Introduction

This part introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters. The part deals with the constraints placed on women by the institutions and decision making processes associated with the design and delivery of human environments. It is concerned with the roles that women play in existing environment-producing organizations and with the implications of those roles for the form of future environments in relation to women’s needs. The part discusses education and practice in the environmental professions—architecture and urban planning. It examines the organization of grass-roots reform by the tenants of particular housing environments, and considers women in municipal government. Women are viewed in a variety of organizational frameworks: as students, educators, professionals, community leaders, politicians, public servants, and users—all making direct input into the complex of public and private institutions that control the development and form of human environments.