Publicado en línea: 30 jun 2021
Páginas: 119 - 137
Recibido: 05 oct 2020
DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/quageo-2021-0017
Palabras clave
© 2021 Lyes Rahmani et al., published by Sciendo
This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
The first works that sought to shed light on ‘the gendered construction of urban spaces’ (Coutras 2008) owe much to studies investigating the daily activities in some categories of public and private spaces in the northern cities of the West (Moghadam, Rafieian 2019). Conducted during the 1970s, those works covered reflections on the usual use of these spaces by men and women. Subsequently, southern cities in the West were also surveyed, especially after the famous article by Monk and Hanson (1982) criticising the exclusion of women by geographers even in their text book (Mayer 1989). On the other hand, little work has been devoted to the issue of women's place in the public space in North African cities. To our knowledge, only one doctoral research has been carried out in the city of Sétif Sétif is an Algerian city located in the north-west of Algeria.
Overall, all the “research concerning the [West] concluded that the city ‘locked’ women into residential proximity and ‘rendered them invisible’ elsewhere” (Coutras 2008). According to Terlinden, this is rooted in the traditional cultural norms that project “images of public men and private women” (2003). Moreover, practically all research work handling the general issue of women's place in the public sphere and the public arena is underpinned by the idea that “elaboration of modern and civil thought is linked to the construction of these two images” (Terlinden 2003).
Indeed, all this research argues that the city as it is built today is not adapted to women since it is made by men and for men. This supposes that the practice of public space is conditioned by and for the benefit of men. Since the city and its public spaces are “predominantly designed, built, appropriated by men” (Faure et al. 2017), they are as a result not easily accessible to women.
This state of affairs is not specific to the urbanisation of contemporary cities. It goes back to the ancient cities as reported by Hannah Arendt who states that “Greek City-states were based on two distinct spheres of life, the Oikos or private households, which serves primarily to satisfy human needs and provide for the necessities of life, and the Polis or public space, which is reserved for intellect and debate” (1958) In: Terlinden 2003.
Indeed, despite the Industrial Revolution and the collapse of the household economy, which favoured women's participation in the work force outside the home, access to public space remained an illusion, despite recurrent calls (Terlinden 2002).
Even today, it is still the case that “the rise of capitalism requires more [female] labour for the service sector; and more [women] to work in the service sector and more [consumer women] to buy the consumer goods produced”. The presence of women, so much sought after by retail businesses, does not apparently enable women to ensure their equality with their male counterparts in the public space (Terlinden 2003).
Indeed, all his studies confirm that even with the modern-day obligation to allow for the co-presence of women in the public space, the latter has become a privileged place where “gender practices are configured to ensure the perpetuation of the patriarchy and men's domination” over women and where men voluntarily exert their ‘hegemonic masculinity’ (Connell 2014) In: Moraldo 2014. The presence of women in the public space fulfils the role of accompanying and watching over their children or vulnerable persons with disabilities.
This phenomenon can be observed even among children in primary schools, where boys occupy the centre of the schoolyard whereas girls stand aside on its periphery. Indeed, “one of the salient features [of schoolyards] is the distinct use of the space by girls and boys” (Ruel, sine die). Girls “must then agree to be second-tier participants and to be [used] to fill the lower positions” (Delalande 2003). This gender aversion is reflected even in public places among adults in contemporary Western society.
All these studies “reveal the majority of women feel excluded, not being in their place, having to monitor their behaviour, being less accepted or even vulnerable in certain places and at certain times” (Faure et al. 2017). In addition, all this research contradicts the current trend that promotes the principles of a sustainable and equitable city, for all its citizens without distinction or segregation.
From our point of view, all of the previous research falls within the paradigm of critical theory In the ‘critical theory’ paradigm, qualitative methods are adopted. In the ‘post positivism’ paradigm, quantitative methods are adopted.
Furthermore, given that the economy is one of the three sustainable development pillars and that consumption is one of its three engines along with investment and openness, we are, therefore, certain that there would be no sustainable development without consumption. However, since consumption is generally based on aesthetics, we asked ourselves, then, how and to what extent public places are realised as gendered objects (male vs. female) in the perception of those who use it in a situation of hedonic aesthetic consumption, which requires a bodily Male and female.
