Want cities to work better? Include more women when designing them

Why it’s important women are included in urban and public transport design.

Hi everyone,

It’s been awhile, but I’m finally sitting down to write another newsletter and I’m excited to share it with you.

I’ve had the pleasure of talking to Tiffany Robinson from Women in Urbanism Aotearoa about a topic I’ve been thinking about for awhile. I’ve haven’t gone too much into a deep dive, but if you’d like a deeper look into women and urban design let me know.

I recommend checking out Women in Urbanism Aotearoa’s website if you want to learn more about how urban design impacts women.

Before we dive in, I have to thank Tiffany for taking the time to educate me on this topic. I didn’t think I could be this interested in public transport and public spaces until I talked to Tiffany. Her passion for improving urban design and making it inclusive is really infectious.

Caring City Walk hosted by Women in Urbanism Aotearoa. Supplied by Tiffany Robinson

It’s Monday morning, (if you’re in Auckland, it’s probably raining) you’ve just rushed from home, maybe you’ve just dropped off the kids, you’re making your way to the bus stop. Just ahead you can see the door closing and an orange indicator blinking as the driver begins to merge into rush hour traffic. You start to sprint, waving your arms frantically hoping to draw the driver’s attention, but knowing the likelihood of the driver stopping is slim. It’ll be another 30 minutes before another bus arrives (if it’s not already full) and you’ll be late for work…again. The bus driver shows no mercy, they’re already behind schedule. And just like that you’ve missed the bus. All you efforts have left you a sweaty mess standing at the bus stop, fidgeting, waiting for the next bus to arrive while messaging your boss to say you’ll be late.

It’s the typical public transport woes most city dwellers know all too well. Living on the city’s edge, but working in the CBD and having to make the gruelling commute to work. It’s a story every man and his dog can relate to…expect not really. For some the daily commute is much more difficult.

Let me give you an example.

For the average man his daily commute will most likely consistent of him leaving home and travelling directly to work. Once his day comes to an end he will usually repeat the commute in reverse. This is the average linear commute. The commute most public transport is modelled off.  

However, the average woman’s journey typically involves transporting the children to school or daycare before making the commute to work. She will then repeat these steps on the way home, but will often add other daily tasks to the journey home such as picking up groceries, going to the pharmacy or popping into a store. A non-linear commute.

Running to catch public transport and then finding space once on board becomes much more difficult once children are involved. Sometimes the option of using public transport is completely off the table because her daily tasks would never get done if she had to wait for or rely on public transport. 

On top of that she’s more likely to encounter harassment while using public transport or walking to and from a bus stop early in the morning or late in the evening. Coming home after dark would involve strategic planning and would most likely cost her an Uber fare - just to be safe. 

You might be thinking this is just the way things are, as unfortunate as they are, a woman’s daily life is just a bit harder. But have you ever thought that maybe it’s the way public spaces, transport and our cities are designed that could be making women’s daily routines much more difficult?

Now, I know this sound a bit far-fetched and I can feel the eye rolls from here, but cities are designed without women in mind and it impacts their day-to-day lives.

Still don’t believe me? Well, back in 2022, the World Bank looked at how urban design, transportation and access to public spaces impacted women verses men. 

They found that women in both developing and developed countries tend to walk longer distances and frequently take shorter trips which include more stops to complete their daily tasks. Men on the other hand have linear patterns of travel. Unlike men, women were also more likely to be travelling with children and/or an elderly family member.

They also found most countries design public transport around commuters who make direct trips to work and home - trips men typically make. They weren’t taking into consideration that the commuter, mainly women, would take shorter and frequent trips. 

Why isn’t public transport designed to cater for women’s commuting needs? Well, there simply aren’t enough, if any, women involved in urban design or women aren’t being consulted in the planning process for public transport or public spaces.

Women in Urbanism

A global movement called Women in Urbanism is trying to raise awareness of how urban design and planning impacts women. 

I spoke to Tiffany Robinson from Women in Urbanism Aotearoa who explained to me why planning cities around a one size fits all model doesn’t work.

“Women and men do not move through cities the same - that just how it is,” she tells me.

“[Women] have different things that we are concerned with.”

Tiffany, who is a planner, is often educating not just women but men on how to build more inclusive cities that cater to their residents’ needs.

As Tiffany points out, non-inclusive design often isn’t down to men excluding women deliberately, they often just don’t think about how others move around the city outside of their own experience. It’s often about cutting cost, too.

Take public bathrooms for instance.

Women tend to use public bathrooms more than men do. But as most women are aware, there are never any public toilets around when you need them or if there are it feels like you have to walk a mile to get there. Once you’re there you’ll probably need to queue with what feels like a hundred other women. 

If you don’t think there’s a lack of bathrooms for women or that they have to walk longer to find them, then I recommend reading Lezlie Lowe’s article in The Guardian. She’s even written a whole book on the whole public bathroom issue.

Tiffany says it’s quite common for designers to not factor in public toilets when they’re planning for, say, a new train station.

“It’s the idea that we don’t need it - cost cutting - when actually you do need it. And actually having a family bathroom isn’t just a good thing for a woman, fathers also need to use them.”

Then there’s the issue of sexual harassment. Most women have experienced this while taking public transport.

“Some men experience street harassment, but by and large it is women experiencing that street harassment on a larger and consistent basis,” says Tiffany. 

“So how do we protect our public transport systems so women can feel safe to simply take public transport?”

That’s where Women in Urbanism comes in, they’re encouraging women to get involved in how their cities are built and to educate men in urban planning about how they can design cities that are usable for not just men but women, children, the disabled and elderly.

“There’s a lot of little things that we don’t recognise. Potentially, if we looked at it through a gender sensitive lens for design it could be much better,” says Tiffany.

How do you change cities to be more inclusive? Firstly, get more women into urban planning and making policy decisions when it comes to transportation. This can be encouraging more women to study urban planning, design or engineering. 

Secondly, this could just be by consulting women in the policy process for new or revamped urban spaces.

Lastly, there needs to be better data on how women use urban spaces and transportation - one size doesn’t fit all. 

“We can’t keep doing the same old same old,” says Tiffany.

“Just having a bit more thoughtfulness into how we are creating new spaces and retrofitting old spaces is, I think, quite important.”