Research & Architecture
Harvard Design School
Harvard Design School
Advisors: Herzog & De Meuron
Negotiated Bodies / Gendered Spaces
Cairo, Egypt
Cairo, Egypt
How might a new network of spaces for women provide reprieve in an urban fabric not designed for them?
This project studied how women in Cairo use public space, and their place in the public realm. This research was completed pre-revolution in 2010 - 2011 as part of my research thesis under architects Jacques Herzog and Pierre De Meuron while at Harvard Design School.
Cairo has one of the highest rates of sexual harassment in the world, with most women citing sexual harassment encounters on a daily basis. This project studied how this environment affected women's use of public spaces, coping mechanisms and methods of fighting back, and spaces of appropriation within the city.
I mapped the areas of highest harassment, and then proposed a network of semi-public spaces to serve as safe spaces in a place where even daily errands are often a source of shame and fear.
Credit: Harvard Graduate School of Design