The Gendering Of a Public Space: Case Study of Museum Compound, Trivandrum

The Gendering Of a Public Space: Case Study of Museum Compound, Trivandrum

Submitted by Nagma Manoharan

Guide Ar. Reshmi Ravindran

B.Arch Dissertation May-2019

C.A.T COLLEGE OF ARCHITECTURE TRIVANDRUM Mulayara P.O, Thiruvananthapuram This thesis is the property of the institution and the author; it should not be re-produced without prior permission

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT I take pleasure in acknowledging the contribution of many individuals in the successful completion of my research.

First and foremost, I would like to express my sincere gratitude to my guide Ar.Reshmi Ravindran, Assistant Professor and Dissertation Coordinator, for her valuable guidance, advice, encouragement, and critical suggestions rendered by her throughout the development of this dissertation work. She has given me all the freedom to pursue my research, while silently and non-obtrusively ensuring that I stay on course and do not deviate from the core of my research. Without her able guidance, this thesis would not have been possible and I shall eternally be grateful to her for her assistance.

I also wish to express my sincere thanks to Prof.Jayakumar, Principal, for providing me with all the necessary facilities for this research.

My acknowledgement would be incomplete without thanking my family and friends for their unwavering support that was given to me throughout the study and kept me going.

Nagma Manoharan

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

1

2

INTRODUCTION .......................................................................................................... 1 1.1

INTRODUCTION .................................................................................................. 1

1.2

NEED FOR RESEARCH ...................................................................................... 2

1.3

HYPOTHESIS ...................................................................................................... 3

1.4

Objectives............................................................................................................. 3

1.5

Methodology ......................................................................................................... 3

1.6

Scope ................................................................................................................... 3

1.7

Limitations ............................................................................................................ 3

literature review ............................................................................................................ 4 2.1

safecity campaign :sakhi , thiruvananthapuram ................................................... 4

2.1.1

The study ........................................................................................................ 4

2.1.2

The findings .................................................................................................... 5

2.2

SOPARC - (System for Observing Play and Recreation in Communities). ......... 6

2.2.1 3

the popular urban park ................................................................................................. 7 3.1

4

historical significance of the museum compound palayam .................................. 7

developing the methodology ........................................................................................ 8 4.1

layers of study ...................................................................................................... 8

4.1.1

User’s perceptions of safety and inclusiveness in the park ........................... 8

4.1.2

People counts ................................................................................................. 8

4.1.3

Physical design of the park ............................................................................ 8

4.2 5

Recording Procedures .................................................................................... 6

analysis ................................................................................................................ 8

primary study ................................................................................................................ 9 5.1

questionnaire ........................................................................................................ 9

5.1.1 5.2

Analysis of questionnaire ............................................................................. 12

study diagrams ................................................................................................... 14

5.2.1

zoning of the museum compound ................................................................ 14

5.2.2

Design aspects of the park ........................................................................... 14

5.3

study diagrams ................................................................................................... 17

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5.3.1

People Count : 5:00am – 7:00 am ................................................................ 17

5.3.2

People Count : 4:00 pm – 6:30 pm ............................................................... 19

5.3.3

People Count : 6:30 pm -8:30 pm ................................................................. 22

6

conclusion ................................................................................................................... 24

7

references ................................................................................................................... 25

