Having a healthy balance of access to private and public space is also important to consider if one wants a built environment to achieve and support social justice. Historically men, have dominated public spaces but there are areas where processes like gender mainstreaming are attempting to make experiencing public space more a more equitable experience. Gender mainstreaming entails making rules and regulations with gender equality in mind. In Foran’s piece the example of Vienna, Austria is offered as an example of this mainstreaming at work. This idea has permeated the city all the way down to the city planning to ensure equality for everyone.There are several tactics that can be employed in this process that allow everyone to be equal in terms of access, safety, and comfort level in public space. Adding additional lighting for traveling when
it’s dark, widening sidewalks to make it easier to avoid the street, and adding
ramps for strollers make moving through public space safer for women and
children.
This is a process that is more prevalent in Europe than in the United States. Just as in Foran's example in Austria, this link gives specific examples of processes in that are employed in Sweden with the purpose of making the space equally as useful to women as it is for men. The video allows the viewer to really see this concept in action through the animations. The focus in the film lies in the services that are provided to the public. Equity of services are just as important as equity in the physical built environment.
http://youtu.be/udSjBbGwJEg
This is a very interesting and well put together video that gets its point across through simple animation and uses an unbiased voice. It approaches the situation of gender mainstreaming with concrete facts of gender differences in Sweden and how the public domain has challenged these problems through equality and efficiency; in terms of capital and resources. The video also delves into geographies of fear while describing women's fear of bus transportation at night. Public transport approached this by allowing specific stops for one person and one person only by regulating which door opens and who gets off. All around this is a very interesting video that is easy to watch and take away from because of it's lightheartedness, all the while displaying the importance of the various situations.
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