The Hindu : Design changes to check crime against women

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Feb 20, 2004

New Delhi

New Delhi

Design changes to check crime against women

By Our Staff Reporter

NEW DELHI, FEB. 19. Could the rape of a Swiss diplomat in the parking lot of Siri Fort auditorium have been averted if its design or location with respect to the main building had been different? Or for that matter, could our Delhi Transport Corporation buses undergo a design overhaul so that eve-teasing and incidents of rapes in running buses are minimised?

These and other interesting questions were thrown up at an interaction on "Youth Against Violence Against Women'' organised at the TVB School of Habitat Studies by the Joint Women's Programme in collaboration with the Gandhi Smriti and Darshan Samiti.

The interaction was part of a series of public interfaces in schools and colleges to sensitise students to the issue of growing violence against women.

"The concept of defensible spaces is becoming very popular in the West. Engendering public spaces and reducing their vulnerability can result from simple design solutions,'' said Prof. Krishna Menon, principal of the college. "Traditionally architecture has been an expression of a patriarchal society but things are changing.''

Interestingly, it was pointed out that in parts of Northern India, the built-in space within houses and havelis was inter-related to their use by members of the house-hold. Hence there was a "mardana'' where the men would gather and a "janana'' for the ladies of the household. And public spaces are to this day gender unfriendly.

During the interaction, some students shared their concerns in terms of engendering public spaces by relating it to the projects they had undertaken. For example, a student pointed out how while designing a bus stop, she spoke to a large number of women and found out that their concern was jostling and pushing while queuing up for going inside buses. And so they offered a simple design of creating more spaces within the queue formation so that this does no take place.

A faculty member, Avinava Dasgupta, pointed out that a group of students could look at various ways by which the concept of engendering public space can be made more popular.

He also pointed out that there was a need for students of architecture to interface with other students so that a multi-disciplinary research team could work on exciting and innovative projects.

Also, it was pointed out that a study of woman-unfriendly spots in Delhi could be undertaken to ascertain whether there could be simple architectural solutions to the public design of buildings so that vulnerability reduction through architecture becomes a popular movement.

Also, the insular nature of architecture as a profession must give way to its becoming part and parcel of building a caring society which is sensitive to the needs of all including the elderly, children, women and the disabled.

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

New Delhi