iv

TABLE OF FIGURES Figure 1 Focus Group Discussion, Sakhi............................................................................ 4 Figure 2 Napier Museum..................................................................................................... 7 Figure 3 Napier Musuem..................................................................................................... 7 Figure 4: Map of the Museum Compound .......................................................................... 7 Figure 5. chart showing of duration of stay in Trivandrum ................................................ 12 Figure 6. chart showing different professions of users ..................................................... 12 Figure 7 showing the perception of safety by men and women ....................................... 12 Figure 8 graph showing how user groups come to the park ............................................. 12 Figure 9:perception of safety: man sitting alone ............................................................... 13 Figure 10:perception of safety: group of boys................................................................... 13 Figure 11:perception of safety: group of ladies ................................................................ 13 Figure 12:perception of safety :couple .............................................................................. 13 Figure 13: perception of safety : older men ...................................................................... 13 Figure 14:perception of safety: family ............................................................................... 13 Figure 15;perception of lady sitting alone ......................................................................... 13 Figure 16: zoning of museum compound.......................................................................... 14 Figure 17: lighting study .................................................................................................... 14 Figure 18: map showing visual connections to zones ...................................................... 15 Figure 19: showing physical accessibility to zone ............................................................ 15 Figure 20: showing existing infrastructure ........................................................................ 16 Figure 21 people count between 5 -7 am ......................................................................... 17 Figure 22. Analysis of people count during 5 am – 7 am.................................................. 18 Figure 23 people count between 4 :00 pm – 6:30 pm ...................................................... 19 Figure 24: analysis of people count during 4:00pm – 6:30 pm ......................................... 20

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Figure 25 analysis of people count from 4:00 pm to 6: 60 pm .......................................... 21 Figure 26 people count between 6:30 pm to 8:30 pm ....................................................... 22 Figure 27 analysis of people count during 6:30 pm – 8:30 pm ......................................... 23

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ABSTRACT

Gender remains a neglected focus for theory and practice in shaping cities. Designers and planners often ignore the physical and emotional experiences both women and men experience while meandering through different urban environments. Gendering of public spaces seemed to be an issue of the past when the society used its culture and traditions as an excuse to restrict the access of the public realm to predominantly the male. Yet today when this society has claimed to be more modernised than its past self, the public seems to have lost their claim over the public realm now more than ever. Creating awareness about the importance of the rights women have to the public space isn’t feminism. It is about trying to understand and manipulate the factors that inhibit all sections of the society from accessing the public realm equally. This research aims in trying to develop a tool to assess the gendering of public spaces by overlaying certain tangible and intangible factors to try understand what causes the gendering of a popular public space through the case study of a popular public park: the Museum compound, Trivandrum.

The Gendering Of A Public Space: Case Study Of Museum Compound, Trivandrum

1 INTRODUCTION

1.1

INTRODUCTION The term public space usually comprises of spaces in cities such as streets, parks,

squares and public buildings that are open to the public and accessible for everyone (Gehl 1987,Jacobs 1992, Whyte 1985).The use of public space is an important part of women’s and men’s daily lives in cities and an important arena to promote social, political and economical inclusion in cities.Yet it has been argued that the way in which urban life is lived and experienced changes according to demographics of its users with respect to age, gender and social class.

Because of their triple roles of productive, reproductive and community managing work, women often have a more complex relation to the built environment and are often mentioned as a vulnerable group (Dandekar, 1992) .Also various articles from the 1950s and 1970s state that ‘in keeping with the gender hierarchy … the appropriation of public urban open space, the availability of time and space for the female population tends to be limited” (Annette, 2007).

But this is not the case now, gender relationships have developed, shifting the life situations of girls and women, in particular. The main reasons have been the considerable increase in female employment, the pluralization of household forms, growing childlessness, and changes in the norms and content of gender-specific child-raising (Annette, 2007). Women and girls have successively advanced into spheres of life formerly dominated by men whereas in contrast, changes in male life patterns have been less striking.

It is said that people in urban situations orient themselves using mental maps (Lynch, 1960), but unfortunately women in Indian cities orient themselves by considering the pros and cons of mediating through a space by assessing factors like people, accessibility and possible threats .Hence women weave the movements of their day to day, often restricting their options so intrinsically that they do not even realize it. (Shilpa Phadke, 2011) Even when women are supposedly safe in public spaces, there is an intrinsic fear that prevents their participation in public spaces which involves not only the male gaze but an overt sexual threat (Berne) . Gender-related feelings of objectification, vulnerability, and fear in this space limit women’s participation. And thus it is concluded that the city becomes gendered through e.

the

experiences,

perceptions

and

actions

of

individuals.

