To investigate women’s experiences of public spaces in Milan, Italy, Marta Maria Nicolazzi applies a comprehensive feminist methodological approach: She combines a range of qualitative methods such as ethnographic observations, semi-structured in-depth interviews, and participatory focus groups enriched with tools like photovoice, community emotional mapping, and collective walks. The integration of these methods fosters a participatory and reflective research environment, empowering participants as co-creators of knowledge and emphasising women’s voices to challenge gendered spatial paradigms while revealing intersections of identity formations. The interconnected nature of these methods whereby each stage informs the next delivers a multidimensional understanding of women’s fears and adaptive strategies. Providing firsthand insights into how women navigate public spaces, detailing routes, adaptive behaviors, and interactions with infrastructure, the combined methodological approach proves effective for uncovering the complexities of identity in public spaces, offering a template that can be adapted to study similar dynamics in other contexts and among different marginalized groups. This presentation not only showcases how integrating such methods can enrich qualitative research, providing deeper insights and promoting inclusive urban research practices but also highlights the strengths and limitations of each of them.
Speaker bio:
Marta Maria Nicolazzi is a PhD student within the Network for the Advancement of Social and Political Studies (NASP) of the University of Milan; enrolled in the Sociology and Methodology of Social Science (SOMET) programme.
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