Used in connection with public spaces, the term ‘hedonic’ and the phrase ‘hedonistic aesthetic consumption space’ correspond to the users’ desire to enjoy themselves in the public space. In other words, in this sustainable development era, users of public spaces, which are used as urban stays, enjoy themselves in consuming this type of space, its atmosphere and its spirit of the place, in an aesthetic and hedonistic way in the sense of a daily and event-based experience. This trend follows the paradigm of experiential marketing (Holbrook, Hirschman 1982). Today, urban planners are influenced by this new paradigm, which has inspired the design of our experiential model and measurement tool.
Thus, in this research, we assumed that within a context of an aesthetic consumer society influenced by sustainable development, it is through the experiential experience of users that the gendered or gender-neutral characteristics of public spaces can be determined. It is only through the experiential that one can measure and map gender segregation in a space, despite the caveat of Jaillet, Perrin and Menard, who contended that “notwithstanding the advances of statistical analysis [urban segregation] is difficult to measure quantitatively” (2008). In other words, we assume that, within the experiential paradigm, the perception of users according to gender can determine the gendered or gender-neutral character of public spaces and map their spatial segregation phenomenon.
To test our hypothesis and determine whether the components of the public places in our study are characterised by gender, three public places were selected from the following cities: Blida, Medea and Ghardaïa (Fig. 1).
Fig. 1
Location of Blida, Medea and Ghardaïa cities.
Source: drawn by authors.
The choice of public places in these three cities was based on the following criteria:
Historical temporality of Algerian public places: the first public place with a pre-colonial character (Ghardaïa's marketplace); the second with a colonial style (Medea's November 1st 1954 Square); and the third belonging to the post-colonial period (Blida's Liberty Square), Geographic location: because of the vast expanse of Algeria and the means of investigation at our disposal In terms of time and funding. Scale and status of the places: we opted for public places that “fulfil a function of centrality” (Korosec-Serfaty 1988) and which have a structuring effect at the scale of their city's territory; Functional diversity: Hedonic place vs. Trading place; Size of the cities: we selected cities, which are capitals of the Blida: 163,586 inhabitants; Medea: 138,355 inhabitants; Ghardaïa: 93,423 inhabitants (Advercity 2019). Importance of the city; the main place of each city.
The city of Blida is the capital of its
Built during the 1970s, ‘El Manar’ cinema was devastated by fire and in the aftermath, the municipality decided to complete its demolition together with the workshops and adjoined the free land on the premises to create a new public place called Liberty Square. The latter is located inside the inner boundaries of the city's historic core, more precisely on the north-west side of it, in front of the city gate called ‘Bab Essebt’. It is bounded to the north-west by Colonel Lotfi Avenue; to the northeast by El Aïchi Abdellah Avenue; to the southeast by August 20, 1955 Street; and to the southwest by Mahdjoub Boualem Avenue. With its rectangular shape of about 127 m by 51 m, the place consists of five areas. The first is an open and unobstructed central area fitted out on its four peripheral sides with about twenty benches. The second area on the north-west side has an elongated rectangular shape sided by two rows of evergreen trees offering shade on two sets of benches. The third area, located to the southeast, consists of two linear water jets separated in the middle by a stone memorial commemorating the martyrs of the Algerian Liberation War. It is also skirted by a row of evergreen trees. The fourth area to the northeast is occupied by two newspapers & tobacco kiosks and a public café (the Milk Bar). In the fifth area to the southwest, there are two more rows of evergreen trees providing shade to users (Figs 2–4).
Fig. 2
Blida's Liberty Square, support for activities related to experiential marketing.
Source: authors, February 2019.
Fig. 3
Blida's Liberty Square, support for activities related to experiential marketing.
Source: authors, February 2019.
Fig. 4
Blida's Liberty Square, support for activities related to experiential marketing.
Source: authors, May 2019.
The city of Medea is the capital of its
November 1st 1954 Square is a colonial public place that is rectangular in shape (105 m × 135 m), located in the city centre within the historic core. It is surrounded on its four sides by residential, commercial and service buildings, from the ground floor to the third floor. This layout gives it a character combining interiority and exteriority. Its façades, aligned and ordered according to the classical architecture of the time, give it maximum centrality, reinforced by the plane trees and the presence of a bandstand in the middle. This place is bustling with crowds and the movement of the faithful going back and forth to the mosque located to the southeast to perform their prayers (Figs 5–7).
