ANALYSIS

The comments collected from the focus group indicate that public urban spaces, from the perspective of a female, were used as a place for social life, performing errands and entertainment. Despite after dark arousing feelings of vulnerability and fear, the city landscape was an obligatory part of female life. The discussion stemmed from the imagery was able to further expand on these topics and acted as a tool for gaining depth into the understanding of each group members individual perspectives and aspirations for future city design.

Figure 17:Street Design Principles

Focus Group 1

A welcoming exchange gave way to a settled and familiar atmosphere for the first focus group. To begin the discussion the participants were asked to consider reflections and experiences of everyday life in their city environment. The group dynamics, as a gathering of friends, enabled the conversation to start and continue with ease and personal experiences and reflections were offered on the city environment in the day and at night time. Discussing the city after dark raised concerns of personal safety and vulnerability, with members of the group talking about certain times when they have felt vulnerable, often when they are travelling late at night on public transport or walking home through residential streets. One participant revealed, “I think I’m fearless, but when I leave work at 11pm, I have to go through an industrial area … there’s no one about at night”. Similar comments arose during this conversation with another participant saying, “I’m not too bothered about the centre, because its light from all the shop fronts and streetlights, it’s the streets near my house that are darker, that’s what I don’t like”. Thoughts of bad lighting, empty streets and the “eeriness of residential streets” were echoed by the other participants. All agreed that cities, both at night and in the day, offered occurrences of feelings of vulnerability.

Newcastle city centre was determined as an urban space familiar with all participants. As a result, when discussing ‘top priorities’ in designing a good city, specific spaces in Newcastle centre were discussed, including Northumberland Street and Bigg Market. Key themes such as ‘green spaces’, ‘safety’ and ‘good transport options’ were the predominant topics of conversa

tion and the participants expressed interest in more public transport options and also services that would run later into the night. One participant added, “I get annoyed when you can’t get public transport after 11pm, what are we meant to do … walk back, or get a taxi”. For other members of the group, the requirement for more green or recreational spaces was key to good city design, it was mentioned that “areas of park just make me happy, I love walking through them, or meeting friends there”. Another participant described her experiences with her younger sister (aged 4) in the city, explaining that “children love parks, and they can run around with no worry of the roads. For me when I’m with my sister I always go to the green spaces, because I know they are generally safe”.

Presenting the images after this initial exchange of reflections and comments, was an effective way developing these conversations. For some, the initial response to the images was positive, comments included, “I like the colours, it looks so bright and fun”, and “it looks quite techy… all posh and smart.” While others were more critical, firstly commenting that “it looks so busy and crowded” in one image but “deserted and sterile” in another. Despite the criticism, the generalized conversation was optimistic and certain elements were pointed out, such as the mixed transport options, the cleanliness and that “the images look generally quite nice and organised, I think I would live in that city”.

Phase 3 of the focus groups was prompting the participants to remember their female perspective and reconsider the images. The first focus group focused on the image generated by Side Walk Labs and provided more critical comments. The group scrutinised the visualisation, and almost immediately two participants noticed the absence of street lighting, “I can’t believe it, we just had a big discussion about how much streetlights make a difference for safety and then in this image there are none.” Additional analysis revealed the groups annoyance at all the different levels of pavement, “I can’t imagine being with my sister … and dealing with a buggy on all those levels”. There were also concerns raised over the unprotected water area with no barriers for safety. During this discussion it became evident that the focus group approach meant that the participants were able to successfully interact with one another and pose opportunity for discussion and debate. Near the end of the discussion, one focus group member acknowledged that she “would never wear skirts or dresses, there are so many different levels, and also that big glass window that looks like an office, you’d be able to see straight up from the street below”.

