Spaces of Conflict

A related series of questions one may ask include what is the value of design thinking for the greater public in terms of abortion and public space? What role could architects have in exploring overlooked spaces like abortion clinics and engaging in their design and security? How can design positively impact access? Although not explicitly aligned with the types of non-places theorized by the anthropologist Marc Augé, reproductive healthcare facilities have a certain affinity coinciding with what as he states “[n]on-places could be seen, approaching them from another vantage point, as the heirs to everything that has created discomfort or annoyance in the history of human spaces.”[iii] Although the spaces of abortion are not the creator of discomfort, the idea of these spaces and what they represent definitely fall within this categorization and the physicality of their existences clearly create discomfort for a large segment of the population.

One of the initial issues that drew me to this research was the intersection of a highly politicized and charged space being contested out in the public realm. Public space is critical in different ways for abortion clinics. Anti-choice protestors regularly exercise their first amendment freedoms by protesting out in front of abortion clinics across the United States. This right is part of the freedom individual citizens of this country have to publicly speak out against issues one is against and anti-choice protestors are protected under law to be able to do so. State and federal courts have ruled both in support and in opposition to certain abortion rights cases weighing free speech against abortion access. This has produced a variety of legislation differing dramatically from state-to-state controlling and manipulating the actual geography and physical boundaries around clinic properties, buildings and people’s bodies.[iv] This remains ongoing and just this past January 2014 the Supreme Court heard arguments challenging the constitutionality of the 35’ buffer zones around abortion clinics in the state of Massachusetts.[v]

1. Intro

2. Role of public space in research

a. discussion of some political theory literature including Jurgen Habermas, Nancy Fraser and Iris Marion Young

b. the public / private dichotomy and why this is problematic

c.  how abortion clinics intersect within public space; where can agency be legible

d. role of the body, especially reproductive body, within public realm

3. spaces of possibility

a. role of design within build environment

b. Elizabeth Grosz asking how to think architecture differently – how do spaces of abortion provoke different possibilities?

4. case study: Kentucky (with mapping)

a. geography of access

b. state restrictions and spatial implications

c. alternatives to access: hospitals and pharmacies

d. cultural influences

5. conclusion