Woman in the urban outdoor: Case of Bolu- Mudurnu settlement

Gender patterns and gender-based work distribution of traditional lifestyle have caused spaces to have a "masculine" appearance, which has negatively influenced women's use of spaces, and led the use of spaces to be shaped based on social patterns. Hence, male and female users may experience different emotions such as fear, pressure, freedom, or security in the same space. Forced to experience spaces in a way deemed suitable by the society, women have sought to claim their rights through various institutions, yet the rights they have been granted that support their use of spaces have so far been far from satisfactory in our country. It is thought that, to ensure gender equality in its fullest sense in our country, it is of importance that women's spatial awareness be raised and they protect their place in so-called public spaces. This study aims to determine the extent to which women living in the Mudurnu town of the province of Bolu use spaces equally/efficiently and to put forward suggestions that are aimed at eliminating inequalities in the public spaces of the town in accordance with the Design-Planning Criteria of Women Friendly Cities (WFC). This study originated from various facts such as that the town of Mudurnu has been included in the Tentative List of World Heritage of United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) under the name of "Historic Guild Town of Mudurnu" since 2015 and it was announced as the 15th Cittaslow of Turkey in 2018, which are factors that point to the international recognition of the natural and cultural values of the town, that women are active in terms of their sheer numbers in businesses as well as their broad participation in handcrafts that are widely practiced in the town, and that the Economic Policy Research Foundation of Turkey found that the female empowerment potential in the town to be high in 2018. It is hoped that this study could contribute to the relevant literature on gender equality and spatial planning in the domains of women and spatial use and that the findings could prove beneficial in the development of the town of Mudurnu as well as setting an example for spaces with similar attributes. The present study was carried out in four stages, namely, data collection, analysis, evaluation, and conclusions and recommendations. The methods of survey, on-site observation, and in-depth interview were used for data gathering. A total of 93 detected through sample size determination methods were included in the survey, whose analyses were conducted on SPSS 23.0 package software and results are provided in tables. Based on the findings of the survey, a total of seven spaces (the town bazaar, the town square, the upper marketplace, the tea garden, the front of the Turkish bath and the mosque, and the front of the coffeehouse) were observed on-site on two different days in summer and winter (23 June 2018 and 8 December 2018). Video recordings made in the morning (08:00-10:00), in the afternoon (12:00-14:00) and in the evening (18:00-20:00), each of which was one-minute long, was used for the study of the observations carried out. Action-Perception-Behaviour Maps were created based on the findings of the study, and women's spatial behaviour was evaluated. The efficiency/equality levels of transport-accessibility, town services, open-green areas/parks, public spaces/common use areas of the town were investigated through the questions formed according to the findings of the survey and on-site observation of in-depth interview, which was conducted on 20 female participants, and its findings are reported as Active/Women-friendly, Passive/Neutral, Masculine/ Urban Spaces with Requiring Intervention. As a result; women-friendly urban planning and design proposals developed for Mudurnu Settlement, spatial design suggestions that are thought to increase the quality of the urban space (in terms of physical, comfort-security, social interaction) and general suggestions thought to increase women's well-being are presented. According to the researches, it is thought that the women living in Mudurnu District have been taught to use public spaces due to patriarchal social structures and that their awareness of spatial rights and freedoms is not sufficient. Within the scope of this study, it is considered that women-friendly suggestions (such as providing gender trainings periodically, realising designs where equality policies in the public sphere are taken into consideration, and destroying genderized spaces) in order to "really" increase and "individualize" women's use of space are thought to be effective in the development of women in the district. Keywords: Women and Spaces; Women Friendly Cities; landscape design/planning; Bolu-Mudurnu. Science Code: 502.11.01.