Identifying the concept and components of Semi-private Territories related to the territorial behavior of women in public spaces

Abstract

Territorial behaviors are one of the most important and influential behaviors related to the environment and the use of it. Therefore, if the space is in accordance with these behaviors, it can lead to an increase in the quality of the environment and it makes them use it more and better. In line with the study of women's territorial behavior, the present research seeks to identify a concept called "semi-private territories" and achieve its characteristics in public spaces, which according to the research conducted and the hypothesis of the research, is compatible with the territorial behavior of women. It is also in line with women spatial preferences in public spaces. After conducting library studies and compiling the research literature, field studies have been used in a qualitative way using interview tools and contextual conversations to achieve the research goals. In fact, in order to explain the concept of semi-private territories and its characteristics, the opinions of various women in relation to their spatial preferences and territorial behavior in public spaces have been collected and analyzed. The qualitative analysis of the findings has been done in the form of coding and in the platform of Atlas.ti8 software. Based on this, with the study of women's territorial behavior, the concept of "semi-private territory" is defined. The semi-private territory is a territory that is neither completely private nor public, which, while being located in a public arena, has characteristics close to and similar to private territories, but has less public characteristics. These territories have characteristics such as: relative privacy and coziness, relative separation of space by visual and non-visual limits and boundaries, reducing the amount of access to the space compared to the public territory, etc, which is in accordance with the territorial behavior of women in public spaces and provides the necessary conditions for their presence in the space

Keywords

• public spaces
• semi-private territory
• territory
• territorial behavior
• women