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Emelie Anneroth

Abstract

This article contributes to an understanding of the experience and impact of using gender-inclusive innovative planning tools to engage girls and young women in urban design, and the capacity of this process to democratise urban planning. The article focuses on the narratives of girls from a marginalised area on the outskirts of Stockholm, Sweden, who participated in the feminist urban development project #UrbanGirlsMovement. The article draws on a theoretical framework of feminist urban theory, intersectionality, and territorial stigmatisation, and illustrates how the gender-inclusive urban planning techniques used impacted local girls and re-framed the role of the planner. The girls’ narratives revealed that it was an empowering experience to be part of an urban development process as it enabled them to recognise their own abilities and societal power. The process of engagement gave legitimacy to girls’ ideas and designs, enabling them both to recognise and to use their own agency. Additionally, the process of redesigning a familiar place enabled the girls to regenerate the meaning of their local urban public space to incorporate their own subjective spatial identities. The article argues that intersectional planning tools and processes can help transform spatial inequalities in power and oppression which is crucial when renovating marginalised urban areas of Swedish suburbs. The #UrbanGirlsMovement shows that a planning process can produce more than physical designs; it can be a tool for enhanced democracy, equality, and justice in cities.


 

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How to Cite
Anneroth, E. (2024) “Renovating Marginalised Urban Areas with Girls and Young Women: A Case Study from Sweden ”, The Journal of Public Space, 9(1), pp. 11–24. doi: 10.32891/jps.v9i1.1811.
Section
Academic
Author Biography

Emelie Anneroth, Sweco

Emelie is trained as an ethnologist with an international interdisciplinary master's degree in international relations, economic history, and geography. She works at Sweco where she specializes in process management and innovation management, with a focus on developing methods and models for a more equitable urban planning process. She has experience from the think tank Global Utmaning, where she was involved in the #UrbanGirlsMovement project (now Her City) in collaboration with UN-Habitat. The project aims to include women and children in the planning processes of their local areas. Emelie has also worked at RISE (Research Institutes of Sweden), where she developed several method packages for a more norm-critical and innovative urban planning process. She has contributed as an expert in the development of a certification system for equal public spaces, which aims to promote equity and gender equality in planning processes using a human rights-based approach. At Sweco, Emelie works practically with child and social impact assessments, site analyses, safety assessments, and other issues related to social sustainability in urban development. She has extensive experience in analyzing and communicating issues of equality, participation, safety, and accessibility in the built environment. She is also trained and knowledgeable in ethnographic methods such as interviews, observations, and participant observation.

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