Fig. 5
November 1st 1954 Square of Medea. Support for various illicit commercial activities and improvised parking in the centre of this public place.
Source: authors, March 2021.
Fig. 6
November 1st 1954 Square of Medea. Public spaces, which are used as urban stays.
Source: authors, March 2021.
Fig. 7
November 1st 1954 Square of Medea. Women's presence in the public place is lower than that of men.
Source: authors, March 2021.
The city of Ghardaïa is famous for its ksar with its marketplace located within its historic core. It is one of M’Zab valley's five cities. It is the capital of its
Founded in 1884, the city's marketplace is characterised by a slightly bevelled rectangular shape and a surface area of 3,019.71 m2. “It is surrounded on all four sides by galleries with semicircular arcades with shops and stores all along. The latter are topped by another floor. The place constitutes the focal point of about nine alleys, with their nearest parts fulfilling business functions. The place is paved with stones” (Rahmani, Messaoudene 2019) (Figs 8–10).
Fig. 8
The market for dates (palm fruits), Mozabit rugs and traditional souvenirs.
Source: authors, December 2016.
Fig. 9
The marketplace of Ghardaïa. Public benches for seats.
Source: authors, October 2017.
Fig. 10
The marketplace of Ghardaïa. Public benches for seats.
Source: authors, April 2018.
The city of M’Zab has been classified as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Its population has maintained practically the same ancestral customs and traditions.
Prior to the final survey, we conducted for each site repeated visits spread out over the whole day to obtain an average of people present at the sites, as well as the distribution of the population present according to sex and age. Based on these observations, we chose our sample to be as representative as possible of the situation. Thus, one can clearly see that in such a case it is not possible to select randomly individuals from the population by following a list. We used instead a so-called non-probability empirical sampling, in which the choice of respondents is not random, but reasoned (Tansey 2007). For the definition of the selected categories, we have set the following definitions:
Adolescent: a person aged 15–21 years; adult: a person aged 21 and over. Married: a person living as a couple; Unmarried: a single person or widow. After discarding incomplete questionnaires, we obtained a sample size of 363 individuals, including 237 males and 126 females.
Thus, we see that the demographic and social structure represented in Table 1 is distributed as follows:
180 individuals for Blida's Liberty Square, including 100 males and 80 females; 81 adolescents vs. 99 adults; 64 married vs. 116 unmarried; 69 university education vs. 104 non-university education and 7 missing. 97 individuals for Medea's November 1st 1954 Square, including 79 males and 18 females; 26 adolescents vs. 71 adults; 54 married vs. 43 unmarried; 27 with university education vs. 69 non-university and 1 missing. 86 individuals for Ghardaïa's marketplace, including 58 males and 28 females; 15 teenagers vs. 71 adults; 50 married vs. 36 unmarried; 40 university education vs. 46 non-university.
Socio-demographic structure of the sample.
| Variables by social classes | Blida | Medea | Ghardaïa | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Number (frequency) | (%) | Number (frequency) | (%) | Number (frequency) | (%) | ||
| Sex | Male | 100 | 55.56 | 79 | 81.44 | 58 | 67.44 |
| Female | 80 | 44.44 | 18 | 18.56 | 28 | 32.56 | |
| Total | 180 | 100.00 | 97 | 100.00 | 86 | 100.00 | |
| Age | Adolescent | 81 | 45.00 | 26 | 26.80 | 15 | 17.44 |
| Adult | 99 | 55.00 | 71 | 73.20 | 71 | 82.56 | |
| Total | 100 | 100.00 | 100.00 | 86 | 100.00 | ||
| Marital status | Married | 64 | 35.56 | 54 | 55.67 | 50 | 58.14 |
| Non-married | 116 | 64.44 | 43 | 44.33 | 36 | 41.86 | |
| Total | 180 | 100.00 | 97 | 100.00 | 86 | 100.00 | |
| Education | University | 69 | 38.33 | 27 | 27.84 | 40 | 46.51 |
| Non- university | 104 | 57.78 | 69 | 71.13 | 46 | 53.49 | |
| Missing | 7 | 3.89 | 1 | 1.03 | 0 | 0.00 | |
| Total | 180 | 100.00 | 97 | 100.00 | 86 | 100.00 | |
Source: authors.
