As architects and designers, when we think about universal design or accessibility the first things that come to mind are tactile surfaces, ramps, and wheelchair-friendly features. Have you ever observed, though, that not all locations are friendly to individuals of all genders? All gender minorities are unsafe in many places, including the streets. There’s always a lurking fear, which occasionally prevents individuals from moving at all. Continue reading to learn about Gender Inclusive Design and Planning.
Are urban spaces inclusive for all?
The environment we live in, work in, play in, move around in, and relax in is shaped by urban planning and design. Because of this, the structures and behaviours that characterise our societies are closely linked to the planning and design processes, which frequently serve to both reflect and reinforce the disparities that exist within them. Though it is almost universally acknowledged that compared to able-bodied, cisgender, heterosexual men, women, girls, people with disabilities, and sexual and gender minorities face crucial socioeconomic barriers, many planning and design practitioners do not fully understand or accept how circumstances in the built environment, and the lack of diversity in the voices developing it, feed into and reinforce gender inequity.
Gender inequality is exacerbated and reinforced by important features of the built urban environment that place disproportionate responsibilities on women, girls, and sexual and gender minorities of all ages and abilities. Many people feel uncomfortable, uneasy, and at risk in metropolitan settings due to a variety of issues, such as transit systems that emphasise travelling over providing care and a lack of lighting and restrooms in public areas. These problems are mostly the result of assumptions about the needs of women, girls, and sexual and gender minorities not being included in planning and design choices, which encodes conventional gender norms into the built environment.
Interactions between individuals and with society’s norms and beliefs are shaped by the built environment. The social structure and cultural norms are supported by periodic changes in the built environment. Both opportunities and weaknesses are produced by this built environment. There may be physical or social weaknesses and opportunities.
Gender Biases and its Effects
Gender stereotypes in the built environment feed into the persistent oppression of women, girls, sexual and gender minorities, and people with disabilities. They also directly contribute to gendered social and economic imbalances. Women, girls, and sexual and gender minorities of all ages and abilities frequently struggle to get profitable work, education, and other fundamental human rights when faced with such a constructed environment. They also struggle to build money and become financially independent. Gender minorities have to spend more on necessities. They have fewer social freedoms. They struggle to exercise agency in public decision-making.
In the end, gender biases in the built environment have a direct impact on worldwide institutions that restrict women, girls, and sexual and gender minorities and maintain harmful gender stereotypes. The built environment compounds several problems, such as access and mobility, freedom and safety, and health and hygiene. However, even if the built environment is a significant contributor to gender inequality, we may also see the built environment—particularly urban planning and design—as a major opportunity to advance equitable treatment.
Issues in the built environment
Mobility and Access
Compared to males, more women perform care-related activities. As a result, women’s mobility patterns differ greatly from men’s. When using public transport, earning men are more likely to use it just twice, with two defined stops—in the morning on their way to work and in the evening on their way back. On the other hand, women who use public transit for household chores frequently make many stops and navigate complicated routes. Buses and metros are ill-equipped for such intricate journeys. Because of this, women are compelled to use cars and taxis, which increases their transportation costs. To solve this, the public transportation in our cities should be more gender sensitive.
Land use and zoning regulations subdivide the city, worsening the accessibility problem. A woman who has to pick up her child from school, go to the market, and do other tasks in one trip will have a problem because these locations are in separate zones and are hard to go to all at once. Furthermore, the issue is made worse by the state of the public transit system.
Safety and Freedom
Women and gender minorities struggle to go about more than any other group, presumably because they are more likely to abstain from dangerous behaviours like going for nighttime strolls alone, taking public transit, and picking specific routes. Globally, gender-based violence is pervasive in the public sphere. Research has shown that public places with restrooms, schools, pubs, and isolated settings like open fields and narrow roads are the most common places for violence against women to happen.
Health and Hygiene
Our cities’ streets are filthy and unsanitary. Women are more likely to spend time on the streets than males who spend their whole workday in offices. The ladies experience more health problems as a result of their prolonged exposure to dirty streets, which may frequently have very negative effects on their bodies. Girls’ attendance at school is restricted and their ability to learn is hampered by inadequate sanitary facilities. It also plays a part in the enormously high rates of unemployment and school dropouts.
By addressing the demands and difficulties of marginalised groups, particularly those related to gender and sexuality, feminist urbanism investigates the link between these groups and the city and works to integrate their requirements into urban planning methods. Our cities need to be gender inclusive to prevent us from having to choose between safety and freedom of movement in our metropolitan areas. While urban design cannot end prejudice and injustice on its own, it may undoubtedly help marginalised people feel more like they belong.
The voices of women, girls, and members of sexual and gender minorities are actively included in gender-inclusive planning and design since it is a participatory process. Because it is integrated, it takes a comprehensive, cross-cutting strategy that prioritises gender throughout and encourages the development of relationships between the city and its citizens. It is universal because it satisfies the requirements of sexual and gender minorities of various ages and capacities. It is a form of power building, increasing the ability and sway of marginalised groups over important choices. It is committed to providing the funds and knowledge required to carry out deliberate gender equity initiatives.
Rather than planning and designing for sexual and gender minorities, gender-inclusive planning and design involves working alongside them. It is not an add-on that treats women differently from other project participants and beneficiaries, fails to make connections, or identifies key players. Since it is inclusive, it does not focus just on the needs of women or other able-bodied individuals. It provides information. It doesn’t function in a vacuum; rather, it interacts with and advances the body of knowledge on gender. It shouldn’t be undermining, replicating, or bolstering historical disparities in agency and representation.
Gender inclusiveness is ultimately not a burden or an issue. It’s a chance. Over half of all people on the planet are women, girls, and members of sexual and gender minorities. Untapped resources exist in the needs, wants, knowledge, and abilities of urban planners, designers, and cities as a whole. The goal of prosperity for all depends on using their ideas for improved city planning and design, as well as their economic opportunities, social inclusion, and political engagement.
Citation:
Achieving gender inclusive planning (2023) citiesforum.org. Available at: https://www.citiesforum.org/news/achieving-gender-inclusive-planning/#:~:text=Key%20issues%20in%20the%20built,multiple%20stops%20and%20complex%20trips. (Accessed: 07 July 2024).
World Bank Group (2020) Handbook for gender-inclusive urban planning and design, World Bank. Available at: https://www.worldbank.org/en/topic/urbandevelopment/publication/handbook-for-gender-inclusive-urban-planning-and-design (Accessed: 07 July 2024).
