Contorting to fit
(essay, editorial design)
Contorting to fit: How does London’s Urban Design impact the female body and how has the male narrative dominated this?
This literature review critically examines the persistent male-centric design of London’s urban landscape and the impact it has had and continues to have on the city’s female population. Combining research from urban planning theory, architecture and natural science, it explores how our environments shape our bodies physically and psychologically. Examining how female bodies interact with and contort due to male-designed urban environments leads to a critical evaluation of who designs the city. Using London as an example, the issue is illustrated by interrogating the modernist design legacies headed up by male figures such as Le Corbusier that have influenced London’s urban landscape in favour of the male form.
These legacies have resulted in areas of the city that present issues concerning safety, inclusivity, and mobility for women due to the lack of female perspective in the design process. This text further explores this issue through the lens of key female-identifying figures and organisations who have challenged our built environment, such as urban theorist Jane Jacobs, London-based historical organisations Women’s Design Service (WDS) and the Matrix Feminist Design Co-operative, as well as more contemporary voices.
These voices have been and continue to be instrumental in advocating for more inclusive urban spaces that consider women’s safety, accessibility, and diverse needs. Lastly, this text questions why activists or designated women’s rights groups must always make the first move. This review highlights how, repeatedly, we have seen change as a reactive response instead of a proactive design choice.
Before delving into the main discussion, it is essential to acknowledge the limitations of this review. Firstly, the analysis and research presented here comes from the perspective of a young, white, straight female. While this viewpoint offers insights into certain aspects of gender-based urban design issues, it does not—and cannot—fully capture the wide range of female-identifying individuals facing oppression in London.
Secondly, while this review uses ‘female-identifying’ and ‘woman/women’ interchangeably, it does not overlook the unique challenges that trans and non-binary individuals face, which merit separate consideration. This analysis aims to contribute to a broader, ongoing dialogue on inclusive urban design to promote safety and well-being for all citizens. A truly comprehensive and inclusive understanding requires the integration of diverse voices and experiences beyond the scope of this review. Furthermore, the challenges encountered in navigating urban spaces are often compounded for those who are ‘othered’ due to factors beyond gender alone. Race, sexuality, disability, socioeconomic status, and other aspects of identity significantly impact how individuals interact with and are impacted by urban environments. Finally, this text explores the limitations for women in London specifically and recognises that this presents the issues mainly present in Western design, historical and current.
Our bodies have physically changed, arguably contorted, over time because of our environment through Natural Selection. Our pelvises, feet, and leg bones have evolved from a life on all fours to one on two feet. As hunters, the development of tools such as spears and the discovery of fire began to shape our ancestors’ faces. Cooking food meant we did not need as strong teeth and jaws, minimising them, and the enlargement of our brains has increased the size of our skulls.
The active, interventional design of our environment, our cities, adds a layer of complexity to the theory of Evolution. If our environment physically shapes us, what does that mean when the environments have been built or purposefully shaped? Our cities are deeply intertwined with social and political factors and, therefore, become influential environments in more ways than one. How our bodies adapt to man-made surroundings can no longer be objectively measured in the same way (Macionis & Gerber, 2011).
This concept is fluidly explored in Everything Everywhere All at Once (EEAAO) (Kwan & Scheinert, 2022). Although a work of fiction, it creatively depicts the idea that our bodies and identities are not fixed but malleable and heavily influenced by our environments and experiences. In EEAAO, this is shown through the travel between different universes, where our main character, Evelyn, changes physically depending on the universe she visits. In one, humans have evolved to have hot dog-shaped fingers – and so does she; in another, they are wordless rocks on a cliff – and so is she. We also see parallel versions of her life where she is physically the same, but her personality and purpose are altered because of her external environment. It is demonstrated that the body and mind adapt and become the most suitable version of themselves in accordance with the changing environment.
We shape the city; thereafter, it shapes us. A slightly mangled quote from Churchill, when determining the shape of the seating of the new Commons Chamber following the Blitz (UK Parliament, 2024), illuminates that the relationship between the purpose-built environment (London) and the dwellers within it is reciprocal (Sennett, 2018).
We shape the city - urban spaces hold up a mirror to our political landscape, culture, social trends and creative movements and are formed following this. It shapes us - it is felt, embodied and reflected in how we move around, socialise, and behave. Could the urban environment be used as a tool to accommodate and support gender equality? Could it allow women to move through public spaces and engage in various activities with greater ease and security? In short, yes, it could. Instead, we are still seeing how patriarchal narratives still take centre stage through the social and political preservation in London’s urban design. Embedded patriarchal narratives and power are exhibited as the restriction of freedom of female bodies.