Two questionnaires were administered to collect the necessary data. The first covered general questions that can help us target data on age, gender, education and marital status. The second was meant to measure the experiential experience of Likert-type public places on 5 scales (Likert 1932)
Thus, we were able to define five dimensions for this questionnaire: sensory, relational, emotional, cognitive and behavioural. However, to measure the indicators for these dimensions, we used the following sources:
For the sensory dimension: Augoyard (2008), Thibaud (2002); for those perceived by all five senses: Daucé and Rieunier (2002), Lemoine (2005), Bonnefont and Erraja (2006), in other words, those of the visual, tactile, auditory (sound), olfactory: Rémy (2004), Balez (2001) and gustatory atmospheres; For the relational dimension, we selected the intimate, personal, social and public relationships: Hall (1966, 1971: 256) and attachment: Lacœuilhe (2000); To determine the emotional dimension, we were inspired by the emotions selected by Lichtlé and Plichon (2005, (2014), i.e., well-being (fullness), escape, pleasure, nervousness, relaxation and freedom or oppression; To describe the cognitive dimension, we focused on the intention, attention, evaluation and memory (recollection and nostalgia) of the users of the public place; For the behavioural dimension, we included the approach, avoidance or escape behaviour (Lemoine 2004), positive or negative civic behaviour and engagement in a stay activity.
Two procedures were employed to verify the reliability and validity of this questionnaire:
The first one was inspired from the approach proposed in the paradigm of Churchill for the development of better measures of marketing constructs (1979) with some minor adjustments. This way, we were able to reduce our questionnaire to 32 items. Its metrological characteristics reveal an internal consistency (Cronbac's alpha) of 0.897 and fidelity, as measured by Pearson correlations between each item and the total questionnaire score, varying from 0.761 (**) to 0.894 (**). The correlation computation of each questionnaire item with its own dimension allowed us to check the scale's dimensionality. The range of correlations for the different experiential dimensions is as follows: 0.513 (**)–0.754 (**) for the sensory; 0.568 (**)–0.675 (**) for the relational; 0.534 (**)–0.749 (**) for the emotional; 0.533 (**)–0.697 (**) for the cognitive and 0.402 (**)–0.574 (**) for the behavioural. Thus, as can be seen with the sign (**), using the Pearson correlation coefficient, it turns out that the correlation between the set of items and their construct is significant at the 0.01 level (bilateral). The second uses Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) of the measurement model In this article, we will not delve further into this analysis. It will be covered in a future paper. AMOS is a structural equation modelling software.
Results synthesis of the CFA using AMOS and the adjustment indices relating to the model for measuring the experiential experience of public places.
| Indices type | Indices validation | Validation thresholds |
|---|---|---|
| Absolute indices | CMIN = 286.974 | – |
| P-associated = 0.000 | Between 1 and 2 | |
| GFI = 0.923 | >0.9 | |
| AGFI = 0.894 | >0.9 | |
| RMR = 0. 098 |
The smallest possible <0.8 | |
| RMSEA = 0.058 | <0.08 (best: < 0.05) | |
| Incremental fit indices | CFI = 0.940 | >0.9 |
| NFI = 0.941 | >0.9 | |
| RFI =0.876 | >0.9 | |
| IFI = 0. 940 | >0.9 | |
| TLI = 0.926 | >0.9 | |
| Parsimony fit indices | Normed chi square = 2.134 | From 1 to 3 |
Source: authors.
To simplify the task for the respondents, we designed the questionnaire in two versions: French and Arabic. We opted for these two languages because they are commonly used by the Algerian population.
To carry out the survey and collect the data, we planned several campaigns outside the observation days. The first survey took place in the marketplace of Ghardaïa during the second week of February 2019, according to time slots from 9:30 AM to 4:00 PM. It was a clear and sunny day. The second took place in Blida's Liberty Square during the last week of February 2019. It took place from 9:40 AM to 4:00 PM. On that day, there was sunshine, but the sky was slightly covered with scattered white clouds. The third was carried out in Medea's November 1st 1954 Square, during the first week of March 2019. The questionnaires were handed out and collected from 9:35 AM to 3:50 PM. It was a sunny day with only light white clouds.
