WOMENS LIVES AND THE MAKING OF THE CITY - EXPERIENCES FROM NORTH AND SOUTH OF EUROPE

Citation
K. Simonsen et D. Vaiou, WOMENS LIVES AND THE MAKING OF THE CITY - EXPERIENCES FROM NORTH AND SOUTH OF EUROPE, International journal of urban and regional research, 20(3), 1996, pp. 446
Citations number
53
Categorie Soggetti
Planning & Development","Urban Studies
ISSN journal
03091317
Volume
20
Issue
3
Year of publication
1996
Database
ISI
SICI code
0309-1317(1996)20:3<446:WLATMO>2.0.ZU;2-B
Abstract
In mainstream debates on 'the urban question', both at the peak period of the 'new urban theory' in the 1970s and in the more recent. analys es of urban restructuring, certain biases can be observed along the fo llowing two lines of argument. First, there is a deprioritization of t he social practices and social lives of urban citizens as relevant dim ensions in urban development. Second, the dominant themes, pertaining to be gender-neutral, are nonetheless based on the value of the adult male's activities and experiences of urban development. In this paper, we begin our enquiries with women's lives and women's experiences and forward an approach that sees urban space as both peopled and gendere d. An emphasis on everyday practices and experiences leads us to a met hodological approach which proceeds through different levels of abstra ction - from descriptions of women's lives, through empirical analysis of the lives of groups of women, towards the development of conceptua l dimensions by the help of which urban development and women's roles in the making of the city can be approached and interpreted. In order to think through these levels and develop (a first approximation of) r elevant conceptual categories, we draw from two historically and geogr aphically different contexts of urban development: women's lives from parts of the cities of Copenhagen and Athens. This way of proceeding f rom concrete experiences to more abstract concepts and taking gender s eriously, we would argue, reshuffles priorities and leads to a differe nt understanding of urban structure and urban development.