INVESTIGATING FACTORS INFLUENCING WOMEN’S ENGAGEMENT WITH PUBLIC SPACES IN URBAN CONTEXT OF BHOPAL

Abstract

The research aimed to capture women’s engagement with public spaces in an urban context by determining various factors that influence their engagement. The study was based on the premise that women are often observed using spaces for necessary activities like running for errands or dropping kids to school but are often absent from spaces which are non-essential where optional, social or leisure activities occur like parks, squares, waterfronts or in general public spaces. Such non-essential public spaces are nodes where societal interactions occur, opinions are built and ideas are generated. Research stresses that public spaces build civic pride, spark urban life, induce sense of place, gives its citizens an opportunity to experience citizenship. Researchers across the literature agree that public spaces provide the much-needed space for social interaction, physical activities and recreation which has a positive impact on users’ physical health, mental health and wellbeing. The negative impact on women when deprived of access to public spaces can be social isolation, degradation of physical and mental health, poor quality of life, low social-cohesion, low self-esteem and less contribution in community building. Thus, to avail women the mentioned benefits of accessing and engaging with public spaces, it is crucial to understand what factors influence their engagement with public spaces. Thus, measurement of engagement was necessitated. Further, it was suggested from literature that engagement with public spaces was influenced by accessibility, sociability, comfort, image of place and enjoyment in public spaces. Furthermore, their perception was determined by its constituents derived from their public space experience through literature. The literature review showed intensive research of women and urban spaces, but mostly in social context. Studies of women and their engagement with public spaces from an urbanist lens were limited. Also, there were limited studies informing the factors that influence women’s engagement with public spaces. Furthermore, insufficient studies were found empirically linking the given factors to women’s engagement in the urban context. Since research clearly states that women behaviour in public spaces is different from the men and the public spaces design is unjust to women, it became essential to capture the engagement and understand how female users perceive public spaces as compared to the male users, thus samples included both male and female users of the public space. Furthermore, engagement with public spaces was suggested to be influenced by various aspects which were grouped in four categories i.e., perceptional, behavioral, contextual and socio-demographic. Also, the factors and their contributing variables for measuring engagement for female public users were at an early stage.Current research used qualitative data, both objective and subjective, using perspective of the public space users and contextual determinants. The empirical test was undertaken among public space users from two public spaces in Bhopal city. The analysis was done on Structural Equation Modeling in SPSS AMOS platform. Findings were also validated with objective assessment using field survey through site inventory. Based on the findings, inferences were generated. In order to inform planning and urban design interventions for the women users in the public spaces of the urban context, their perception about the contributing factors was modelled. This qualitative methodological approach involving perceptual, contextual, behavioral and socio-demographic factors assisted in determining gap areas. The developed methodology and scale guided in measuring the perception of the users and various factors which were influencing their engagement with public spaces. This study provided the model for measuring various factors and its influence on the engagement with public spaces. The findings will assist policymakers in design informed policies for the inclusive and engaging public space design. Thus, this study provided a vital framework to measure engagement with public spaces and to also identify strategies to build inclusive public spaces. The identified twenty-four perceptual factors, forty-eight contextual factors and seven behavioral factors should be incorporated to measure the status of the relationship, of urban environment with public spaces. Based on these parameters the public space resource database should be mapped and recorded for the existing and upcoming public spaces. These parameters should also be supported with quantitative data by different decision-making agencies to monitor inclusive public spaces.