"Mainstreaming got off the ground in Vienna in 1991 when Kail and a group of city planners organized a photography exhibit titled "Who Owns Public Space -- Women’s Everyday Life in the City." It depicted the daily routines of a diverse group of women as they went about their lives in the Austrian capital. Each woman tracked a different route through the city. But the images made clear that safety and ease of movement were a priority for all of them. It sparked a media firestorm. "Newspapers, television and radio were all covering it and 4,000 people visited," Kail says. "At the time it was something completely new. But politicians quickly realized it was something people were interested in and they decided to support it." Soon after, the city green lit a series of mainstreaming pilot projects. One of the first to be carried out was an apartment complex designed for and by women in the city’s 21st district. In 1993, the city held a design competition for the project, which was given the name Frauen-Werk-Stadt or Women-Work-City. The idea was to create housing that would make life easier for women. But what exactly did that mean? Time use surveys compiled by Statistik Austria, the Austrian national statistics office, showed that women spent more time per day on household chores and childcare than men. Women-Work-City was built with this in mind. It consists of a series of apartment buildings surrounded by courtyards. Circular, grassy areas dot the courtyards, allowing parents and children to spend time outside without having to go far from home. The complex has an on-site kindergarten, pharmacy and doctor’s office. It also stands in close proximity to public transit to make running errands and getting to school and work easier."
Posted on: Thu, 19 Sep 2013 20:59:34 +0000
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