In the final survey, we handed out, respectively, 150 questionnaires in Ghardaïa, 220 in Blida and 198 in Medea. The percentage of questionnaires recovered was, respectively, 65.33% in Gharaia, 91.36% in Blida and 55.56% in Medea. Regarding the questionnaires containing outliers, the percentage was 8% for Ghardaïa, 9.55% for Blida and 6.57% for Medea. The rate of not-collected questionnaires was 34.67% in Ghardaïa, 8.64% in Blida and 44.44% in Medea. Finally, the percentage of processed questionnaires was 57.33% in Ghardaïa, 81.82% in Blida and 48.99% in Medea, as shown in Table B in Annex.
However, since we assumed it was possible to determine the gendered or gender-neutral characteristics of the public places’ different spatialities according to gender, and given that the sample did not meet the requirements for a parametric analysis, we chose to compare experiential perceptions using Mann–Whitney's non-parametric
To map spatial and phenomenal segregation, we based our mapping on the model of Schelling (1971), and the simulation was performed using Frank's simulation programme, in accordance with Mccown's (2014) contribution to the literature.
The experiential evaluation of the three public places was based on the perceptions: sensory, relational, emotional, cognitive, behavioural and phenomenal of the urban atmosphere and the spirit of the place according to gender: male and female. This will be achieved by verifying which of the two hypotheses should be retained: the null hypothesis H0 H0: null hypothesis for each public place, there is no significant difference between experiential perceptions: sensory, relational, emotional, cognitive, behavioural, urban atmosphere, spirit of the place and the evaluation of the overall satisfaction of men and women. In other words, if μ1 = μ2, the two means are equal. H0 is retained if p > 0.05. H1: Alternative hypothesis for each public place, there is a significant difference between experiential perceptions: sensory, relational, emotional, cognitive, behavioural, urban atmosphere, spirit of place and the evaluation of the overall satisfaction of men and women. In other words, if μ1 ≠ μ2, the two means are not equal. H1 is retained and H0 is rejected if p < 0.05.
The results of the Kolmogorov–Smirnov and Shapiro Wilks tests reveal that the experiential variables: sensory, relational, emotional, cognitive, behavioural, urban atmosphere, spirit of the place follow non-Gaussian distributions, as the significance is lower than 0.05 (Table 3).
Tests of normality of the experiential variables of public places.
| Kolmogorov-Smirnova | Shapiro-Wilk | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Statistics | ddl | Sig. | Statistics | ddl | Sig. | |
| Blida's Liberty Square | ||||||
| Sensory experiential | 0.162 | 178 | 0.000 | 0.884 | 178 | 0.000 |
| Relational experiential | 0.093 | 178 | 0.001 | 0.953 | 178 | 0.000 |
| Emotional experiential | 0.113 | 178 | 0.000 | 0.956 | 178 | 0.000 |
| Cognitive experiential | 0.150 | 178 | 0.000 | 0.896 | 178 | 0.000 |
| Behavioural experiential | 0.123 | 178 | 0.000 | 0.952 | 178 | 0.000 |
| Urban atmosphere | 0.089 | 178 | 0.001 | 0.949 | 178 | 0.000 |
| Spirit of place | 0.093 | 178 | 0.001 | 0.952 | 178 | 0.000 |
| Medea's November 1st 1954 Square | ||||||
| Sensory experiential | 0.120 | 97 | 0.002 | 0.970 | 97 | 0.025 |
| Relational experiential | 0.137 | 97 | 0.000 | 0.934 | 97 | 0.000 |
| Emotional experiential | 0.094 | 97 | 0.033 | 0.955 | 97 | 0.002 |
| Cognitive experiential | 0.168 | 97 | 0.000 | 0.909 | 97 | 0.000 |
| Behavioural experiential | 0.118 | 97 | 0.002 | 0.952 | 97 | 0.001 |
| Urban atmosphere | 0.070 | 97 | 0.200* | 0.978 | 97 | 0.111 |
| Spirit of place | 0.088 | 97 | 0.060 | 0.958 | 97 | 0.004 |
| Ghardaïa's marketplace | ||||||
| Sensory experiential | 0.250 | 86 | 0.000 | 0.749 | 86 | 0.000 |
| Relational experiential | 0.230 | 86 | 0.000 | 0.805 | 86 | 0.000 |
| Emotional experiential | 0.170 | 86 | 0.000 | 0.871 | 86 | 0.000 |
| Cognitive experiential | 0.264 | 86 | 0.000 | 0.688 | 86 | 0.000 |
| Behavioural experiential | 0.136 | 86 | 0.000 | 0.926 | 86 | 0.000 |
| Urban atmosphere | 0.203 | 86 | 0.000 | 0.790 | 86 | 0.000 |
| Spirit of place | 0.170 | 86 | 0.000 | 0.851 | 86 | 0.000 |
Source: authors.
