas.
"These components aren't solely necessary for girls, they're key issues for making a more healthy, extra habitable metropolis for all, with constructive impacts by way of bodily and psychological wellbeing and air high quality," Bruce mentioned.
Glasgow Council discovered that by opening up extra areas to ladies, these will even have entry to extra alternatives, main to extend participation in political conferences "and in the end ladies's elected illustration".
How will Glasgow change?
"To be trustworthy, I do not know but as a result of the entire level is doing this strategy is consulting with ladies and asking them what they need," Bruce informed Euronews Tradition.
The Glasgow Council has determined to seek the advice of the general public earlier than shifting ahead with any change, asking residents what measures they’d prefer to see applied of their cities.
"I can say that I would like wider pavements and extra avenue lights, however I am a white, cis, able-bodied girl, so I do not know what everybody wants," Bruce mentioned.
"Younger ladies mentioned that they need extra lighting in sure components of parks in order that they'll journey by way of that at night time and so they may simply spend time there as a result of it is a free, beautiful house to be in. In fact, now we have to be very cautious, and, as a Inexperienced, I actually need to make it possible for we're not disturbing all of the biodiversity in our parks."
A report revealed in late 2021 by Younger Girls Lead (a gaggle established by YMCA Scotland) after the kidnapping and homicide of Sarah Everard in London discovered that a majority of girls and non-binary individuals in Glasgow felt unsafe or uncomfortable on buses and bus stops, whereas solely 5 in 214 respondents felt protected whereas on the park.
Introducing extra public bogs is one other component the Scottish metropolis goes to look into, mentioned Bruce, because the pandemic revealed a scarcity of public bogs disproportionately impacting ladies.
Councillor Bruce mentioned she will even observe the lead of cities which have already been making adjustments round feminist metropolis planning.
Vienna, for instance, has launched wider pavements which permit dad and mom with prams (in addition to wheelchair customers) to stroll by way of the town with out getting consistently caught behind different pedestrians, in addition to making adjustments to its transportation system and even the language used to speak with the general public.
Different tasks to make cities in Europe extra gender-inclusive are ongoing in Barcelona, Spain, and Umeå, Sweden.
Scotland is shaping as much as be a beacon of feminism in Europe, after passing laws this summer season which made interval merchandise completely free for everybody.
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