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The Gendering Of A Public Space: Case Study Of Museum Compound, Trivandrum

1.2

NEED FOR RESEARCH "A safe city is one in which women and girls can enjoy public spaces and public life

without fear of being attacked, one that promotes equal opportunities for men and women in All spheres of social, economic, cultural and political life. Consequently, safe spaces, whether public or private, without any discrimination of gender or race, underline the attitude of a city towards inclusion and equality.” - UN women In order to understand how to create, plan and manage urban environments so that they are safe and inclusive for all, any person planning, managing or governing cities should have accurate information about a man’s or woman’s experiences and must make them an integral part of the urban decision-making processes.

This research is important because it tries to develop a toolkit for the collection of information on women’s safety and inclusion in cities, so that urban decision-makers and the general public alike can understand how to create environments where women and men can equally access their right to the city.

This research ultimately aims to study the issue of the gendering of public spaces in the state of Kerala. The state of Kerala according to the 2017 GVI report, ranks second in the list of most safest states for women with a gender vulnerability index (GVI) of 0.634 when the national average in India seems to be only 0.531. Yet the experience of women in Kerala stands out in striking contrast to the popular myth about their status.

Sakhi, a women’s resource centre, and several other women’s groups set out to survey women’s perception of safety in public spaces in Thiruvananthapuram, their findings blew off the lid of the myth about the power of women in Kerala (Sharma, 2015). While it was common that women in many cities suffer daily assaults, what was striking was how most women felt unsafe in public parks, beaches, theatres and even standing at ticket counters. Thiruvananthapuram has the most beautiful parks that would be the envy of people in cities like Mumbai where they starve for open spaces. Yet it was found that in the verdant surroundings of Kanakakunnu Palace in the state capital, you rarely encounter women, or even groups of women. Men accompany the few that come there. It was also understood that if a group of women decide to break the norm, they will be stared at as if they are entering forbidden territory (SAKHI, 2011). Hence one can conclude from the studies that most of the public spaces are occupied by men and women find it difficult to exercise their right to the public realm.

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The Gendering Of A Public Space: Case Study Of Museum Compound, Trivandrum

1.3

HYPOTHESIS The Museum compound, a popular urban park in the city is a predominant male

dominated public space.

1.4

OBJECTIVES 1) To develop a methodology to understand the factors that lead to the gendering of public spaces through a study of the museum compound in Palayam 2) To draw inferences regarding the relation of the gendering of a space with respect to the physical aspects of design and environment quality of a popular public park.

1.5

METHODOLOGY 1) The research conducted by Sakhi is taken as a reference to study the various factors that contribute to the gender dynamics of a public space.

2) SOPARC, a tool for assessing the characteristics of parks and its users is referred to understand the procedures to be followed for conducting the study.

3) The study of the Museum compound is carried out using both qualitative and quantitative surveys; the various physical design elements of the park are mapped out and these are layered to analyze the spaces of the park from a gender perspective view.

1.6

SCOPE A methodology is developed to study the gendering of a single popular urban park in the

city .This study can be further expanded and a study of similar parks in the different districts of the state can be conducted to comprehend a broader understanding of the gendering of public parks in Kerala. This research would also help bring about an awareness among urban designers, architects , town planners , government officials etc‌ about the importance of creating good and safe public spaces in the urban environment.

1.7

LIMITATIONS The research is limited to only a single study of a public space due to the lack of time and

resources and was conducted using technology that was available at my disposal.

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The Gendering Of A Public Space: Case Study Of Museum Compound, Trivandrum

2

2.1

LITERATURE REVIEW

SAFECITY CAMPAIGN :SAKHI , THIRUVANANTHAPURAM The safe city campaign an initiative by Jagori in partnership with UN Women and

Department of Women and Child Development launched the ‘Safe City Free of Violence against Women and Girls Initiative’ that aimed to reduce crime, build awareness and develop community into safer places to live, work and shop. SAKHI, a women resource centre based in Thiruvananthapuram has been addressing this issue of safety in public spaces through surveys, public meeting with officials, and collaborating in the training for bus conductors with the Kerala State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC).

