“How would our cities be different if not designed by and for the fully grown, able-bodied man but for people of all ages, abilities, gender, sexual preferences, class, and caste?”
‘No City for Women?’ is a series of online events held for students of design and architecture from Chandigarh and Jaipur to reimagine their cities from the lens of gender. This online public symposium is organized by the Alliance Française Chandigarh and French institute in India and will be held today at 1700-1900 hrs IST.
The symposium is basically designed by Social Design Collaborative, which is a Delhi-based interdisciplinary design organization that works at a grassroots and policy level on issues of social justice from housing rights to gender equality. It is hosted as a part of the United Nations programming for 2021 under the label of Forum Generation Equality.
The online workshop was held from 14-16 September 2021 for these design and architecture students. During the three days of the workshop that preceded the symposium, participants unpacked the concepts of gender-sensitive design, gender mainstreaming, and inclusivity from the lens of class, caste, age, abilities, and gender. The complexity of gender equality in public spaces was delved into, which might involve advocating for mixed spaces such as inclusive public spaces and gender-neutral toilets, on the one hand, and the other, creating dedicated spaces for women ranging from the women-only metro and train coaches to dedicated play spaces for teenage girls.
About ‘No City for Women?’ panel discussion
At ‘No City for Women?’, the students will showcase their work, followed by a panel discussion on gender and city-making. The panelists for today’s discussion are Czaee Malpani, deputy director for the Jindal Centre for Social Design, Claire Hancock, Professor of geography at Université Paris-Est Créteil (UPEC), Chris Blache, urban anthropologist, Hugo Ribadeau Dumas, PhD candidate from EHESS, the School for Advanced Studies in Social Sciences, Paris, Madhavi Desai, founder member of Women Architects Forum, Sarover Zaidi, philosopher and a social anthropologist, Anuradha Chatterjee, Australian feminist academic practitioner in architecture and design, Anu Sabhlok, architect, geographer and feminist scholar, Swati Janu, founder of the interdisciplinary practice Social Design Collaborative.
The participating Universities of the symposium are Chandigarh College of Architecture, Chitkara University, Aayojan School of Architecture, Manipal University Jaipur, Indian Institute Of Crafts & Design. Register yourself for ‘No City for Women?’ by clicking here and joining the given slot discussion.
