Abstract
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.1 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, Rivlin, & Stone, in press; Francis, 1987; Francis, Cashdan, & Paxson, 1984; Whyte, 1980) but pays almost no attention to gender differences in the use of these spaces. Both areas of research are important, but they have not yet generated a theoretical perspective to guide future research on women and public space. The goal of this chapter is to develop just such a perspective.2
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
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Franck, K.A., Paxson, L. (1989). Women and Urban Public Space. In: Altman, I., Zube, E.H. (eds) Public Places and Spaces. Human Behavior and Environment, vol 10. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4684-5601-1_6
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