Reclaim Our Street

Reclaim Our Street

Reclaim Our Street

The design of urban spaces seldom takes women's experience into account. To inspire female designers to create public spaces that work better for women. Reclaim Our Street is a Feminist Utopian Spatial Practice that derives from the street harassment issue to empower females by building a foundational awareness of women's urban life stories, placing women's needs at the forefront in the discussion of urban design.

Outside the Elephant and Castle tube station, south London, an open-air participatory exhibition will be held to invite the target audience, female residents aged 20-40 years old and female designers who passionate about creating a better urban experience for women.

By encouraging female to express their street harassment stories, we reclaim the narrative about street harassment. Based on the collected stories to design the proposal of multiple possible future urban spaces to promote changes, we reclaim the urban narrative. With a batter urban public space that attaches importance to female residents' experiences, more and more women show up in the public space and enjoy the urban life, we reclaim our street.

1. Street sign A2(vinyl, aluminium)
2. Fading Map 1m*1m (Tracing paper, MDF)
3. City model 1m*1m (Foam, MDF)

https://graduateshowcase.arts.ac.uk/projects/219177/cover#final-work-section

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCzuGH0RCT-CHDMTpM20SVDQ

https://www.instagram.com/feminist.utopian.city/

The design of urban spaces seldom takes women's experiences into account. As a "stakeholder" of public space design, the needs of females should be considered. "Reclaim our street." is a Feminist Utopian Spatial Practice that derives from the street harassment issue to empower females by building a foundational awareness of women's urban life stories, placing women at the forefront in the discussion of urban design.

First, the storytelling street exhibition drew people's attention to the influence of street harassment experience and learned how they shaped our conceptions about public space, affecting the women's right to the city. The interactive exhibition experience empathizes and encourages the audiences to share their own story about street harassment in the specific public space and ignite the conversations between the urban designers and the female citizens. By actively expressing female residents' daily life experiences about street harassment, We Reclaim the narrative about street harassment.

Then based on the collected stories, urban designers designed the proposal of multiple possible better future urban spaces. Social media shared the project with more urban designers, related organizations, and councils, promoting changes and reshaping urban space. We Reclaim the urban narrative.

Ultimately, with a batter urban public space that attaches importance to female residents' experiences, more and more women show up in the public space and enjoy urban life. We reclaim the urban space.

The democracy in the design should involve all stakeholders, including the neglected groups and consider their diverse needs. It is the key to creating the public space that works best for every citizen. Challenging the dominant hierarchically oriented top-down power structures in urban design, "Reclaim Our Street" uses a co-design form to help female residents participate in the design and decision-making. And starting from the females, the more neglected group we involved in the conversation, the better urban space that works for everyone can be created.