– the lower bound of true significance.
– Lilliefors Significance Correction.
In Table 4, the result of the observation shows for each gender category the means, sample size and standard deviation corresponding to each spatial and phenomenal component of the three public places.
Statistical description by gender category.
| Sex | Sensory experiential | Relational experiential | Emotional experiential | Cognitive experiential | Behavioural experiential | Urban atmosphere | Spirit of place | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Liberty Square of Blida | ||||||||
| Male | Mean | 15.9800 | 10.8400 | 17.8485 | 11.8200 | 10.5300 | 26.8200 | 29.6667 |
| N | 100 | 100 | 99 | 100 | 100 | 100 | 99 | |
| Standard deviation | 3.51326 | 3.21838 | 4.93915 | 2.84758 | 3.11547 | 5.25007 | 7.28711 | |
| Female | Mean | 16.4375 | 10.5750 | 18.8125 | 12.1875 | 10.4304 | 27.0125 | 31.0000 |
| N | 80 | 80 | 80 | 80 | 79 | 80 | 80 | |
| Standard deviation | 3.42309 | 2.75486 | 4.37222 | 2.61492 | 2.92944 | 4.97715 | 6.41991 | |
| November 1st 1954 Square of Medea | ||||||||
| Male | Mean | 12.443 | 11.493 | 17.949 | 11.810 | 10.848 | 23.936 | 29.759 |
| N | 79 | 79 | 79 | 79 | 79 | 79 | 79 | |
| Standard deviation | 4.220 | 2.674 | 4.961 | 2.806 | 3.042 | 5.586 | 6.880 | |
| Female | Mean | 14.833 | 9.333 | 15.833 | 10.444 | 7.666 | 24.166 | 26.277 |
| N | 18 | 18 | 18 | 18 | 18 | 18 | 18 | |
| Standard deviation | 2.874 | 3.725 | 4.218 | 3.275 | 2.828 | 5.963 | 6.841 | |
| Marketplace of Ghardaïa | ||||||||
| Male | Mean | 17.551 | 13.655 | 22.086 | 13.965 | 12.396 | 31.206 | 36.051 |
| N | 58 | 58 | 58 | 58 | 58 | 58 | 58 | |
| Standard deviation | 3.078 | 1.701 | 2.998 | 1.776 | 2.505 | 4.335 | 4.346 | |
| Female | Mean | 17.642 | 12.535 | 21.214 | 13.642 | 10.178 | 30.178 | 34.857 |
| N | 28 | 28 | 28 | 28 | 28 | 28 | 28 | |
| Standard deviation | 3.412 | 1.971 | 3.499 | 1.747 | 2.195 | 4.937 | 4.453 | |
Source: authors.
The Mann–Whitney Since p > 0.05, H0 is retained.
For Medea's November 1st 1954 Square, the Since p < 0.05, H0 is rejected, i.e. H1 is retained. Since p > 0.05, H0 is retained.
With respect to Ghardaïa's marketplace, the Mann Whitney Since p > 0.05, H0 is retained. Since p < 0.05, H0 is rejected, i.e. H1 is retained.
Index of the gendered nature of public places is calculated as a percentage.
To calculate the segregation index of the phenomenal spatiality for each public place, we assigned a score of one (1) point to the gendered components When H0 is rejected, this implies that there is a difference between female and male perceptions and that the space is gendered. When H0 is selected, there is no difference between female and male perceptions and that the space is gender-neutral.