2.1.1

The study Two cities were taken for the study: - Thiruvananthapuram (Trivandrum) and Kozhikode

(Calicut).

Figure 1 Focus Group Discussion, Sakhi

The study examines how safe the two city areas are for women and girls, what is the relationship between women’s fear of violence, their avoidance of specific public spaces/ places or times and how they restrict themselves in terms of dressing, etc. to avoid harassment. Societal response, role of police, knowledge of existing violence, redressal mechanisms was also explored in their study. The methodologies adopted were interviews, focus group discussions (FGD’s), capacity gap analysis and safety audit. These exercises helped to map the public spaces that are unsafe in order to give feed back to policy planning and design process.

Two types of questionnaires were used, one for recording the direct experience and perception of women and the other for common witnesses11(CW). SAKHI adapted the questionnaire designed by Jagori, New Delhi. It was designed to generate estimates of sexual and physical violence in public spaces.

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The Gendering Of A Public Space: Case Study Of Museum Compound, Trivandrum

2.1.2

The findings The link between other safety issues range from inadequate lighting, high walls on both

side of roads and state of public toilets. These also emerged as an important factor in determining the safety of a space and women’s access to these areas. The lack of clean and safe public toilets for women in public spaces such as markets, cinema theatres, parks and commercial spaces limits women’s access to these areas. Some women articulated that they are uncomfortable in using public toilets because the toilets for men are very adjacent or the doors are opposite to that of women.

For both women respondents and common witnesses seeing men dealing with or taking alcohol or drugs gives a feeling of lack of comfort and safety In the major bus stops women don’t feel comfortable to stay longer as they fear harassment at the stops. They get into the first bus, even if they have to take longer routes. Many of the respondents feel the middle aged men are more problematic than youngsters.

The lack of regular and familiar people, shops and vendors creates a feeling of insecurity for women when using public spaces.

2.1.2.1 – Findings from the FGD’s discussions Irrespective of any age or socio-economic status, women experience such instances of physical and mental violence. Exhibitionism is common in buses, byroads Vulgar comments, physical harassments are common Harassments by drunkards in the evening trips are common. Liquor and narcotic users are always threat to women in public places. Men’s attitude towards women as a sexual object is the major reason for the occurrence of violence. At present safety in public places is one’s own responsibility. To ensure their safety they carry safety pin or blade etc while traveling. Identity as employed and uniform gives some kind of feeling of security.

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The Gendering Of A Public Space: Case Study Of Museum Compound, Trivandrum

2.2

SOPARC - (SYSTEM FOR OBSERVING PLAY AND RECREATION IN COMMUNITIES).

SOPARC is based on momentary time sampling techniques in which systematic and

periodic scans of individuals and contextual factors within pre-determined target areas in parks are made. During a scan the activity of each individual is mechanically or electronically coded as Sedentary (i.e., lying down, sitting, or standing), Walking, or Very Active. Separate scans are made for females and males, and for estimating the age and ethnic groupings of participants.

Simultaneous entries are also made for time of day, area accessibility, area usability, presence of supervision and equipment, and presence and classification of organized activities. Summary counts describe the number of participants by gender, activity modes and levels, and estimated age and gender groupings.

2.2.1

Recording Procedures 1) On the observation form, enter the Date, Park ID, Observer ID, Period, and Target Area.

2) If there are too many people to count in any area, divide it into separate Sub target .Use letters to distinguish the Sub target Areas (i.e., A, B, C). When people move to a different Sub target Area while you are scanning, count only those who are present at the time you are scanning. Make sure that all space in each main target area is included within the Sub target Areas.

3) Enter the Start Time for each area scan.

4) Record the conditions for each area (Accessible, Usable, Equipped, Supervised, Organized, Dark, and Empty).

