The network of Italian Cultural Institutes in the Nordic Countries (Copenhagen, Helsinki, Oslo, Stockholm) together with the Italian Embassy in Sweden is co-promoting Equal Cities, an online conference dedicated to gender equality in contemporary urban planning.
The event targets architects, city managers, strategic advisors, elected representatives, stakeholders from different public agencies, and of course, the civic society.
Equal Cities will be held online, streamed live via the social media of the Italian Cultural Institutes (Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Istitutoitalianodiculturacmlerici/live , Instagram) on the 3rd of March 2022 at 3 p.m. The video of the webinar as well as the conference proceedings will be available from the following day on the Italian Cultural Institutes´ websites.
Gender equality is a prerequisite for the well-being and the prosperity of the cities. It is a fundamental right that is enshrined in both international and European treaties, and in the United Nations’ 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda. Gender equality is also a catalyst for better policy-making, and local governments have a crucial role to play in further driving this change.
Urban equity in cities can be an important indicator to measure the complexity of gender equality issues at large and, based on the EU policy framework, it represents an important factor in monitoring progress of gender equality across the EU over time.
Which are the practices in Europe that strengthen the capacity to deliver an inclusive urban strategy? Which are the actions that not only enable but enhance the contribution of women to society? Is it possible to measure the gendered impact of Covid19 in urban environments?
These and other questions will be discussed by a broad panel of urbanists and city policies makers, moderated by Lennart Ploom, city archivist and director of Stockholm City Archives – Stadsarkivet. Having dealt with city history and its contemporary representation for more than 26 years, Lennart Ploom will guide the panel of experts from different countries in a discussion about how can we make good use of the recent successful, as well as those not so positive, experiences in inclusive urban planning.
The event is held in collaboration with Stockholm Stadsarkivet www.stockholm.se/stadsarkivet
Equal Cities – panel:
NORWAY
Ellen De Vibe: “How may we make cities better for women – and for other vulnerable groups?”. Crucial points of this contribution will be the security plan for the city centre of Oslo (exploring the opposing concepts of “Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design”, CPTED, and diversity and transparent shielding), the Carfree Livability City Programme of Oslo, the Balancing of competing interests, Ofeliagangen, and the Stown Town, Zanzibar, master project for sheltered public spaces for women.
About Ellen De Vibe: Architect, urban planner and former director of The Planning and Building Services Agency (PBE) in Oslo. Together with Erik Berg (previous employee at the Foreign Ministry of Norway), she published the book A world of Cities, exploring how the UN sustainable development goals could be implemented in operational policy making and urban planning.
SWEDEN
Rebecka Lennartsson and Karin Carlsson: “Behind the scenes of the city: gendered spaces 1800-2000”.Behind the scenes of the city: gendered spaces 1800-2000”.
The research project “Gendered spaces: multidimensional walks in urban history” is a collaboration between a number of researchers from different disciplines and four cultural institutions. Together they explored the intersectional layers of urban spaces. The project was financed by Riksbankens Jubileumsfond and The Royal Swedish Academy of Letters, History and Antiquities.
FINLAND
Liisa Horelli: “Equal city – an inaccessible dream?”. Thirty years ago, a dynamic citizen movement “EuroFEM – Gender and Human Settlement-network” spread across Europe and especially the Nordic countries, inspiring child- and human-friendly environments even in Finland. However, the prospect of attaining the dream of equal cities has diminished since the new millennium with the dominance of new liberal planning and building style. Can the few new examples of collaborative housing and eco-social projects still lead the path to the dream?
About Liisa Horelli: PhD and Adjunct Professor Research Group in Spatial Planning and Transportation Engineering Department of Built Environment Dear, Aalto University
DENMARK
Tina Saaby
Citymaker and placemaker. Cityarchitect in Gladsaxe. Communicator of architecture and urban development. Former city architect of Copenhagen 2010 – 2019
ITALY
Silvia Serrelli: “Inclusive Cities to Redesign Rights for Education”. According to Serreli, cities are learning spaces, they encourage learning processes for their inhabitants. She will discuss new models of cooperation between territories to redesign rights for education, which has to be considered a life project, a collective form and capacity for self-determination. It is a social project which takes place in inclusive cities.
She will highlight research approaches and public engagement that deal with the complex dynamics, generating more and more social inequalities, spatial injustices and expulsions, on an international level.
Silvia Serreli is Engineer and Urban Planning from University of Cagliari, Director of the degree courses in Urban Planning at Università degli studi di Sassari. Her research is focused on the relationships between climate change, international cooperation and migration processes.
Eleonora Carrano: “The city of women, Urban policies for a fairer and more inclusive city”, – interrogating How can architectural design reduce gender disparities with physical space, in the relationship between public services, administrative and local structures, especially after Covid-19 pandemic exacerbated social and economic inequalities, making an architectural response to inequalities more urgent.
About Eleonora Carrano. Architect of Università La Sapienza; D.E.A. in project of architecture at ETSAB-UPC Barcelona. She collaborates with several magazines and writes about architecture. Currently is Director of Architecture & Human Rights ARCH+H.R. Italy.