Focus Group 2

The second focus group had similar pre“modern buildings have always got lots liminary discussions about the city landgoing on … like pillars and porches which scape, it was acknowledged that the city are hard to navigate … [also] there is ofspaces at night time could be intimidating. ten landscaping outside, and it’s all very However one participant did mention that pretty, but in reality you end up walking “maybe we are just influenced by others extra far because the paths are not diand what we think we should feel like … I rect … it can be annoying”. The themes of am fairly confident and most of the time, good design discussed in the second foeven at night I feel fine and not scared”. cus group align with the comments of the In response one female said, “maybe it’s first focus group and also with the findthe place and the darkness combined with ings of Jacobs, Perez and Terlinder which the news reports you hear that makes you will be discussed in further chapters. think it should be threatening”, “that’s true … I feel more alert … after hearing a bad The visual elicitation stemmed remarks of news report”. Using friendship as method “futuristic, like something out of a film”, here enabled a better connection between “it’s so idyllic and the city looks quite calm the researcher and the researched and as and tranquil” and “I like all the greenery”. a result we were able to ‘share deeper, General analysis of each image corremore intricate perspectives of self’ (Tillsponded with the discussion of the first foman-Healy, 2003), without participants cus group even when asked to re-consider feeling wary of their personal opinions. the images from a female perspective. This group were initially slow to criticise and Discussion was moved to key priorities looking more in depth at the Bosch drivfor designing a good public space. Initialerless cars image they observed the posly generalised comments on “nice archiitive elements of the mixed-use transport tecture”, “good transport routes and opoptions, and “obvious cycle lanes” as well tions”, “green spaces and parks” and “the as the wide pavements and green parks. provision of street lighting” were debatSoon, however, one member noticed that ed. Through the natural interaction of the they couldn’t see any buggies which led to group, more detailed comments began to a discussion of the human representation arise, for example during the discussion in the images which led to further critical about nice architecture and aestheticalcomments “lots of the men are in suits” ly pleasing places, it was commented that and “the children are only in the park area”.

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Figure 18:Streets at Night Collage

Figure 19:Street Lighting Sketch

Gradually it became apparent that the image was not an even representation of where people spend their time and instead came across very stereotypical in its placement of people in the image. It brings into question Gillian Rose’s research on ‘inadvertent exclusion’, challenging how females envisage themselves in future cities if the imagery projecting the future does not take into account their representation and positioning in city life. The presented findings from the focus group research illustrate the ways in which women view cities, and how their experiences compare with those of their male counterparts. The predominantly male-led design for future cities that is being presented in futuristic advertisement visuals, including the three images used in the research, is overshadowing female needs and arguably guiding their expectations and opinions. The primary research has revealed the power of the future city visualisations in arguably overlooking the female perspective and conforming young women to male thinking. This is arguably a result of the ‘gender data gap’ caused by a lack of sufficient engagement with women, and consideration in understanding the functions of city spaces. The following critical analysis will henceforth sculpt the argument that the imagery is not only over-looking females but also putting future design ideas into society as normal, non-disputable imaginaries.

Busy-ness Transport

Jane Jacobs’ findings illuminates how cities should operate and how they work best for women, children, the elderly and men. The members of the focus group, having no prior knowledge of Jane Jacobs’ work, easily picked out some of her key priorities when considering design that includes women. There were comments made about places being busy and how “having people around makes the space less threatening”. Jacobs is an advocate of busy-ness, her arguments in The Death and Life, refer to the idea of mixed-use spaces and active neighbourhoods. Alison and Perter Smithson, British architects in the mid 20th century, “argued that different activities should be combined within the same areas to promote belonging and neighbourliness.” (Dunn, et al., 2014, p. 107). Jacobs explains that the availability of mixed-use places ensures “the presence of people who go outdoors on different schedules and are in the place for different purposes” (Jacobs, 1961, p. 164). This busy-ness links with Jacobs ‘eyes on the street’ concept, which the focus groups supported: “more people make a place seem safer, that’s why I feel comfortable in the city centre, people are just going about all their individual agendas, while all being together”. A key aspect of discussion during both the focus groups considered the provision of public transport services to different places and also running for longer into the night. Perez discusses the need for more complicated city routes, to cater for the females travel patterns, termed as “trip chaining” habits (Perez, 2019, p. 30). Public transport routes are often not appropriate for anyone, largely women who visit multiple places in the inner city every day, and instead in the focus groups it was determined that “walking is the quickest and most convenient transport most of the time”. Looking at the images there was not always an equal representation of mixed transport provision and despite the “obviously marked bicycle lanes and good wide pavements” the methods are mixed, busy and in the Side Walk Labs image “messy and chaotic”. The requirement for suitable and versatile transport routes are fundamental to ensure convenience and efficiency for females, while ensuring safety. It was picked up on in the focus groups that the pavements were messy creating a chaotic and potentially dangerous environment. During the focus group, concerns were also raised about the driverless cars portrayed in the Bosch image, with one

