Urban Design for Communities

Recommended reading! From London. While urban planners strive to create inclusive environments for all citizens, truly inclusive cities require acknowledging that our spaces do not serve everyone equally. Cities historically designed primarily by and for men need deliberate recalibration to address the needs of women and other overlooked groups. This requires policymakers and designers to specifically examine how urban environments function for diverse populations with different lived experiences. The 2024 Handbook: Gender-Informed Urban Design & Planning LLDC (London Legacy Development Corporation) and Arup have released a usefull handbook addressing a critical gap in urban planning: gender-informed design approaches. The publication features beautiful illustrations by Shanice Abbey. Key findings: • Urban environments, traditionally viewed as gender-neutral, often contain embedded biases that compound gender inequalities • Over half of UK girls aged 13-18 report unwanted sexual comments in public spaces • Women's movement patterns are significantly impacted by caregiving responsibilities • Research identified specific "hotspot" areas perceived as unsafe within the LLDC boundary Practical recommendations for implementation: • For local authorities: Establish gender-informed corporate strategies, implement gender budgeting, adopt targeted planning policies, and utilize planning obligations • For developers: Embed gender-informed principles throughout project lifecycle, conduct participatory engagement, and prepare Gender-Informed Design Statements • Deploy specific design interventions including strategic lighting, carefully placed public realm furniture, and thoughtful land use planning This handbook offers evidence-based insights and practical tools for integrating gender-informed principles into existing planning frameworks, emphasizing intersectionality and meaningful community involvement. The guidance extends beyond theoretical concepts, suggesting concrete design solutions such as layered lighting for human scale, social seating configurations, and interim uses for vacant sites. A valuable resource for all urban professionals committed to creating truly inclusive cities. #UrbanPlanning #GenderEquality #InclusiveDesign #PublicSpace #UrbanSafety #SpatialPlanning #DesignInnovation #CommunityEngagement

🌊🔍Exploring Flood Impact Analysis and Visualization with ArcGIS Pro🌍✨   Flooding is one of the most devastating natural disasters, exacerbated by climate change, impacting communities, economies, and environments. With the power of ArcGIS Pro, we can conduct comprehensive flood impact analyses and create stunning visualizations that help us understand and mitigate these risks. "... visible danger is the best argument for prevention - this also applies in digital worlds ..." 🌡️ Climate Change and Flooding: Climate change is leading to increased rainfall (in some areas to decreased as well), rising sea levels, and more frequent extreme weather events, resulting in heightened flood risks. Understanding these changes is crucial for effective planning and response. 📈 Key Benefits of Using ArcGIS Pro for Flood Analysis: 1️⃣ Data Integration: Combine various datasets, including elevation, land use, climate models, and historical flood events, to create a robust analysis. 2️⃣ 3D Visualization: Utilize 3D capabilities to visualize flood extents and impacts on infrastructure and communities, considering future climate scenarios. 3️⃣ Scenario Modeling: Simulate different flood scenarios under varying climate conditions to assess potential impacts and plan effective responses. 4️⃣ Hydrological Analysis Tools: Use tools like the Hydrology toolset to analyze watershed dynamics and flood risk. 5️⃣ Remote Sensing: Leverage satellite imagery and remote sensing data to monitor changes in land cover and water bodies due to climate change. 6️⃣ Community Engagement: Share interactive maps and visualizations with stakeholders to raise awareness and drive action. By leveraging these tools, we can enhance our preparedness and response strategies, ultimately saving lives and reducing economic losses. 💪🌈 🤝 Let's spark a conversation! How are you leveraging ArcGIS for flood Analysis? Share your insights, challenges, and success stories below. Let's amplify our collective GIS capabilities! 💬💡 💡 🌟 #FloodAnalysis #ClimateChange #DataVisualization #Resilience #FloodManagement #ArcGISPro #RiskMitigation #Esri #GIS #SpatialAnalysis #ArcGIS #flood #climatechange #FloodManagement #DisasterResponse #UrbanPlanning #Sustainability #ClimateChangeAdaption #EsriDeutschland #ArcGISPro #esrivoices🔍 🚀 🌱

