Eloisa Capezzuto Maelle Dagnogo Teaching staff: CRI Sciences Po Rob Lue Alain Viel Jessica Liu Adam Tanaka William Flanagan Audrey Maghiro Our warm thanks: Harvard College Harvard College Victor Massip, Uritrottoir Jérôme Pacaud, Mairie de Paris Georges Salines, Mairie de Paris Nina Varchavsky, CRI Chapters Pages Framing and Background 6 Previous Approaches 21 Proposed Solution 24 Business Plan 36 Assessment Plan 46 Works Cited 53 Executive Summary One of the distinct smells along The City of Paris has realized Our project aims to solve the the Seine, Canal Saint-Martin, that public urination is a critical issue of public urination on the and other Parisian nightlife areas problem and has come up with Seine and Canal Saint-Martin is that of urine. Paris, like many several innovative solutions to and the lack of accessible toilets cities with vibrant nightlife, deal with the issue. However, for everyone (regardless of struggles with the issue of public their solutions have been gender or disabilities), by urination. Partly due to a lack of primarily skewed towards designing and implementing available toilets, some people — solving the problem for men, inclusive, convenient, reliably mostly men — relieve themselves while women and disabled effective, eco-friendly, and in streets, Métro, bushes, or people still face a lack of cost-effective toilets — along waterways. available facilities. Equalettes. 4 The length of a minute depends on which side of the bathroom door you’re on. Framing and Background Parisian Nightlife With thousands of bars, Indeed, the nightlife districts restaurants, clubs, theaters, create jobs and social cinemas, and cultural centers interactions. Today the one of opened at night, Paris is the five “pôles d’excellence internationally known for its touristique” aims to make nightlife districts, which Parisian nightlife more together comprise one of the attractive to tourists (“La vie major driving forces behind its nocturne parisienne,” 2018). economy, its reputation, and its Improving toilet accessibility vitality. could benefit this campaign. Nightlife has grown in importance to the City of Paris, and it should be accessible to all. 7 Our Challenge Public urination has become a However, today, only 150 out of major issue in Paris, especially these 400 Sanisettes are open in areas that are highly 24 hours a day, whereas the frequented at night. This issue others are typically not stems from a lack of access to accessible between 22:00 and facilities. Hence, the City of 6:00 (“Les Sanisettes.” Retour à Paris has proposed several L'accueil - Paris). To make solutions aiming to provide matters worse, Sanisettes are more toilet facilities. Since the often out of order or far from 1980’s, the city has bars or populated areas. As implemented roughly 400 such, women are left to find the Sanisettes, the only permanent Sanisettes on their own, asking public toilets accessible by bartenders to use their women (Hotels Paris Rive restrooms for free or relieving A Sanisette in Paris, by night. Gauche Blog). themselves in unsafe areas. 8 I have This chart indicates the number of Sanisettes per arrondissement in Paris and their operating hours. The neighborhoods with a significant number of 24h Sanisettes (in red) are often associated with high nighttime attendance and would benefit from additional sanitary installation — even relatively well-served areas cannot adequately meet toilet demand today. 9 The figure to the right shows that our first targeted area (highlighted in yellow), the Left Bank of the Seine. The region has a lack of accessible Sanisettes, even though it is often frequented at night. 10 The figure to the left shows the sanitary installations along Canal Saint-Martin, our second targeted area. Most of the Sanisettes are closed at night, and the 24h ones are concentrated in Buttes Chaumont and Gare de l’Est areas, a 10-minute walking distance from the Canal. 11 Portable Chemical Toilets Another solution commonly This causes the porta potties to implemented is that of porta take on a foul smell (Kneiszel, potties. They are used mostly Making Porta-Potties More during events such as festivals Appealing to The Public). and are not permanent infrastructures. Moreover, many Sanisettes and portable toilets stay away from porta potties are two different approaches; because they tend to be however, both of them are not unappealing to the user. One can efficient because there are not see the waste from all the other enough functional facilities and previous users mixed with the general public associates Deodorizer (blue chemical public toilets with bad odor and liquid). uncleanliness. A Portable Toilet. 