participant commenting “I don’t like to (Whitzman, 2007). Darkness creates a more get into taxis with strangers, let alone into threatening atmosphere and it explains a a car that isn’t controlled by a human”. female’s need for and awareness of street Driverless cars have been criticised by lighting - both groups commented on the numerous researchers such as Perez who lack of street lamps in all three images. believes that development is being led It was determined that men do no expeby big corporate investment companies, rience the threatening nature of darkness which are often dominated by men. Arguand therefore it becomes a “certain female ably in the press, it is often male entrepreneed that men won’t think to cater for beneurs presenting their revolutionary ideas cause it relates to experiences that men and utopian ideologies for future city desimply don’t have” (Perez, 2019, p. 170). sign. Perez considers male entrepreneurs The overlooking of experiences because to be “more likely to be given funding they are not your own links to the research … and are … likely to develop technoloby Jacobs and Perez that highlights the lack gy that helps men” (Perez, 2019, p. 289). of consideration for females and the oblived when alone, I feel vulnerable like when its dark, and I have this idea that at night time there are more threatening people about, I think because darkness makes it spooky”. This opinion was echoed by others in the research who similarly mentioned feelings of nervousness, vulnerability, and cautiousness. It is common for women to feel more vulnerable after dark, “women, far more than men, report that they avoid certain public spaces after dark … they calious thinking experienced by men when designing urban spaces. Without noticing After Dark a female’s needs, cities will continue to fail During both focus groups, a prominent lation and design spaces that are supposed conversation topic was concerns at night to revolutionise the way we live but instead time. One participant said she felt “agitatfurther add to marginalising of women. to fully address the needs of half the popuculate their risk, and their worry, as ‘high’” Figure 20:Washington Sqaure Park Protest

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Hidden Perspectives

Simone de Beauvoir recognises the dominance of the male outlook when he comments that “a man never begins by presenting himself as an individual of a certain sex; it goes without saying that he is a man’ (Beauvoir, et al., 2011). De Beauvoir identifies the male as the leading sex and thus the female as the other (Beauvoir, et al., 2011). This impression is not restricted to just the classification of sex; the acceptance of male as dominant is affecting all elements of life, including that of the construction of cities. “When you say man, you include women. Everyone knows that.” (Perez, 2019, p. 314). Perez features in Invisible Women that the ‘not thinking’ occurrence begins with rooted patriarchal thinking of all members of society, but more so in men. It is a way of thinking that favours the male demographic and therefore men become blind to the implications caused by patriarchy. As seen in the research findings, the images presented impressed both focus groups who appreciated their “shininess” and futuristic design. However, they did not notice that they surrendered their critical female perspective and conceded to accept the images as almost factual thus conforming to patriarchal thinking. When prompted to remember their female viewpoint, discussions became more critical, drawing on elements of safety and equal representation of the population in the images. This requirement for a prompt reveals how the male thinking is not “malicious or even deliberate” (Perez, 2019, p. xi) but instead a part of societal thinking that is inadvertently controlling perspectives and expectations, and that arguably is creating and will continue to create the inequalities experienced by women in our urban spaces.