From struggling long hours on the roads to winning a competition at IIM—meet Chennai’s women auto drivers. In the busy streets of Chennai, these women have faced challenges most of us can only imagine. For years, they’ve driven autos to support their families, dealing with daily struggles and breaking stereotypes. “Do women really drive autos in Chennai?” people often ask. The answer is yes—and they’re doing much more than just driving. These women are part of Veera Pengal Munnetra Sangam (Progressive Alliance of Brave Women), a group of over 400 women auto drivers. Recently, they won the first prize at Coop 2024, a competition held at IIM Kozhikode that supports new ideas in business. But their story is not just about an award—it’s about creating a better life for themselves and their families. For a long time, their incomes were unstable. They had to negotiate with passengers every day or rely on platforms like Uber and Ola, which didn’t give them steady earnings. Now, they’ve come together to form a worker-owned cooperative. Through this cooperative, they can bid for regular contracts with businesses like hospitals, hotels, and bakeries. This gives them reliable income, fixed hours, and financial security. They no longer have to worry about daily struggles to earn enough money. But their work doesn’t stop there. Many people in Chennai still don’t know about these women or their efforts. Some of them have been driving for over 35 years, yet they are often met with surprise when they share their profession. The group is working to change that by telling their stories, showcasing their struggles, and inspiring more women to follow in their footsteps. These women are not just driving autos—they’re driving change. They’re proving that with determination and teamwork, they can create a better future for themselves and others. #WomenEmpowerment #BoundlessWithRamG

🚗 Insightful discussions on making our cities safer for women at the launch of Uber India’s #SafetyNeverStops campaign, co-hosted with The Quantum Hub ! Delighted to share the stage with some of our country’s biggest leaders including Dr Fauzia Khan, Kanta Singh - moderated by Shaili Chopra ! Drawing from our research at Nikore Associates, I emphasized four critical pillars for enhancing women's safety in our cities: First, understanding gendered mobility patterns isn't just data collection—it's about recognizing how women navigate our cities differently, helping us design targeted safety solutions. Second, safety isn't about isolated solutions. When public transport systems integrate seamlessly—think dedicated pickup zones at metro stations—we create safer transit experiences for women. Third, infrastructure matters. Gender-sensitive facilities in public spaces aren't luxuries; they're essential safety features that determine whether women feel secure stepping out. Finally, safety services need simplification. The best emergency helpline is one that's easy to remember and use when needed most. Key insights from our conversation on transforming urban mobility through a gender lens can have a long lasting impact!! Thank you Uber India for championing women's safety and leading this crucial dialogue. Together, we're working towards cities where every journey is a safe journey. #WomenSafety #UrbanMobility #GenderEquality #SafeCities #Innovation #Leadership

The 15-Minute City: Proximity for Whom? The 15-minute city promises convenience, sustainability, and wellbeing, but beneath its appealing surface lies a #blindspot: it often overlooks the #gendered realities of how people move through and use cities. A feminist vision reimagines proximity not as a #neutral measure of distance or time—but as a question of access, care, and dignity. Many, especially women, caregivers, and marginalized communities, don’t live within tidy #geographicbubbles. Daily life is shaped by complex, multi-stop journeys: school drop-offs, caring for elders, grocery runs, healthcare visits—often unpaid and largely invisible in mainstream mobility models. It also asks: Why don’t walkability and accessibility mean the same thing for everyone? The Risk of Reinforcing Spatial Inequality and Gentrification The 15-minute city can become: A “two-tiered city”: 15-minute enclaves for the few, 90-minute deserts for the rest What Can Be Done? 🟣 Anti-displacement policies (rent control, land trusts) 🟣 Equitable investment in all neighborhoods 🟣 Intersectional impact assessments Full Article https://lnkd.in/d4YSWNNP

Stop ‘celebrating’ women. Start giving them power. Every year on International Women’s Day, we hear the same words—empowerment, equality, progress. But real change doesn’t come from words. It comes from action. I’ve seen this firsthand in China, where 400 million women are driving one of the world’s biggest economic shifts. They’re not waiting for opportunities—they’re creating them. Here’s what real power looks like: ✅ Investment, not just inspiration – In Shenzhen, I worked with a founder who built an AI surveillance company from the ground up. She overcame industry bias, secured funding, and landed major contracts in Hangzhou. Today, she’s a trailblazer in a field still dominated by men. ✅ Ownership, not just participation – Women in China now secure approximately 23% of venture capital funding, which is significantly higher than the global average of 15-20%. This isn't just progress—it’s a business advantage that’s reshaping industries. ✅ Equality in leadership – Women now represent about 46% of the science and technology workforce in China. Their presence is growing stronger, especially in fields like Internet technology and biomedicine, where women make up over 50% of the workforce. ✅ Rags to riches – Zhang Xin, CEO of SOHO China, rose from a migrant worker in China to one of the wealthiest and most powerful women in Asia. Her journey from hardship to leadership is a testament to what happens when women are given the power to succeed. Celebrating women means investing in them, supporting them, and empowering them to lead. It’s time to give them the power to make lasting change. Video: 38 year old mum performing with her Cyr wheel in front of Canton tower. All rights belongs to the owner of the video. #IWD2025 #WomenInBusiness #LeadTheChange