“What we need to question is bricks, concrete, glass, our table manners, our utensils, our tools, the way we spend our time, our rhythms” (Perec, 1997). Le Corbusier’s Modulor, developed in 1943, exemplifies this male-centric approach that has long dominated urban design. Le Modulor is a figurative drawing used to scale buildings and urban spaces around, composed by Le Corbusier based on the “ideal” proportions of a 1.83-meter man. He famously justified this by noting, “In English detective novels, the good-looking men, such as policemen, are always six feet tall” (Wainwright, 2021).
Consequently, modernist doorways, shelf heights, handles, thresholds, and sinks using these proportions were all designed for larger, taller bodies, with female proportions “only belatedly considered and rejected as a source of proportional harmony” (Evans, 1995).
Revered for his role in shaping modernism, Le Corbusier had a vision of the human body as a modular assembly of parts that were interchangeable with geometric solids and machine components. He carved out this aesthetic defined by clean lines, geometric precision, and stark contrasts, cementing his status as a household name in architectural and urban planning history. Le Corbusier stated that the architect’s vision was superior to public opinion, saying that “the design of cities was too important to be left to the citizens (Hollis, 2013)”. This influence on modern architecture and urban planning extends beyond his own works and has shaped London’s contemporary skyline and streets. Norman Foster, Renzo Piano (who actually worked directly with Le Corbusier), and Richard Rogers are among the prominent architects (all male) whose designs have built London’s central urban landscape.
Even Harry Beck’s iconic and minimalist design of the London Underground map reflects Le Corbusier’s reductive approach to design. Recent data from Ending Violence Against Women (EVAW, 2021) reveals a stark yet unsurprising gender disparity in perceived safety, with women feeling significantly more vulnerable than men in various urban settings in London. This manifests as a restricted sense of freedom and is mainly concentrated within the subgroup of women aged 16-34, who face high rates of harassment such as cat-calling or feeling like they are being followed or watched. Half of all women feel unsafe walking alone after dark in quiet streets near their homes, compared to only one in seven men. In busy public areas at night, 50% of women feel insecure, while just 20% of men share this concern (EVAW, 2021).
Embedded patriarchy perpetuates this. Upon his election as mayor in 2008, Boris Johnson eliminated the position of Policy Adviser on Women’s Issues, which was held by Anni Marjoram, claiming it had become irrelevant. This decision effectively silenced any concerns regarding women’s exclusion from urban design processes (Olah, 2016). Women in London still navigate the city with a persistent undercurrent of anxiety due to the threat of violence and harassment. This constant awareness shapes our mental maps and behaviours, influencing how we move through and interact with urban spaces, ultimately resulting in this feeling of contortion (Buildings and Cities, 2023). The city’s layout and design, in turn, reinforces these perceptions and experiences and high-profile cases of violence against women, such as the murders of Sarah Everard, Bibaa Henry, and Nicole Smallman, tragically validate these concerns and raise the question: did women’s exclusion from urban design processes contribute to this?
Urban planning emerged as a scholarly discipline in the UK in 1909 (Fainstein, 1998) at the University of Liverpool, at a time when women’s voices were largely absent from public discourse. Women in the UK did not gain the right to vote until 1918, and even then, it was limited to those over 30 with property rights. Full suffrage for women over 21 was not achieved until 1928 (UK Parliament, 2024), highlighting the perception of women’s opinions as less important before this when it came to decision-making about the spaces they lived in.
Jane Jacobs’ work on urban design and safety provides an interesting framework for understanding the challenges faced by people in general in navigating urban spaces. While she does not explicitly target this idea of female contortion and restriction, Jacobs argued for buildings to be built lower and oriented towards the street to provide natural surveillance and continuous use of sidewalks to maintain a presence of “eyes on the street” (1961). This contrasts sharply with the characterless offices and high-rise flats that remove the sense of community from some of London’s streets, exemplified by social housing flats and accountability-removing skyscrapers in the City. London’s urban landscape “spatially imprints” itself (Weisman, 1981) on its women, pushing the stereotype of women as vulnerable or prey-like on empty streets. Parks and open spaces are perceived as threatening, especially after dark, with 80% of women feeling unsafe compared to 40% of men (EVAW, 2021). In response, we contort and modify ourselves by avoiding underpasses and parks at night, and we try to avoid walking alone or stay home altogether.
Another reason for women’s contortion in London is our reproductive body. This physiological reality often intersects with social expectations, creating complex challenges for women navigating public spaces and social roles. A study led by A. Grant of Swansea University highlights mothers’ difficulties when breastfeeding in public. Despite legal protections, many women in London felt uncomfortable breastfeeding outside their homes (Thomas, 2022). This discomfort leads to women only breastfeeding at home or politely excusing themselves to avoid stigma, effectively limiting their presence and freedom in public spaces. The struggle extends beyond breastfeeding to the broader social expectation of women as primary caregivers. The daunting task of navigating the tube with a pram, especially at crowded times can lead to a sense of “othering,” where women with children feel watched, marginalised and inconvenient in public spaces designed primarily for unencumbered adults (Kern, 2022). We remove ourselves and erase our needs for the sake of convenience and avoidance of judgment.