5) Determine if there are Females within the target area. · If no females are located within the target area, write “none” and move to action #13.

6) For Females, decide which is the main activity in the target area and record it under Primary Activity. Refer to the codes listed on the SOPARC data form (or this protocol) to determine the appropriate terminology for the activity (e.g., aerobics, baseball, climbing).

7) Transfer these data to the SOPARC Observation Form and reset the counter.

8) Now scan all participating females in the primary activity and record their activity level (sedentary, walking, or vigorous).

9) Now scan the entire target area again for Females who are participating in a Secondary Activity. Describe the activity and scan for age, ethnicity, and activity level.

10) Scan the entire target area again for Females who are Spectators. Describe the activity they are watching and scan for age, ethnicity, and activity level (they will typically be sedentary, but could be walking or vigorously involved).

11) Repeat actions for Males, scanning first for participants in the primary activity, then secondary activity, and finally spectators.

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The Gendering Of A Public Space: Case Study Of Museum 7 Compound, Trivandrum

3 THE POPULAR URBAN PARK PA

3.1

HISTORICAL SIGNIFICANCE NIFICANCE OF THE MUSEUM MUSEUM COMPOUND PALAYAM The museum at Travancore was established in 1857 by the erstwhile Maharaja,

Uthram Thirunal. It was one of the oldest in India. As the old building was not enough to display many more objects collected, it was pulled down and the present, Napier museum, was built and opened to the public in 1880 by Ayilyam Thirunal Maharaja. This Architectural masterpiece was designed by Mr. Robert Chisholm, the consulting Architect of the Madras Government. Within its compound is the zoological park, botanical gardens, the children’s park, the Sree Chithra Art Gallery and the Natural History Museum which pulls a large crowd of residents as well as tourists who come to the park from distant points in the city for recreation and other activities.

Figure Figure Napier 23Napier Napier Musuem Museum Musuem 1 2

Figure 4: Map of the Museum Compound

The Gendering Of A Public Space: Case Study Of Museum Compound, Trivandrum

4 DEVELOPING THE METHODOLOGY

4.1 4.1.1

LAYERS OF STUDY User’s perceptions of safety and inclusiveness in the park From the Safe city study of Thiruvananthapuram conducted by Sakhi, parameters that

affect the safety and inclusiveness of the people such as lighting , accessibility to public amenities , surveillance etc...are noted. These parameters are then taken as cue points for preparing a qualitative survey that is aimed at understanding the perception of safety and inclusiveness in the minds of the user groups.

4.1.2

People counts The SOPARC tool and observation is restructured to perform a quantitative study of the

park. The following were the procedures that were used: 1) The map is zoned into target areas based on visual connectivity and each zone is labeled accordingly.

2) The study is to be conducted during three time intervals of the day i.e. 5AM- 7:00 AM, 4:00PM- 6:30 PM and 6:30 PM to 8:30 PM 3) Each zone is to be studied within an interval of 5 minutes When studying the zone, people counts based on gender, age, type of activity (sedentary, walking, vigorous) and type of user groups (single, couple, with friends, with family) has to be noted.

4.1.3

Physical design of the park Features of the park such as lighting, infrastructure, visibility and physical accesses are to

be mapped out separately.

4.2

ANALYSIS The layers of study would be overlaid and an individual zone wise analysis is used to

negate or prove the hypothesis.

