City Planning Gets Feminine Touch

What do women want? Urban planners are starting to take gender-specific needs into account when revising building codes, zoning rules, and growth plans.
By: Haya El Nasser: REALTOR® Magazine
Urban planners increasingly are taking gender into consideration when they revise building codes, zoning rules, and growth plans, considering that women account for more than 50 percent of the urban population nationwide. Additionally, women account for 60 percent of seniors living in urban locales; and many of them live alone.

The University of Pennsylvania recently held a forum where planners, health officials, researchers, and lawmakers to discuss gender-specific needs in growth planning.

For example, women who want to leave their homes to exercise sometimes find sidewalks that are in disrepair and high crime rates that pose a challenge. Many women also report difficulty in navigating stairs with groceries and, if they have small children, strollers.

In response, planners are considering sidewalk repairs, longer pedestrian crosswalk signals, and homes without stairs. Safe walking and biking trails, as well as enhanced security near public transportation, also have been deemed important.