EQUITABLE CITIES

RESEARCH PROJECT:

“FOREIGN BODIES”: MAPPING WITH IMMIGRANT WOMEN

This project explores community mapping as a means to visualize the urban presence and complex experiences of inclusion and exclusion of non-hegemonic populations. The body is the territory onto which differences are projected and felt by foreign, gendered, and racialized populations among other social markers and their intersections. As a result, mapping abstract data is not enough to grasp the experience of populations who are not the ‘universal’ white, male, able-bodied, citizen. Finding ways of mapping the embodied experiences of ‘foreign’ populations is crucial to understand how design and urban planning can built more equitable urban futures.

Case-study: Racialized Women Immigrants in Ottawa (Overbrook, Castle-Heights, and Cyrville)

In the neighborhoods of Overbrook, Cyrville, and Castle Heights in Ottawa, 40% of the population in the area identify as an immigrant and as a member of a racialized group. In addition, 11.93% identify as members of a refugee population, and 33.95% identify as members of a first-generation immigrant population. These percentages are much higher than those for the average neighborhood in Ottawa. I collaborated with community leaders Alia Farhat (The Overbrook Community Association), Maryame Ichiba, Natalia Szerszunowicz, and Vanesa Fareau (The Bridge Engagement), Sophia Jacob (the Canadian Women of Color Leadership Network), Sadia Jama (Social Planning Council of Ottawa), and community members and activists Khadija el Hilal, and Gloria Uwamahirwa. We hosted an in-person workshop attended by 20 immigrant women who arrived in Canada in the past 5 years. The comments on the map point at systemic issues with the urban infrastructure and public services and facilities pointing at systemic issues in the neighborhoods. The map also show the emotional capital of a tight-knit community that may be soon displaced by a process of renovation of the Ottawa Community housing stock in the neighborhoods.

Case-study: Displaced and Racialized Women from Venezuela in the Municipality of Santiago, Chile

This municipality of Santiago hosts the highest percentages of immigrant populations in the city, with Venezuelan and Peruvian populations being the largest immigrant population groups. Along with community leader Yeidi Morales and researcher Carolina Sepúlveda and Andrea Valenzuela, we hosted an in-person workshop with nine immigrant women. Most participants arrived in Santiago in the past five years and emigrated from Venezuela, the second country with more displaced populations globally between 2020 and 2021 (United Nations Refugee Agency). In particular, Chile received a 30.5% increase of Venezuelan displaced populations between 2018 and 2019. The majority of the participants chose Santiago and the Municipality region, because of the presence and previous connection with other immigrant populations from their country of origin who helped them in their integration process. The conversations and participants’ annotations on the map referred to places that made participants felt unwelcomed, insecure, and discriminated against, but also to narratives of resilience and solidarity.

Supported by the non-for-profit organization the Inter-American Development Bank and Carleton University