Crosswalks at Night: Gender-Based Impacts of Vegetation, Sidewalk Width, and Lighting on Valence and Arousal

City models are needed in which urban spaces serve society as a whole. The emotional state that a pedestrian experiences when crossing a road influences his/her behaviors. The physical characteristics of urban design have a strong relationship with individuals’ emotional perceptions of designs. This article analyzes how the characteristics of nighttime-focused urban design (vegetation, sidewalks, lighting) modify men’s and women’s emotional perceptions of the environment. For this purpose, an experimental study was carried out in which 314 participants (158 men and 156 women) viewed different virtual reality scenarios which they subsequently assessed in a questionnaire measuring valence and arousal dimensions. The results showed that nighttime urban design affects men and women differently, and that the various physical characteristics of the environment generated important emotional differences in men and women. The absence of vegetation and presence of wide sidewalks helped mitigate between-gender differences in valence and arousal. In addition, a lighting color temperature of 10,500 K produced similar levels of calmness in both men and women. These results are important at a methodological and practical level, as they take into account gender perspectives in environment studies and encourage designing inclusive urban spaces.