Research Information System
3rd International Gender Studies in Turkey, İstanbul, Turkey, 6 - 07 December 2025, pp.2-3, (Summary Text)
Urban space is one of the key sites where gender norms and identities are (re)produced
(Jarvis and Kantor, 2009). It also shapes how different genders experience the city (Bassam,
2023). The fundamental premise underlying these two propositions is that urban spaces
establish and sustain masculine power, which in turn results in the exclusion and invisibility
of social subjects and groups that are subordinated by masculine authority. The practical
background of this study is based on earlier initiatives in Türkiye —such as the Istanbul
Women’s Tour held in 1996 and the Women-Friendly Cities Program launched in 2006—
which were founded on the recognition that cities do not offer women equal rights and
freedoms.
This study maps the gendered geographies of the city of Kayseri around the concept of
“women’s commons.” The central aim of such an endeavor is to contribute to the
development of women’s right to the city as a demand for the restitution of urban spaces and
rights that capitalism and patriarchy have stolen from women. Kayseri’s gender map is
produced through two interactive methods. The first makes visible women and women’s
spaces through gender-sensitive, historically, sociologically, and politically informed
readings. The second reflects the patterns and boundaries of women’s mobility in their
everyday lives. The first offers feminist alternative representations of Kayseri as a designed
space, while the second provides alternatives concerning how women use the city through the
intersections within the designed space. The methodological tool used in both mapping
processes is the act of walking. The presentation first introduces the intellectual and
methodological background of our walking–mapping study. It then shares experiences and
data from the pilot implementation conducted in September 2025, in which we tested the
concepts of “public physical spaces,” “gaze,” and “collective power” within the framework
of women’s commons.
In the conclusion, we offer recommendations for making Kayseri a gendered,
women-friendly, environmentally friendly (both living and non-living), economically
efficient, socially secure, and more livable city for all.