Cities and people: Towards a gender‐aware urban planning process?

Recognition of the deficiencies of traditional ‘blueprint’ approaches to land use and infrastructure planning has led to increased emphasis on management of the process of urban development. Such management should recognize the distributional impacts of decision‐making and be responsive to the needs of residents. However, much urban planning activity has been and continues to be gender‐blind. In order to redress this deficiency, it is argued that increased understanding is needed of women's economic and social roles in urban society, their exclusion from economic opportunities and decision‐making processes, and the discriminatory nature of much legislation. Urban residents’ experience is shaped both by household strategies and by the way in which they are affected by or can affect planning, investment and management decisions made at the neighbourhood or city level. Differing experiences may be related to class and ethnicity, but are also likely to be gender‐specific. The potential impact of policy and investment in a variety of sectors of urban development on residents, especially women, is explored. Recommendations are made for a more gender‐aware approach to planning for economic activity, land and shelter, public transport and infrastructural and social services, and for specific actions to be taken by both planners and residents.