Data Gap

“Women are just too complicated to measure … women’s travel patterns are too messy, their work schedules are too aberrant, their voices are too high” (Perez, 2019, p. 314). Perez uses positions of power to illustrate the impact of including women representation and how the current deficit of women in governments and councils is the ‘not thinking’ causing planning practices to reproduce inequalities. In the focus groups, it was not explicitly mentioned but it became clear that none of the participants had previously been involved in conversations about future city planning, far less vocally engaged in discussions with future city visuals. Perez, Jacobs and Engendered all identify the importance of female participation in all spheres of life - “women do not get forgotten …female lives

and perspectives get brought out of the shadows” (Perez, 2019, p. 318), which was the intention of the focus group methodology in this research. Data gaps in research and in representation are notably creating the inequalities. In a discussion with Paul Cowie, a research fellow at Future Cities Catapult, he observed female representation in the workplace as only the starting point to including women. Cowie concluded that although “women are in the room; are they being heard?”. Arguably women act with professionalism that creates a similar behaviour to the oppressive nature of patriarchy, women in planning practice become professional first and human second. Also contributing to the data gap is the biased production of data algorithms underpinning smart design in cities, as argued by Perez and O’Neil. Data algorithms producing new smart technology for use in city spaces are aligned to the average male; the temperature norms set in offices, male heights used as a reference for shelf heights (Perez, 2019, p. xi). A design feature of Side Walk Labs is the inclusion of smart technology to enhance street users experience by providing personalised communication and up to date information of transport, air quality, weather etc. The idea is to increase efficiency and safety for society, but the male orientated algorithms, arguably disrupt these “personalised experiences” will be targeting them at the male portion of society and subjecting females to inadvertent exclusion. One example is voice recognition that is designed using a male voice and thus recognises deeper tones more clearly than the high pitched tones of a female, something that has been evident in car navigation systems (Perez, 2019, p. 162). It becomes unfair for women to participate in city life when that city is not designed for them, and although the male bias is not being intentionally exclusive, male planners fail to recognise the huge implications this can have on a female’s opportunities

to successfully partake in everyday life. This exploration has so far considered the female perspective and her experience of the city, and how these differ from the day to day experiences of males as the dominant gender and, arguably, recognised as the leading perspective in planning practices (Rose, 2019). The preceding argument has described that the over-powering role of the male psyche and patriarchal thinking on city design has been founded due to an engrained not thinking (Perez, 2019), in order to diminish this discrimination, it is important to involve women in research and increase representation in positions of power. The following analysis will investigate the guiding ability of ‘not

thinking’ on expectations, and the critical moment in the focus groups when there was a change in perspectives, illustrating the struggle between feminism and patriarchy. Guiding Expectations Personal reflections following the focus group concentrated on the moment of realisation among the participants when they looked at the images differently and used their feminine outlook to take a more critical stance. These moments aid in explaining the automatic vision that all members of society adopt, which is arguably the patriarchal thinking of the male demographic. The result of this thinking influences the production of future city visuals, and arguably impacts female perspectives. It is possible that females who are disconnected from planning have a limited understanding of city design and planning practices, but as the focus groups were able to identify, personal experiences and everyday exposure to city life inform opinions on city designs. The effects of visualisations, as shown in the research, is that despite personal preferences and experiences of the city, visualisations can be perceived as factual representations, “representations of the world … is the work of men; they describe it from their own point of view, which is confused with the absolute truth” (Beauvoir, et al., 2011). As a result, the critical feminine perspective is perhaps overshadowed by the “slick and shin

iness” of the imagery (Rose & Willis, 2019). Using imagery as an anchor for discussion during the research focus groups was appropriate for the age group of participants because young females are experiencing constant exposure to imagery, including through social media platforms, billboards and television. As explored in the literature review, visualisations such as science fiction present “imaginative paradigms” (Annas, 1978) and explore possible expected futures and are able to guide and inform societal thinking. Presenting the three images in the focus group research attracted the response of fascination, the participants were in agreement that the images were “impressive”, that they portrayed a “perfect looking space”. Arguably these comments during the focus group demonstrate this idea of visualisations being produced by male-led groups and influencing personal reflections. The constant exposure to imagery in the modern world is acting as a form of communication and expression and as a result, consumers abilities to question or be critical of imagery is reduced. The removal of this critical barrier results in imagery being absorbed by society without question.