could be worse- In Margaret Atwood's novel A Handmaid's Tale. (1986), the only use of public space permitted the main female character and others like her is ...
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Human Behavior and Environment ADVANCES IN THEORY AND RESEARCH
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Public Places and Spaces
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Volume 1 Volume 2
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Volume 3: Children and the Environment
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Volume 4: Environment and Culture
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Volume 5: Transportation and Behavior Volume 6: Behavior and the Natural Environment Volume 7: Elderly People and the Environment
EDITED BY
IRWIN ALTMAN University of Utah Salt Lake City, Utah
AND
ERVIN H. ZUBE University of Arizona Tucson, Arizona
Volume 8: Home Environments Volume 9: Neighborhood and Community Environments Volume 10: Public Places and Spaces
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PLENUM PRESS • NEW YORK AND LONDON
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r0"me"t and Md development (pp. 309-318). New York- Plenum^^'7*6"-' ^ela* 3nd
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5 Women and Urban Public Space RESEARCH, DESIGN, AND POLICY ISSUES
KAREN A. FRANCK and LYNN PAXSON
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And our bodies, learning the habit of careful deportment in public places, speak to us steadily and clearly, saying, you are not free. —Susan Griffin, Rape: The Politics of Consciousness, p. 77
The new and growing field of women and environments has focused almost exclusively on women's activities and needs in the home and the adjacent neighborhood with little research on women's use of urban public spaces. The exceptions are studies of specific problems including crime and fear of crime (Gordon, Riger, LeBailly, & Heath, 1981), transportation (Cichoki, 1981; Fox, 1985), and some historical research (Cranz, 1981; Peiss, 1986; Stansell, 1986). Research on urban public spaces has also been growing (Carr, Francis, RivLn, & Stone, in press; Francis, 1987; Francis, Cashdan, & Paxson, 19 > Y e' 1980) but pays almost no attention to gender differences in the use ot these spaces. Both areas of research are important, but they have not yet genera e a theoretical perspective to guide future research on women and public space. The goal of this chapter is to develop just such a perspective. and environments, particularly housing 1 For recent overviews of the literature on women and neighborhoods, see Peterson (1987) and Franck (1988). rhaDter and 2 The analysis of characteristics of public spaces and their use *^**£Sn summarized in Figure 1 was initially developed by Lynn axs01£ P . comments on an work. We are graceful to Setha Low and Dorothea Seelye Franck for their comments
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earlier draft of this chapter. KAREN A. FRANCK • School of Architecture, New Jersey In^ti^rfje^1^' Newark, N] 07102. LYNN PAXSON • Environmental Psychology g versity of New York, Graduate Center, New York, NY 121 1
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Karen A. Franck and Lynn P
axson
Although our primary focus is on contemporary women in western ' dustrialized countries, we believe the topic should be informed by a histori1*! and cross-cultural view, which is presented in the first section of the chapt Similarly, contemporary women's use of public space should be viewed in th context of their daily lives and experiences; salient aspects of these are reviewed in the second section of the chapter. A conceptual framework for studying th use of public space is outlined in the third section, where the essential chan acteristics of public spaces and a series of hypotheses are discussed along with findings from previous research. Possible future directions for education, pol icy, and design are outlined in the final section. Our interest is in urban public spaces, indoors and outdoors, that are used by individuals on a temporary basis. Hence places intended primarily for wage work, education, or healthcare are excluded and stores, restaurants, museums, libraries, streets, plazas, parks, airports, stations, and public transit are in cluded. We are concerned only with those activities that are place based in which people come face to face with strangers and with people who may be significantly different from themselves. From early times until today and in societies throughout the world, women have been associated with and even restricted to the private space of the dwell ing whereas men have had freer rein to frequent public spaces. This associ ation of women with private spaces and men with public ones continues today in western industrialized society. Some writers have emphasized the physical and psychological vulnerability of women when they enter public spaces unaccompanied by men (Boys, 1984; Enjeu & Save, 1974; Hayden, 1984; Wekerle, 1981). Lofland (1984) questions the validity and the usefulness of this emphasis, suggesting that it is inconsistent with women's frequent use of urban public spaces and their enjoyment of urban public life. She concludes that although women do not enjoy the same "freedom of the streets" that men do, researchers need to avoid "overstating" both the "dangers and the delights" of city life for women or for men (p. 12). However, it is also important to understand the context within which women do (or do not) use public spaces. Much of that context does constrain t eir activities and does limit the potentially positive aspects of their experi ences. Women do use and enjoy public spaces unaccompanied by men, but tT T/r ^art/ overcomin8 various obstacles and following certain restricons. en may also feel constraints, but these seem to arise primarily from a 3 °U* Cr^me an
