WOMEN, CITY AND SOLIDARITY
8th, 9th and 10th of  May 2003
Technical School of Architecture, Madrid

ORGANIZERS:
JUAN DE HERRERA INSTITUTE  
MADRID POLITHECNICAL UNIVERSITY
WOMEN GENERAL DIRECTION COMMUNITY OF MADRID
WOMEN WHO BUILD 

PROGRAMME 
1ST DAY: ANOTHER CITY IS POSSIBLE 

- A city for all, María Ángeles Durán, Sociology Professor, CSIC
- The city of desires, Beatriz García Moreno, Architect, School of Arts Professor (Colombia)
- From South to North: Cities and Enviroment in Latin America and Spain,  Marta Román, Geographer
- Planning the city under gender perspective, Inés S. de Madariaga, Architect, Urban Planning Professor, ETSAM    
- Women and visibility, Felicidad Loscertales, Social Psycolog School Professor, Seville University
- Porto Alegre: Participative budget, urban space and women, Sara Barceló, Biologist & Zainer Pimentel, Lawyer
- Another city is possible, Cristina García-Rosales, Architect, Women Who Build society

2ND DAY: INHABITED AREAS, INHABITABLE PLACES?  

- Building within the familiar and communal heritage, María Eugenia Hurtado, Architect, University of Mexico Professor
- Designing shared cities in the global world, Carlos H. Pezzi, Architect, President of the Architect´s Spanish Council
- Mujefa: A cooperative for housing in Montevideo, Charna Furman, Architect, School of Architecture (Uruguay)
- The recovery of citizens' space: Favela Barrio and Río Cidade programmes Verena Andreatta, Architect (Brazil)
- Mental health and immigration in Lavapiés (Madrid), Pilar de Miguel, Psychiatrist
- Human sites in Latin America, Julián Salas, Industrial Engineer, Torroja Institute, CYTED Programme

3RD DAY: WOMEN NETS 

- lived, felt and desired city... Paloma Cabañas, Mercedes Gil and S. Serrano, Architects, Sururbana Group (Sevilla)
- Eskalera Karakola: Mujeres Okupadas, María Serrano & Anna Moll
- E-leusis.net: The City of the Ladies, Angustias Bertomeu, Coordinator of E-leusis.net

There is a long distance between the city we live in and the city we dream of. This distance becomes larger in many Latin America cities and in many of our own neighbourhoods, not as hidden as we may think, where the phenomenon of globalization conceals a reality in which survival is difficult as culture and identity is erased.  It is time to put an end to our ignorance of this reality in our opulent, consumist and squandering society.

Through the 6th Encounter in Architecture, following those that had taken place at Alcalá University the previous years, we wanted women of both worlds to speak and to be heard. Women constructors, city planners, architects, citizens, promoters, artists... Women who traditionally have taken part in solidary at private levels and now in public fields, contributing to “another look" in the development and design of today´s cities. We need to learn from one another in order to find solutions, to share experiences, to build allies, to prove we are necessary... To demand a whole civil and civic existence for everyone, especially for the most unfortunate.

This SPRING COURSE was assigned to those who believe it is possible to build a new city and a new societal model out of utopia.  We will attempt to show the real picture, as opposed to the "postcard image", of Spanish and Latin American cities, tied together in culture and emotion despite their distance in practice.

We want to show the magnitude of problems impossible to number. Through theoretical approaches and concrete examples in neighbourhoods in Madrid, Sao Paolo, Montevideo, Bogota, Mexico City, Seville, etc, we want find new ways to formulate solutions. Although some developed models are in smaller scales they still prove to be useful because of their results. Solutions in which women active participants and protagonists, contributing in their own capacity, like that of the gender perspective.

Last but not least, we want to design this Encounter as a meeting place among civic & collective organizations, students and professional networks with the purpose of creating new strategies to solve our present problems, with the fundamental aim of designing a city without exclusions. We divided the encounter in three days, each of them dedicated  to a general topic (city, housing & networks), inviting important Spanish and Latin American professionals, who will show us the cities where they come from and how womens´ point of view is contributing to its design and management, through proposed ideas and cases of practice.

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