Phenomenological Cartography as Appropriation of the Inhabited: Gender and City Workshops in Malaga, Spain

Abstract

The case study of the Gender and City workshops, developed between 2011 and 2015 by the City Council of Malaga (Spain), exemplifies how actual representativeness allows the city's appropriation by those participating. For this, it is essential to start from a gender dimension approach to get to know the city. Collaborative in situ mapping is presented as a methodology for recognising everyday spaces. The first results led to a debate on the problems in the city, starting with identifying individual difficulties to contextualise them in the neighbourhood and the inhabited space. The representation of these problems is fundamental, as drawing can be named. The idea of "what is not named does not exist" is transferred to drawing. What is not marked does not exist. The normative drawing of planning deals with aspects such as typology, buildability, the relationship between full and empty, or the definition of public and private. But everyday qualitative issues such as fear, confusion, discomfort due to dirt, the emptiness of an abandoned lot or the loneliness of productive areas outside working hours are not reproduced in any planimetry and, therefore, do not form part of the disciplinary debate. This fact favours the process of privatisation of the harmful effects of the city on people. The final results showed that collaborative mapping helps to make problems visible and to name them. It also helps to generate a sense of belonging and empowerment among the neighbourhood residents.