Today, universities and schools include more female voices, but the gender imbalance in the urban planning field is stark. As of 2023, women comprised only 14% of the built environment workforce in Britain (Depala, 2023). London’s urban landscape continues to present challenges for women - there is still a lack of safe paths home, good street lighting is scarce, and only a third of tube stations have step-free access for mothers with children (Murrey, 2018). Despite the long list of how London has failed its women, the very act of having to navigate the red tape and the assault course that is London has, in its own way, sculpted a desire line through the city made for men.
Although the post-war period saw many women expected to return to domestic roles during World War I and II, women played a pivotal role in shaping London and maintaining its functionality during the wars. With a significant portion of the male population deployed in combat, women stepped into various roles previously dominated by men. They became the backbone of London’s transportation system, with around 20,000 women working for London Transport as conductors, guards, and engineers. Factories saw an influx of female workers producing aircraft, equipment, and munitions, clearing the path toward gaining the vote for women (Brobst, 2006).
Later, in 1980, The Matrix Feminist Design Co-operative was established and was one of the first groups in Britain to adopt an overtly feminist approach to architecture, emphasising collaboration and a non-hierarchical structure (Matrix Feminist Archive). Their publication, “Making Space: Women and the Man-Made Environment,” (1984) examined how women’s different societal experiences shaped their needs in the built environment. Matrix focused on designing spaces often overlooked by a male-dominated profession, such as women’s centres and nurseries, aiming to empower women through inclusive design practices with their most famous contribution being the Jagonari Asian Women’s Education Centre in Whitechapel, still operating today.
In 1987, the Women’s Design Service (WDS) was founded by a collective of female architects, designers, and planners and actively funded and championed by Mayor Ken Livingstone. Their mission was to empower smaller women’s groups by providing them with the necessary skills to locate, modify, and enhance buildings (Wainwright, 2021). WDS identified recurring themes crucial for creating women-friendly environments such as the need for better toilet access, nappy changing facilities, childcare centres, housing design, and safer parks, pavements, and transportation. The WDS began producing publications and guidelines to inform designers and policymakers about the specific needs of women in urban spaces (Bishop & Williams, 2020).
In recent years, several socially conscious architectural practices and advocacy groups have emerged, speaking up for underrepresented communities in urban design and planning despite reduced public funding. Muf architecture/art focuses on community engagement in public realm projects; Public Works emphasises community-driven development; and campaign groups like Part W give names and recognition to the lives and work of women in London and Black Females in Architecture advocate for greater recognition of women of colour in the built environment (Wainwright, 2021).
London’s women are pushing back, and it is because of our legacy and the desire path carved as a result of being designed out of the city. It is here that I think of Richard Long’s “A Line Made by Walking” (1967); the continuously trodden path becomes a new, another route, showing others what is possible. “Opportunistic tactics” (Blauvelt, 2003) become our axe as we stand on the shoulders of the women who came before who demanded the vote, who researched, wrote, supported and lobbied the councils and the government. We bite back in respect for those who have fallen victim to violence because of unsafe places and for those who remove themselves from the streets and stay home because of the overtly inconvenient terrain that London offers for buggies and babies. We use hope as an axe against the barriers that hold us back and clear the path for London’s future female population.
The ongoing exclusion of women’s perspectives in urban planning compels women to adapt to environments that are not designed with their needs in mind, significantly impacting their safety, mobility, and access to their city. While some progress has been made in urban design, substantial challenges persist, including the underrepresentation of women in decision-making roles and a reactive approach to addressing their needs. Although London may not have been explicitly designed to discriminate against women, it has been shaped by decision-makers operating within a patriarchal framework that often relegates women to less influential positions. This bias manifests in urban spaces that fail to prioritise the safety and accessibility of female bodies.
The design of streets, characterised by tall buildings and poorly lit paths, can create environments where women feel unsafe, affecting how they navigate public spaces. Infrastructure such as tube stations and outdoor areas lacking step-free access pose challenges for pregnant women or mothers with prams, making these spaces difficult to navigate. Addressing these urgent issues requires a commitment to gender-inclusive urban planning that prioritises women’s safety and autonomy, ensuring that urban environments are welcoming and accessible for all residents. While there is hope fueled by the efforts of women who have come before and those yet to come, achieving meaningful change remains an ongoing battle that necessitates persistent advocacy and action.
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