Banca de QUALIFICAÇÃO: SARA MERHJ

Uma banca de QUALIFICAÇÃO de DOUTORADO foi cadastrada pelo programa.
STUDENT : SARA MERHJ
DATE: 10/08/2026
TIME: 09:00
LOCAL: Sala de videoconferência
TITLE:

Empowering Architecture: Operationalizing a Multidimensional Framework for Women’s Responsive Space Design

KEY WORDS:

Gender-responsive architecture; multidimensional empowerment matrix; spatial justice in the Global South; time-poverty reduction; trauma-informed participatory design

PAGES: 67
BIG AREA: Ciências Sociais Aplicadas
AREA: Arquitetura e Urbanismo
SUMMARY:

Urban architectural practices in the Global South that are responsive to gender have varied, but they focus on women’s rights at the level of urban design, forgetting the importance of having buildings specifically designed for marginalized and vulnerable groups of women, such as refugees, survivors of domestic violence, those deprived of education or health care, and others. These women suffer from overlapping vulnerability due to exclusionary structures that perpetuate gender inequalities in psychological, economic and political spheres, or the time constraints resulting from the burdens of unpaid caregiving. Despite extensive feminist studies on empowerment, spatial justice, the ethics of care, and critiques of gender-responsive design, architects require a systematic, measurable, building-level framework to translate empowerment theories into concrete design decisions (such as size, distribution, and functional programming) that ensure a gender-inclusive response across diverse cultural and geographical contexts. This thesis addresses this by developing and operationalizing a seven-dimensional empowerment matrix. The matrix integrates Malhotra’s five basic dimensions) 2002(: psychological, social and cultural, economic, legal and political, with the addition of the spatial dimension (Lefebvre's representational spaces, Cornwall’s collective work, and hybrid participatory environments that promote belonging) and the temporal dimension (the ethics of caring, reducing time constraints). The methodology is based on a qualitative inductive approach, where each dimension is assigned to one of the feminist theories, spatial theory, or architectural criticism, and then activated through alternative indicators calibrated according to cultural and geographical priorities, thus enabling global adaptability. The matrix is applied to eight case studies from the Global South (India, Bangladesh, Israel, Rwanda, Morocco, Malawi, Tanzania, Mexico) to derive successful architectural strategies, followed by field verification in Brazilian women’s housing to test its effectiveness on the ground and improve indicators through spatial and temporal mapping. This framework sets standards for gender-responsive architectural design; transforming the idea of empowerment principles into concrete spatial solutions and strategies. It offers researchers with an analytical tool to evaluate architectural interventions. It also provides decision-makers with tools to achieve tangible results for social justice through trauma-sensitive design protocols that adopt a participatory approach and cultural resilience, thereby enhancing women's autonomy, safety, economic participation, and civic influence in fragile contexts.

COMMITTEE MEMBERS:
Externa à Instituição - INÉS SÁNCHEZ DE MADARIAGA - UPM
Externa à Instituição - ANA GABRIELA GODINHO - MACKENZIE
Presidente - 1855707 - CAROLINA PESCATORI CANDIDO DA SILVA
Interna - 1746081 - LUCIANA SABOIA FONSECA CRUZ
Interna - 2447996 - MARIBEL DEL CARMEN ALIAGA FUENTES