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The Gendering Of A Public Space: Case Study Of Museum Compound, Trivandrum

5 PRIMARY STUDY

5.1

QUESTIONNAIRE

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The Gendering Of A Public Space: Case Study Of Museum Compound, Trivandrum

10

The Gendering Of A Public Space: Case Study Of Museum Compound, Trivandrum

11

The Gendering Of A Public Space: Case Study Of Museum 12 Compound, Trivandrum

5.1.1

Analysis of questionnaire

Figure 6. chart showing different professions of users

Figure 5. chart showing of duration of stay in Trivandrum

Figure 7 showing the perception of safety by men and women

Figure 8 graph showing how user groups come to the park

The Gendering Of A Public Space: Case Study Of Museum 13 Compound, Trivandrum

Figure 13: perception of safety : older men

Figure 14:perception of safety: family

Figure 12:perception of safety :couple

Figure 11:perception of safety: group of ladies

Figure 10:perception of safety: group of boys

Figure 9:perception of safety: man sitting alone

Figure 15;perception of lady sitting alone

The Gendering Of A Public Space: Case Study Of Museum 14 Compound, Trivandrum

5.2 5.2.1

STUDY DIAGRAMS zoning of the museum compound

Figure 16: zoning of museum compound

5.2.2

Design aspects of the park

Figure 17: lighting study

The Gendering Of A Public Space: Case Study Of Museum 15 Compound, Trivandrum

Figure 18: map showing visual connections to zones

Figure 19: showing physical accessibility to zone

The Gendering Of A Public Space: Case Study Of Museum 16 Compound, Trivandrum

Figure 20: showing existing infrastructure

The Gendering Of A Public Space: Case Study Of Museum 17 Compound, Trivandrum

5.3

5.3.1

STUDY DIAGRAMS

People Count :

5:00am

–

7:00 am

Figure 21 people count between 5 -7 am

The Gendering Of A Public Space: Case Study Of Museum 18 Compound, Trivandrum

Figure 22. Analysis of people count during 5 am – 7 am

The Gendering Of A Public Space: Case Study Of Museum 19 Compound, Trivandrum

5.3.2

People

Count

:

4:00 pm – 6:30 pm

Figure 23 people count between 4 :00 pm – 6:30 pm

The Gendering Of A Public Space: Case Study Of Museum 20 Compound, Trivandrum

Figure 24: analysis of people count during 4:00pm – 6:30 pm

The Gendering Of A Public Space: Case Study Of Museum 21 Compound, Trivandrum

Figure 25 analysis of people count from 4:00 pm to 6: 60 pm

The Gendering Of A Public Space: Case Study Of Museum 22 Compound, Trivandrum

5.3.3

People Count : 6:30 pm -8:30 pm

Figure 26 people count between 6:30 pm to 8:30 pm

The Gendering Of A Public Space: Case Study Of Museum 23 Compound, Trivandrum

Figure 27 analysis of people count during 6:30 pm – 8:30 pm

The Gendering Of A Public Space: Case Study Of Museum Compound, Trivandrum

6 CONCLUSION From overlaying the perception studies, people counts and physical design aspects of the park it is found that most of the zones in the park are male dominated. The few exceptions of zones that seem to be female dominated and gender neutral is due to the presence of the user group of families that from the perception studies can be understood attracts other female groups.

None of the zones see women coming alone. This is mainly due to the lack of sufficient lighting, poor visibility and physical permeability and also due to the absence of an activity puller in its precincts.

A few suggestions to improve the gender dynamics among the spaces would be to remove all objects and vegetation that obstruct views into the zones , to improve lighting in areas that are zoned towards the rear end of the park where there is insufficient activity pullers that lead to almost empty public spaces. Another way to improve the quality of those zones would be to alternatively induce an activity puller that could bring in people and induce natural surveillance in those areas.

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The Gendering Of A Public Space: Case Study Of Museum Compound, Trivandrum

7 REFERENCES Annette, H. (2007). pen Space and Gender - Gender-Sensitive Open-Space Planning.

German

Journal of Urban Studies .

Berne, . Fear of the Park; Women in Public Space.

Dandekar, H. (1992). Shelter, Women and Development: first and third world perspectives:.

Lynch, K. (1960). The Image Of The City.

SAKHI. (2011). Are cities in Kerala safe for Women?

Sharma, K. (2015). No space for women. The Hindu .

Shilpa Phadke, S. K. (2011). Why Loiter?: Women and Risk on Mumbai Streets .

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