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Research ArticlePeer-Reviewed Articles

“Separate but Equal?” Understanding Gender Differences in Urban Park Usage and Its Implications for Gender-Inclusive Design

Yiwei Huang and N. Claire Napawan
Landscape Journal, January 2021, 40 (1) 1-16; DOI: https://doi.org/10.3368/lj.40.1.1
Yiwei Huang
Yiwei Huang is Assistant Professor of landscape architecture at Purdue University. Her research focuses on participatory design and planning methods, therapeutic and edible landscape in cities, and the health and everyday geography of traditionally marginalized urban communities.
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N. Claire Napawan
N. Claire Napawan is Associate Professor of landscape architecture and environmental design in the Department of Human Ecology at the University of California, Davis. Her research uses co-design methodologies to increase community’s resilience for underrepresented populations.
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Abstract

This article examines the role that physical design plays in shaping women’s everyday experiences in public space by studying gender differences in the use of a 1.3-acre urban park in a specific cultural enclave. Through direct observation, behavior mapping, and quantitative analysis, the project reveals an obvious gender separation of space usage in Portsmouth Square in the Chinatown district of San Francisco, California. In-depth interviews exposed a range of reasons for this separation and revealed how some Chinese immigrants construct and negotiate their social dynamics and territoriality on the urban square. The findings reaffirm that men and women often have different preferences in open spaces as well as different concepts of optimum public space experiences. Results also indicate that observed segregation by gender is not all voluntary. In this case, besides the known factors such as cultural and social norms, physical space design is important in shaping women’s use of public space, perpetuating and even intensifying gender separation and inequity. This study addresses and highlights some spatial elements that can be easily overlooked by landscape architects and environmental planners. It argues that to create a gender-inclusive—or, at a minimum, genderaware—public space, designers must consider not only the differences of ability, movement, and designated spots but also barriers, interruptions, and spaces avoided or inaccessible by specific populations.

KEYWORDS
  • Gender equity
  • urban public space
  • behavior mapping
  • Chinatown
  • landscape architecture
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Landscape Journal: 40 (1)
Landscape Journal
Vol. 40, Issue 1
1 Jan 2021
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“Separate but Equal?” Understanding Gender Differences in Urban Park Usage and Its Implications for Gender-Inclusive Design
Yiwei Huang, N. Claire Napawan
Landscape Journal Jan 2021, 40 (1) 1-16; DOI: 10.3368/lj.40.1.1

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“Separate but Equal?” Understanding Gender Differences in Urban Park Usage and Its Implications for Gender-Inclusive Design
Yiwei Huang, N. Claire Napawan
Landscape Journal Jan 2021, 40 (1) 1-16; DOI: 10.3368/lj.40.1.1
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  • Article
    • Abstract
    • INTRODUCTION
    • BACKGROUND AND LITERATURE REVIEW
    • CASE STUDY: PORTSMOUTH SQUARE IN SAN FRANCISCO’S CHINATOWN
    • METHODS
    • RESULTS
    • CONCLUSIONS
    • AUTHOR CONTRIBUTIONS
    • PEER REVIEW STATEMENT
    • ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
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Keywords

  • Gender equity
  • urban public space
  • behavior mapping
  • Chinatown
  • landscape architecture
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