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No health equality without space equality: why a ‘gender neutral’ approach doesn’t work

Further to our article on ‘Gender-focussed design and planning: building an inclusive public realm’, we consider how, in a post-COVID landscape and with focus on designing healthy places, building public spaces that are truly inclusive and improve health outcomes for all begins by centering on the needs of women and girls.

Click here to read our previous article.

The tragic murder of Sarah Everard and reactions to what some commentators have referred to as the epidemic of violence against women and girls, has led many built environment professionals to question what role the sector can play in making spaces safer for women. However, whilst this is an undeniably important issue to address, we need to look beyond this if we hope to achieve equality. We must be bolder and look at how we design spaces that not only keep women safe but also enable them to participate fully in all aspects of life in the public realm. By increasing accessibility and allowing women to interact with public spaces we allow them to reach their full potential.

Healthy cities

As we emerge from the pandemic lockdown and begin to ‘build back better’ there has been much debate about how good placemaking can promote physical activities, enhance social connections and strengthen mental health. Building healthy places is a key focus of Local Economic Recovery Plans, and there is a recognition that making useable public spaces is central to promoting healthy activities.

The COVID-19 pandemic has provided an opportunity to reset and refocus thinking and a recognition that, in order to create productive communities and address existing inequalities, a holistic, egalitarian approach to health is fundamental.

As discussed in our previous article, it is crucial that the opportunity to build back better for all isn’t wasted and the needs of women and girls are fully considered through meaningful consultation and the use of sex-disaggregated data.

A true "healthy city" takes into account the needs of the entire population to create a healthier environment for all. The main features of the healthy city are aligned with gender-equal cities including walkability, proximity to services, mixed-use environments, green areas and open parks or landscapes. These factors aren’t only important for women, but they are also key considerations for creating a healthier, more liveable city in general, with the possibility for positive impacts in terms of physical activity levels, emotional well-being and air quality ^[1].

A healthy city must be co-designed by its inhabitants and for its inhabitants. There is a need to consider the diverse needs of all citizens and provide a quality environment for everyone to live their lives. Healthier city design can be especially impactful for populations with lower propensities to exercise or those who have a lack of quality public and green space in their vicinity (factors which are often linked). Designing for health should also mean designing for equality. However current discourse often fails to acknowledge the differing needs of women, and the fear and barriers to active participation they can experience in public spaces. It is vital that this is recognised and acted upon.

Approaches to healthy cities often fail to consider needs of women and girls

One framework used to assess how healthy cities are is the Healthy Streets Indicator. This is used by Transport for London, amongst other organisations, and is a means of assessing whether streetscapes will promote good health and wellbeing, covering issues such as air quality and road safety. It also looks at whether people feel safe from harassment. Four key areas which support inclusivity for vulnerable groups are: 

• Everyone feels welcome – Streets must be welcoming places for everyone to walk, spend time and engage with other people.
• Places to stop and rest – Seating is essential for creating environments that are inclusive for everyone, as well as being important for making streets welcoming places to dwell.
• People feel safe – People need to feel safe from antisocial behaviour, unwanted attention, violence and intimidation. Street lighting and layout, ‘eyes on the street’ from overlooking buildings and other people using the street can all help to contribute to the sense of safety.
• Things to see and do – Creating activity and encouraging people to spend time in public spaces supports the idea of natural surveillance.

However, whilst these indicators support best practice in design, there is a lack of recognition of the differing needs of women, as the framework states: “The best test for whether we are getting our streets right is whether the whole community, particularly children, older people and disabled people are enjoying using this space”.

In addition, research undertaken by the Design Council with built environment practitioners found that when creating ‘healthy places’ many practitioners are not using data and insight gained from engaging with the full diversity of opinions of the local community. And while the public are consulted, tools and techniques vary. The lack of a consistent focussed approach needs to be addressed to ensure greater inclusivity ^[2].

There is a real danger that in developing spaces for physical activity and recreation for ‘all’ that the female perspective is once again overlooked, and, whilst frameworks such as the Healthy Streets Indicator are undoubtedly a step forward in inclusivity, there should be a recognition that women’s experiences of the public realm differ from other groups.

Barriers to participation in sports and recreation

One way in which this is evidenced is the experience of women cyclists in the UK. Encouraging walking and cycling is fundamental to a healthy cities approach. Although whilst in the Netherlands and Copenhagen, 55% of journeys made by bike are made by women, in the UK, the 2019 Sustrans Bike Life survey found that 76% of women never cycle and only 9% of women cycle regularly, compared to 21% of men.  Research has found that female cyclists in the UK are twice as likely as men to have faced ‘near misses’ or harassment by drivers. A US study found that drivers are 3.8 times more likely to pass female cyclists too closely than male cyclists ^[3]. Interventions to get women cycling often focus on building confidence in reacting to potential dangers on the road, rather than designing infrastructure differently to reduce the incidence of dangerous situations themselves.