Index of spatial and phenomenal segregation of public places.
| Experiential components | Liberty Square of Blida | November 1st 1954 Square of Medea | Marketplace of Ghardaïa | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Retained hypothesis | Score assigned | Retained hypothesis | Score assigned | Retained hypothesis | Score assigned | ||
| By gender category | Sensory space | H0 | 0 | H1 | 1 | H0 | 0 |
| Relational space | H0 | 0 | H1 | 1 | H1 | 1 | |
| Emotional space | H0 | 0 | H0 | 0 | H0 | 0 | |
| Cognitive space | H0 | 0 | H0 | 0 | H0 | 0 | |
| Behavioural space | H0 | 0 | H1 | 1 | H1 | 1 | |
| Urban atmosphere | H0 | 0 | H0 | 0 | H0 | 0 | |
| Spirit of place | H0 | 0 | H0 | 0 | H0 | 0 | |
| Index of segregation of gendered experiential spatiality | Experiential space | 0.00 | 0.43 | 0.29 | |||
Source: authors.
Thus, the result of the spatial and phenomenal segregation index is equal to 0 for Liberty Square of Blida, 0.43 for November 1st Square of Medea and 0.29 for the marketplace of Ghardaïa.
Furthermore, we applied spatial and phenomenal segregation indices using Frank McCown's simulation ‘Segregation simulations implement simplified behavioural rules within a specified urban structure’ (Clark, Fossett 2008).
Fig. 11
Spatial and phenomenal segregation in Blida's Liberty Square.
Source: own compilation.
Fig. 12
Spatial and phenomenal segregation in Medea's November 1st 1954 Square 1954.
Source: own compilation.
Fig. 13
Spatial and phenomenal segregation in Ghardaïa's marketplace.
Source: own compilation
In the case of Blida's Liberty Square, the red and blue squares are scattered randomly. On the other hand, in the case of Medea's November 1st 1954 Square, we see several red grouping zones appear inside a dominant blue area. However, in Ghardaïa's marketplace, the blue squares are not entirely dominant.
Our paper shows, on the one hand, that there is now an applied statistical method built on the experiential paradigm (Holbrook, Hirschman 1982) to determine the gendered or gender-neutral character of public places. These results also enabled us to measure and map the spatial and phenomenal segregation of public places based on gender.
Indeed, this paper presents three major results. The first major result is that (1) the sensory space of Medea's place is gendered whereas those of Liberty Square (Blida) and the marketplace of Ghardaïa are not; (2) only the relational space and the behavioural space of Liberty Square are gender-neutral; the two other relational and behavioural spaces of November 1st 1954 Square in Medea and the marketplace of Ghardaïa are gendered; (3) the emotional and cognitive spaces of the three places are gender-neutral; and (4) the urban atmosphere and spirit of place in the three places are also gender-neutral.
The second major result is that (1) Medea's November 1st 1954 Square is gendered with a rate of 43%; (2) by contrast, the marketplace of Ghardaïa is also gendered with a rate of 29%; (3) however, Blida's Liberty Square enjoys a 100% gender-neutral character. This implies that, from a spatial gender-segregation point of view, Medea's Square is the most affected by this trend. The marketplace of Ghardaïa comes second. However, it turns out that Blida's Liberty Square is not affected by the spatial segregation of genders.
The third result shows that Liberty Square is defined by its gender-neutral character, and one can clearly see the dispersion and scattering of women and men in a balanced fashion. We can attribute this to the quality of inclusiveness of a public place (Rieucau 2012). On the other hand, the diagrams of the two other places show several areas of concentration and clustering; some are held by women while others by men. Thus, we can assign them a status of segregated public places, although at different degrees of segregation; Medea's November 1st 1954 Square is more segregated than the marketplace of Ghardaïa.
In sum, as can be seen from the spatial and phenomenal segregation diagrams in real context, there are seemingly mild preferences for clustering and interaction with the same sex even with a low index of spatial segregation. This result is consistent with Schelling's postulate, which “became famous precisely because individuals preferences for segregation were not particularly strong” (Vinković, Kirman 2006).
These results also support our hypothesis that in the current context of aesthetic consumer society influenced by sustainable development, the gendered or gender-neutral characteristics of public places can be determined through users’ experience.
They suggest that, from an experiential (sensitive) point of view, every public place has several underlying components (spatial and phenomenal), and that some of them may be gendered while others may be gender-neutral.
