In the right to the city, H. Lefebvre (1996) argued that it was imaginable to create a much inclusive and less alienated urban environment for all urban dwellers. The right to the oeuvre (participation) and appropriation (not to be confused with property but use value) was implied in the right to the city. Lefebvre understood the city as “oeuvre”, a spatial and social product of human relationships. In this regard, D. Harvey (2012) indicates that we live in an era when ideals of human rights have moved center-stage both politically and ethically. A lot of political energy is put into promoting, protecting, and articulating their significance in the construction of a better world. In terms of the ideal human rights, there are collective struggles of workers, women, gays, migrants and minorities all around the world. The right to the city is, therefore, far more than a right of individual or group access to the resources that the city embodies: it is a right to change and reinvent the city more after our hearts' desire. It is, moreover, a collective rather than an individual right, since reinventing the city inevitably depends upon the exercise of a collective power over the processes of urbanization.
Recently, one of the central issues of urban environment/development is the women’s participation to urban planning, governance and resource allocation. According to Falú (2014), urban society has become complex with the emergence of new social behaviour, use of time, and means of mobility and communication. Resulting from this we see a peaking of urban violence that affects women’s lives in the city in a different way. Poverty, inequality, ongoing gender-based division of labor, domestic and public violence are all critical and important hurdles keeping women from exercising their citizen rights.
In this paper, first, the literatures on urban planning and local governance will be analysed/assessed in terms of gender awareness and women inclusion to these two social/political processes. Then, briefly, in Turkey, the extent to which this gender-sensitive urban planning and local governance policies are taken seriously will be examined. It will be emphasized that the power of the patriarchal cultural structures strongly determines the level of these practices. Finally, the results of a recent field survey on women's satisfaction with public services in the province of Ordu will be presented with actual data. The survey was conducted on 8 March 2018 with 635 women.
Anahtar Kelimeler: Gender, Women Friendly Local Governance, Public Services
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