The Government’s new cycling and walking strategy, released last year, demonstrates a commitment to improving cycling infrastructure across the country. However, it includes no significant analysis of the gender inequalities that inform our existing cycling infrastructure, or how to take the needs of different groups into account.

It is clear that investment in infrastructure which allows women greater control over their own safety and mobility should be an intrinsic part of any healthy cities approach.

The cycling example demonstrates how there are many barriers to women’s participation in sporting activities in the public realm, which are often invisible to urban designers and planners. This issue is also reflected in recreational spaces provided for young people such as parks and skate parks.

Campaigning charity group Make Space for Girls is seeking to raise the profile of inequality of space for teenage girls in our parks and public spaces. They argue that there is a blind spot for urban designers in this area who often feel that they are making space which is ‘gender neutral’. They point to research conducted by Stockholm University which found that the usage of recreational spaces for teenagers is on average 80% male and 20% female. They also highlight the fact that, although all public sector organisations have a duty under the Equality Act 2010 to reduce discrimination, this is seldom considered from a sex perspective when looking at the design of public spaces. They refer to the National Modal Design Code drafts, and despite the fact that the Equality Act should be central to all public sector activities, it is barely referenced. They argue that the tools are there to create inclusive spaces, but they need to be leveraged more.

The need to address the barriers around female engagement in recreational spaces is vitally important in a post-COVID landscape. Particularly as research by Women in Sport ^[4] found 83% of girls aged 13- 16, say ‘they will put more effort into being active when life returns to normal’. This is a key opportunity to encourage life-long healthy behaviours and to ensure that our public spaces are inclusive and welcoming, and girls feel the same sense of ownership as boys.

Designing inclusive recreational spaces 

There are some good examples across Europe of how recreational spaces have been designed to be more inclusive and encourage a more diverse group of users. A particularly successful project in Stockholm was developed with a collaboration of the Swedish Skateboard Federation and White Arkitekter. Research had found that 78% of the members of Sweden’s skateboard associations were male and while there had been several initiatives with the aim of improving equality in skating, there had been no studies into how skate parks themselves could be designed to be more inclusive.

The architects viewed the skate park “as a microcosm of our social and cultural inequality” and considered how they could design urban environments that encourage active participation to include those who are currently marginalised. Their research found that the design of today’s skate parks have been built based on norms that exclude under-represented groups. 

In order to develop a solution, they worked with groups of teenage girls, all who were non-skaters, and who they treated as having an ‘expert viewpoint’. Their workshops took an holistic approach and began by gaining an understanding of what the essence of skating was and the feelings it created, before they went on to co-create the new look design of the skate park. 

The park that was created was significantly different to traditional designs, intending to encourage more non-traditional skaters to stake their claim on the space and feel comfortable. With backstage areas to build confidence alongside more public areas for the experienced to ‘perform’.  There was also a greater focus on accessibility, security and a strong design vision. Positively, the new design has led to a much more diverse group of users without alienating the more traditional skaters who enjoy the different challenges the new space offers. 

It is evident as we focus on creating healthy places in a post-COVID landscape we must understand that there is no such thing as a ‘gender neutral’ approach and that by recognising the differing needs of women and girls we can improve inclusivity for all. 

Conclusion

Engaging with public space can positively impact on social, mental and physical health. Public spaces foster social connections and encourage physical activity and recreational pursuits, and play a significant role in community life and neighbourhood cohesiveness. Women experience and perceive public spaces in ways that are unique and specific to their lived experience. However, this is often not recognised in urban planning and design. 

Post-COVID, the need for healthy cities with opportunities for sport and recreation is more important than ever. There must be a recognition that for women and girls to participate, their different needs and barriers to access should be considered. 

In order to improve inclusivity in the public realm and to empower women and girls to reach their full potential, the onus is on all built environment professionals and decision makers to fully understand that a ‘gender neutral’ approach often fails to understand how women and girls interact with the public realm, and that this can lead to an inequity in the use of space designed ‘for all’. It is only through making significant change to our approach that transformational change can happen.

10 August 2021

[1] https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/23748834.2020.1769527
[2] https://www.designcouncil.org.uk/what-we-do/built-environment/creating-healthy-places
[3] https://www.theguardian.com/environment/bike-blog/2021/mar/26/want-to-make-the-streets-safer-for-women-start-with-cycling
[4] https://www.womeninsport.org/research-and-advice/our-publications/the-impact-of-the-covid-19-pandemic-on-teenage-girls-lives-and-physical-activity/