Observation task

Public ”toilet” in Kungsträdgården,

Stockholm. These ”toilets” are probably
the only free public toilets in Stockholm
today. There is no sign indicating if it is
for male, female or both. But from our
analyses it is only men who use it.

From our own observation this toilet does

not offer privacy to females, and it is only
for urination. We have not been able to
find any free public toilet that women can
use. Also, this free toilet is not suitable
for disabled people. To use all of the other
public toilets you have to pay 5-10 kr.

From a gender perspective this can be a

problem, mostly for poor and homeless
women or disabled persons. Like
Forsberg argues, various places have different gender codes (Forsberg 2010:210). Despite
Forsberg’s argument that rest rooms and toilets are maybe the only rooms that still are marked
with gender symbols, in this situation the argument is not valid since there is no men/women
sign. Our suggestion to solve this gender issue is to construct free public toilets that everyone
feels safe to use.

Open park in Kungsträdgården,

Stockholm. In this place we focus on
the risk of walking in this area. We
experienced this park as safe when we
passed it, since it offers an open space
with a continuous flow of people,
enough light and easily accessible. Also
the park is located close to nearby

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residents and shops. Our analysis from this place is that it is accessible for men, women,
disabled people, children etc. Since there is a lot of lamps and many people in movement we
think that most people would feel safe to pass here even during the night. Forsberg argues that
space and gender are closely interconnected, and we recognized that when designing this park
the gender aspects was taken into consideration (Ibid 210). The park gives you an urban and
safe feeling both during the day and the night.

Humlegården, Stockholm

If we compare this park with the

previous one in
Kungsträdgården, the feeling is
totally different. In the picture
we can only see one lamp, and it
is not many people in movement.
The park is too large to give you
a sense of safety, especially
during the night. We think that
when designing this park the gender aspects were not taken into consideration. There is a lack
of enough light and the park is quite isolated from nearby commercial and residential areas.
This probably constrain many women from using the park during evenings and nights.
Forsberg says “As we live our lives in a social, spatial and material environment, the practices
that form our everyday lives also have spatial and material bases.” This means that our
everyday lives are very much influenced by our spatial environment. In this case the design of
the park can affect people’s lives, particularly women, in terms of forcing people to go around
the park instead of crossing it. From our perspective women are at the risk of being attacked
at this place. Our suggestion how to make this a safer place is to give the park more lights,
and make it more attractive to create a greater movement of people. For example a few kiosks
open during the evenings, some water fountains etc. could make this park more attractive.

Trekanten at Liljeholmen,
Stockholm.

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As we see it, the problem with this place is the lack of enough light which create a sense of
fear as one walks here during the night. The main issue here is that this road is the only
alternative to make access to some apartments, which forces people to use this road in order to
get home. According to Forsberg, where a person lives his or her life has an impact, in
specific ways, on conditions and opportunities (Ibid:210). We think that this road has a
negative impact on the conditions and opportunities for (especially) women to access their
home or workplace after the dark. In turn, this can limit their everyday life. On step to make
this a safer place is to supply more light. Another suggestion could be to build some new
houses connected to this road in order to make it lively.

Bus in central Stockholm.

Jarvis et al. are concerned with the fact that

many people do not live close to where they
work. The issue is that commuting has become a
burden and an obstacle in people’s everyday
lives (Jarvis et al. 2001:2-3). As a consequence
our public transports are being overcrowded,
especially during the morning. This is affecting
our everyday lives since it make it more difficult
to get to your job in time. For persons responsible of leaving their children at school and then
try to get to their own jobs this overcrowding can be a major problem for them. The long
distances between home and work, and also the overcrowding, can be seen as a gender issue if
one person in the household is more responsible for accessing the daily services in order to
take care of the family. Right now Stockholm is expanding the public transport system, which
we think is a good approach to reduce the problem with overcrowding in the public transports.