The role of gender-inclusive planning and design

Gender-inclusive planning enhances women and girls’ sense of safety within the built environment. 

Parks and open spaces deliver many benefits, particularly in relation to our mental and physical wellbeing, as well as providing a sense of community and belonging. However, different genders navigate and experience space differently, even at a young age.

Inclusive parks offer ‘mixed-use development’ with something for all; a broad range of activities, encouraging businesses (such as cafés or bars) to provide natural surveillance, a variety of seating options, well-maintained vegetation, lighting, higher points for improved visibility of the wider area and accessible public toilets.

What does inclusive design look like?

Pounds Park in Sheffield city centre, a mixed-use development, is a great example of successfully achieving inclusive design. A highlight is its climbing equipment, which lights up from the inside after dark. The lighting provides a welcoming atmosphere, which cannot be achieved by typical flood lighting which often creates an overwhelming effect. 

This is a gender-inclusive initiative as it both enhances safety, and provides a variety of activities for people of all ages, from a range of seating options to play equipment, and not only during the daylight hours. 

Many European city parks have kiosks which open late, with al fresco-style seating and blankets and heaters provided in winter. These spaces are providing natural surveillance, enhancing safety, but also contributing to the night-time economy, allowing parks to become safer routes for women’s journeys home in the dark.

The importance of lighting

Creating social spaces that are well-lit and busier for longer provides the option of safer trips. 

The award-winning redevelopment of the Western Campus at the University of Glasgow by Arup used a lighting team that focused on a gender-responsive approach using a range of unique techniques to design a welcoming space, without detrimentally affecting surrounding ecology at Kelvingrove Park or heritage assets. 

Constraints such as heritage or ecology can be considered hinderances in adapting our existing built environment to become more inclusive; however, this project has successfully demonstrated the viability of doing so. The lighting design has allowed for what would have been a dark short-cut to become an environment that establishes a more positive experience for the public.  

These examples show that designing gender-inclusive spaces is not only feasible with brand new development but, with the right collaboration, is achievable across all projects regardless of size or type. 

The need for collaboration and focus

The issue is that despite the swathe of new guidance and advice, including the notable London Legacy Development Corporation (LLDC) handbook ‘Creating Places that Work for Women and Girls’ and the increase in awareness among many practitioners and consultants in the sector, the lack of policy means that women and girls’ specific needs are all too often left out of the design process.

Speaking at an event on the eve of the 2023 Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) Summit, UN Deputy Secretary General, Amina Mohammed, acknowledged that sustainability – the ultimate top-level goal across all development – simply cannot be achieved without attaining gender equality in planning and design.

We need to continue to shine a light on women’s safety, as progress will require a collaborative effort between professionals of all disciplines. Crucially, we need to listen, engage and act upon these lived experiences of women and girls and their own ideas on enhancing safety. This starts with educating ourselves on the inequalities within the built environment and making changes that focus on gender inclusivity within our work. Women make up more than half of the UK population, this change in focus is long overdue.

Further information

Contact Amelia Powell