How power manifest
itself can come from the top down
or the bottom up.
In this section,
we're going to talk about public policy
and power
and how
that manifests itself
in recreating the built environment.
We spoke briefly before on policy
and how,
despite the fact that the majority
of impoverished people in
the US are women,
women only make up 22% of all mayors
who impact the policy
towards making a better city
for everyone.
That kind of disconnect
and again, implicit
or explicit
bias can change the way
that we prioritize
different policy changes
that impact the ground level.
Mayors, as they represent
a diversity of individuals,
must also come from a diversity
of backgrounds.
Policy, of course, is important
for a myriad of reasons.
It allows for certain
things, disallows for others,
but it also can shape
the lives of people
at a very individual level.
Some of that is pretty obvious,
but at a wide scale.
We actually have scientific research now
which showcases
the impact
on women and girls when policies
by and for women are enacted.
In 1980,
Iceland elected the
first female prime minister
who immediately set to work
creating social change for her country.
An executive manager
of the Icelandic Women's
Rights Association summarizes the impact.
As such,
there is absolutely no doubt
that there is an equivalency
between more gender
balance, political representation
and better policies for women, parental
leave, daycare and gender pay gap,
none of which were seen
as major issues before
women ran for parliament
because of her experience as a woman
as well as her experience as a mother.
She was able to come to the table
and create these social changes
that have made
an impact for decades later.
We also know from research,
and especially that of Holly Carol's
Stop Street harassment advocacy work,
that when boys are taught gender equity
principles at a young age,
there are lower levels of sexism
and violence against women
in that society.
Visibility makes a difference,
but representation
within that power structure
is what actually creates
the policies necessary to create
social change.
One of the
strategies currently being used
to enact greater gender equity
in our cities through
policy is called gender
balanced budgeting.
Gender balanced budgeting is a strategy
to achieve equality between women and men
by focusing on
how public resources
are collected and spent.
It is an approach for budgeting
that can improve it
when fiscal policies
and administrative
procedures are structured to address
gender inequality when properly done.
One can say that gender budgeting
is good budgeting,
though it seems perhaps a bit boring.
Understanding the way
in which a budget impacts
gender is obviously impactful
upon society
and our cities in particular.
If we can break down a budget
and see how it impacts
different genders,
then we can say more concisely
whether it is equitable or inequitable
towards a gender impact on that city.
If we know that men are driving
more often than women, for instance,
and we can see that
transportation budgets are going more
towards highways than not,
then we might be able
to infer a gender impact
in assessing that critically.
Similarly, if we have an incentive
to create a gender balanced budget,
then we can from the start state clearly
how a budget's going to impact
gender and in what way
By assessing the inequalities,
you can reposition
the budget in order to impact more
appropriately the individuals
who have been underserved
Many of these changes
take time to see the effects.
In Iceland, for instance,
we didn't clearly understand the impact
until decades later.
Social
change is very difficult.
Societal norms are ingrained in a culture
to an extent
that it takes a lot of work
to shift its focus.
Much of the work
that needs to be done now
will probably end up
impacting future generations
more than our own in a similar way
through the passage
of Title nine in 1972,
we have still only seen
one generation of women
impact the built environment
to its fullest extent.
Unfortunately, sometimes
protest is also necessary to push
these policy developments
in the right direction.
Oftentimes this is because it takes time
for an individual
to reach a position of power
before they're able
to actually impact the place itself.
I find it incredibly hopeful
to understand
that these young women could
in fact be future planners
and make an impact.
But there has to be something done
in the more immediate term
to set the stage for them to succeed.
In some respects, policy
even has to be loosened
to allow for a greater level
of right to the city
by the people themselves
so they can shape
and manage the built environment
to their own needs.
This particular example in Sweden
actually showcases a young woman
with the ability to grow up in that place
and change the park herself
dubbed the People's Park.
The policy has been loosened
from the top down perspective
to allow
for a greater level
of grassroots organization and control
over that space.
This level of agency and autonomy
will allow her
to have a greater impact on the city
itself, understanding
that she has a right to the city
and an ownership over place
that will move beyond this park itself.
It will move beyond
public spaces themselves
and will represent
that kind of change for society in policy
and other professional capacities.
The work that is done to shape
a public space
from an urban planning perspective
or policymaking perspective.
That kind of work is essentially
laying the groundwork for other people
to feel confident
in their urban environment
more than just safety
and more than just lighting
or surveillance.
That kind of ownership over
public space is crucial
to making a good space for everyone.