Moreover, one strong point of gender-based calculation of spatial and phenomenal segregation index of public places is that it is indicative of female vs. male aversion levels.
Similarly, using this index one can estimate the degree to which the citizens of a city accept the co-presence of women and men in public places. In other words, this index is useful, at least in providing a partial answer to the question of “the place of women in the public space” (Ferrand 2004) as a physical setting and a form of interaction and social exchange environment (Chelkoff, Thibaud 1992).
Thus, we can admit that through this index we have come to understand that (1) the citizens of Medea have difficulty freeing themselves from the idea that the place of women is elsewhere than in public places. They find it difficult to accept the presence of women in their city's main public place, which suggests that this public space is not quite a safe place for women. Yet a safe city and a safe space become an international human rights issue in the objectives of the United Nations Women's Initiative. (2) The people of Ghardaïa are more or less in favour of the co-presence of women and men in their public place, despite being known to be a conservative. This is largely due to the number of tourists visiting the region. (3) On the other hand, the population of Blida does not manifest any concern about this co-presence. Some women occupy this place without giving the impression they are there to take care of children or other vulnerable persons; they do not feel excluded. Consequently, one can conclude that the acceptance of women in public places differs from one region to another.
To account for the exclusion of women from the hedonic public places in the city of Medea, one has to investigate other factors than the political instability. Indeed, although the situation of the city had worsened during this decade as reported by Hamidi (2016), this factor alone cannot explain the exclusion of women from the public arena; the real reasons must be sought in the area of development, where the city of Medea has been the least favoured.
To illustrate, the three cities went through the same hardships during the Algerian revolution (1954–1962), but the city of Medea did not have the same development opportunities as the other two cities after independence.
Furthermore, the three cities do not have the same vocation. The city of Medea is part of the Tell, a region of settlement with a purely agricultural vocation. On the other hand, the city of Ghardaïa is characterised by its tourist vocation, whereas the city of Blida features two large universities. The university not only promotes women's access to the public space (Benzerfa-Guerroudj 1992), but also gender mixing in the latter.
Finally, one has to admit that the city of Medea finally got a new start in the 2000s with the country's return to stability and the realisation of numerous economic, educational, university and cultural infrastructure. This situation has encouraged people to settle in the city (Hamidi 2016). Moreover, change is already beginning to take place with the presence of the university centre of Yahia Fares of Medea, which promotes open-mindedness and acceptance of gender mixing.
Therefore, our results only partially corroborate the works All these works have adopted a qualitative method, while ours has opted for the quantitative method.
The scope of this paper thus extends beyond the initial objective of determining the gendered nature of the public places components investigated in our study. Clearly, some public places “are highly charged with meaning and symbolize the society that uses or refers to them” (Berdoulay, Gomes 2010). Based on the work of Hofstede et al. (2005), then, by calculating the index of spatial and phenomenal segregation of this type of place by gender categories, we can also understand how one can assess the cultural evolution of a city's population. This clearly confirms the observations made by Benzerfa-Guerroudj who stated that “the issue of women in the public space is indicative of both the evolution of society and the status of women” (1992).
Indeed, as long as aversions and gaps between genders are seen as a mirror of traditional culture (Hofstede et al. 2005), the result of the spatial and phenomenal segregation index perfectly reflects the cultural evolution and the resistance of traditions, which differ from one region to another. The gendered nature and female vs. male aversion to public places reflect cultural conservatism and a slow pace of change. In other words, the greater the index of spatial and phenomenal segregation, the weaker the (hedonistic) co-presence of men and women in public places and the more the related society is assumed to be rooted in a traditional culture.
Finally, although this research has highlighted the importance of the gendered or gender-neutral character of public places and its influence on their spatial and phenomenal segregation, we must acknowledge that this paper represents, on the one hand, only one facet of the prism of gender geography. On the other hand, it limits itself to a single social category to map the spatial and phenomenal segregation of public places. Therefore, it would be interesting to extend this method to other types of public space (streets, gardens, green spaces, etc.)—and even to public facilities—using a combination of social variables. Moreover, to uncover those new strategies that have been adopted by women to occupy the Algerian public space, it would be interesting, in future research, to examine the relevant socio-historical grounds.