🚆 Public transport is a climate solution - except when it isn’t safe. Did you know? Women rely on public transport far more than men but are also the most at risk of harassment and violence when using it. 📍 Why does this matter for climate justice? 🚗 Unsafe transit = More cars on the road. Women who don’t feel safe often resort to private transport, increasing urban emissions. 💼 Limited mobility = Fewer economic opportunities. If women can’t safely commute, they lose access to jobs, education, and essential services. 🌙 Lack of night services = Greater exclusion. Many women work late hours, but unreliable transit makes them more vulnerable. 📍 The solution? ✅ Design public transport with women in mind – Well-lit stations, panic buttons, and women-only carriages in high-risk areas can improve safety. ✅ Improve service frequency & affordability – Safe, reliable, and cheap public transit benefits everyone, but especially low-income women. ✅ Engage women in urban planning – Women must be involved in shaping transportation policies that affect them. 🚀 A sustainable city is one where everyone can move safely. Gender-responsive transit planning is essential for both climate action and social justice. 📖 Read more in UN-Habitat's 2024 World Cities Report and Global State of National Urban Policy 2024.

What do drawings of everyday life tell us about gender, roles, and urban design? 🚨 In workshops with women in Poznań Architectresses | Architektoniczki did we uncovered how social roles and life stages deeply shape daily mobility and interactions with the built environment. The results are both eye-opening and urgent: 👩👧 Mothers' Reality: Every activity from cinema trips to swimming is tied to their children. Not a single mother in our study drew moments for themselves or time with friends, compared to 11 out of 13 participants in other groups. This underscores the isolating nature of care work and its ripple effects on mental health, finances, and career advancement. 🟡 Single Women: Focused on personal goals, single women showed a different pattern, prioritizing individual growth. 🟢 Senior Women: They mapped the most socially active routines, highlighting the richness of community engagement later in life. So, how does this connect to architecture and urban design? Cities have the power to change this narrative! Thoughtful urban planning can: -Place care facilities, activities, and markets closer to where mothers live. -Create housing estates that encourage social connections, like shared spaces for working moms to supervise kids or community laundries that foster neighborly bonds. ‼️ Architecture Matters: Modern design often isolates us. We need housing that prioritizes community design that strengthens relationships and supports shared caregiving. The big takeaway? Smart, inclusive city design can transform everyday life, especially for mothers. It's time to rethink how we build spaces that support care work, community, and well-being. 💡 What changes do you think would make YOUR city more inclusive? 👇 Honorata Grzesikowska #architektoniczki #architectresses #workshop #femalecity #citydsign #genderinarchitecture

Had to pay in euros for this one… I’ve often thought there is a real dearth of literature related to non cis-white-male design principles. Especially when it comes to female-centered design. Leslie Kern’s “Feminist City” is a true triumph of a book, but stands relatively alone in its field. There are established bodies of work related to designing for age and for those using wheelchairs, but overwhelmingly our society is still designed for the body of the Vitruvian Man. The future of our cities needs to be created two-fold: First, we MUST use Universal Design as a guiding principle when new areas are developed… Secondly, (and where far more work is needed) when retrofitting existing neighborhoods, we should use the Targeted Universalism design framework to remove barriers for specific populations. I appreciate that Dr May East uses both approaches in her exploration of woman-centered neighborhood design, “What if Women Designed the City.” I’ll give my usual warning here that this is a fairly academic book and not well suited for a quick/light weekend read. I liked the format of the book, in that the bulk of the text is a set of principles/interventions (the author refers to them as “levers”) that were developed through a series of woman-led walking interviews. These levers are actionable and practicable by a wide range of urbanist actors. Too often academic publications don’t translate their discoveries and principles into concrete actions. East does a great job of distilling the walking conversations into actions that can be taken by city staff, architects, developers and guerilla urbanists alike. I hope this one becomes more available in the states soon. It needs to be read!

What would our urban spaces look like if we listened to girls and young women? I am revisiting one of my favorite projects from 2024. Urban Minded is a research project at Henning Larsen considering how urban design impacts the health and wellbeing of this chronically neglected group. There is a pressing need for the design industry to better accommodate the diverse needs of its users, providing spaces where everyone can thrive. The research project has set out to address these issues, envisioning a future that prioritizes the well-being and empowerment of young women. Urban Minded seeks to challenge and diversify the narratives about teenage girls. Rather than generalizing their needs, attention was turned to their rich and nuanced lived experiences. As a result, the team has created two open-source guides containing principles for design as well as methodology surrounding participation processes for designing urban spaces with the well-being of teenage girls in mind. A special thank you to our partners The National Institute of Public Health (Denmark), Syddansk Universitet - University of Southern Denmark, and our supp Foundation. Find all the details here https://hnglr.sn/4ciYz9t. Illustrations by Paweł Floryn.