12 The Toilet Infrastructure Gap Since the creation of the The installation of urinals is We have seen the run of the “La Sanisettes and the deployment cheaper and more convenient Nuit Est à Tous” campaign of portable toilets, innovations than that of actual toilet cabins, (above) to caution men against in toilet design have almost especially of cabins linked to the urinating in the streets but not exclusively targeted men. Yet city’s water and electricity the effort to improve access to there is a need for an increase in networks (the Sanisettes are an available toilets for women or efficient, gender-neutral example of this). We have seen disabled people. bathrooms. Women are the installation of the Uritrottoir routinely discriminated against (an eco-friendly urinal that when it comes to public toilet produces compost as fertilizer, access, despite making up half see the next slide for an image of the population. Moreover, of this) but not the unisex urinal. disabled people are often excluded from public spaces and infrastructure. A “La Nuit est à Tous” panel. 13 Male-Exclusive Solutions Urinals are significantly lower in physical footprint and in cost than Sanisettes (5.000€/unit vs. 200.000€/unit). For these reasons, the City of Paris has installed them in an increasing number of locations and adopted a variety of models. These infrastructure elements appear to be well-used along Canal Saint-Martin, but are effectively only available for non-disabled men to use. A urinal along Canal Saint-Martin. An Uritrottoir in Paris. 14 Heard Along the Canal Saint-Martin We interviewed some groups of people along the Canal on 18 July 2018. They said the following: “In Paris, it is never easy to pee “I usually hide behind cars, and “I only use the public toilets when you are a woman! I ask for a friend to come with when there is not a line. And usually hold it for the entire me, to feel more secure. It is a honestly, I would rather go in a night. I am so jealous that men constant struggle, but I always bush. The smell [of the toilets] is have urinals!” end up finding a spot disgusting.” somewhere.” 15 A vandalised panel along the Canal Saint-Martin, as seen on 25 June 2018. The original black text reads: “Yesss. You have used one of the toilets at your disposal.” The graffiti reads: “And for the girls? Do they not pee?” 16 Bridging the Gap The City of Paris has mainly focused on infrastructure solutions for men, whereas the few gender-neutral solutions that have been implemented, such as the Sanisettes, seem to be inefficient (Stone, 2017). The Equalettes tackle the challenge of providing efficient, low-cost public toilets for all. People queuing for toilets at the Paris Lollapalooza Festival, July 2017. 17 UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) At a United Nations Summit in The broad Goals are meant to September 2015, world leaders apply to all humans in all adopted 17 Goals for countries. Under each Goal, sustainable development the United Nations provides globally, which were detailed targets to help tackle implemented in January 2016. the challenges, in addition to The goals aim to “end all forms indicators for measuring of poverty, fight inequalities progress. In the following and tackle climate change, section, we detail the four while ensuring that no one is Sustainable Development left behind” (The Sustainable Goals targeted by Equalettes, as Development Agenda). well as a specific target for each of the Goals. 18 UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) SDG 3: Good Health and Well-Being Target 5.1: One of the key objectives of the Equalettes is End all forms of to ensure that people in Paris can have a discrimination healthy night. An indicator of progress against all women toward this SDG is a reduction in the bladder and girls pain that results from a lack of toilet access. everywhere. Target 3.9: SDG 5: Gender Equality By 2030, Our project aims to augment access to substantially reduce public toilet infrastructure, which currently the number of tends to heavily favor non-disabled men — deaths and illnesses especially in nightlife districts. from contamination. 19 UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) Target 6.2: SDG 11: Sustainable Cities and Communities By 2030, achieve Whereas most toilets are effectively wet access to adequate dumpsters, the Equalettes will aim to be dry and equitable recycling facilities. By using the potential of sanitation and human waste for agriculture, we will further hygiene for all. sustainability and green thinking. SDG 6: Clean Water and Sanitation Target 11.6: Our project aims to make progress toward By 2030, reduce this SDG in a nuanced manner — by the adverse per providing sanitation while conserving water. capita We will use dry soap and dry flush to lessen environmental water consumption in Paris. impact of cities. 20 Previous Approaches Previous Approaches in Paris Pollee: A Danish company created the Pollee to provide public urinals for women; however, they do not offer a safety for women. Its deployment was voted for in the Paris 2015 budget participatif, but was Sanisettes: never implemented.