Women’s mobilities and perceived safety: urban form matters. Evidence from three peripheral districts in the city of Bogotá

ABSTRACT

The paper aims at investigating the interplay of urban form and women’s mobilities in three peripheral districts in the city of Bogotá. Integrating a morpho-functional analysis of the built environment with an ethnographic analysis focused on the walking practices of a sample of women, the paper highlights the main gendered spatial experiences and how the perceived safety acts as a mediator between built environment attributes and walking behaviours. The conclusion introduces two challenges: first, the need for new interpretative lenses, different from those of a man-centred perspective and able to interpret the women’s territoriality – considered as the spaces produced through their mobility practices; second, the possibility to use women’s mobilities experiences and their tactics of adaptation as a tool for more effective urban and mobility policies.

KEYWORDS:

• Women’s mobilities
• gendered mobilities
• morpho-functional patterns
• safety perceptions
• built environment
• walkability
• ethnographic analysis

Highlights

• We investigate the effects of the built environment and urban form on female mobility

• We combine a morpho-functional analysis with an ethnographic survey

• We identify potentials and barriers in the urban form from a gender perspective

• Perceived safety acts as a mediator between built environment attributes and female walking behaviours

• We propose policy orientations based on female mobilities

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1. The municipal land use plan of Bogotá – the POT, Plan de Ordenamiento Territorial – identifies seven morphological units, based on indicators like historical growth of the city, the socioeconomic strata, the average size of blocks, the number of lots per block, average occupation per block and the topography.

2. According to Marshall and Çalişkan (2011), urban morphology is the “science of urban form and structure” that includes analysis, description, possibilities, and explanation of generation processes.

3. Among them: IDECA- Infraestructura de Datos Espaciales para el Distrito Capital/ Spatial Data Infrastructure for the Capital District; Encuesta multipropósito 2017 / multipurpose survey 2017; Secretaria distrital de Planeación/ District Planning Secretariat; DANE- Departamento administrativo nacional de estadística/ National Administrative Department for Statistics.

4. This measure has been adopted in Toronto and later implemented by several transportation authorities (for example in London and New York).

5. For the concept of territoriality see Raffestin (2012).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Paola Pucci

Paola Pucci is a Full Professor in the Department of Architecture and Urban Studies, Politecnico di Milano. She is an architect and hold a Ph.D. in Territorial Planning from IUAV, Venice. Her research focusses on mobility, accessibility by proximity and transport inequalities.

Giovanni Vecchio

Giovanni Vecchio is an Assistant Professor in the Institute of Urban and Territorial Studies, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, and researcher in the Centre for Sustainable Urban Development (Cedeus). He holds a Ph.D. in Urban Planning, Design and Policy from the Politecnico di Milano. His research investigates the social implications of urban and transport planning, focusing on accessibility and justice, territorial vulnerability and planning issues.

Erika Andrea Gallego Vega

Erika Gallego is a consultant in the Instituto Distrital de Patrimonio Cultural, Alcaldía Mayor de Bogotá. She is an architect and holds a M.Sc. in Urban Planning and Policy Design from the Politecnico di Milano.