Women and Girls Topic Introduction - URBAN DESIGN 177

Edition 177 of URBAN DESIGN introduces both the context and the challenge of gender-transformative design. Here is an introduction by Guest Topic Editor Marina Milosev. 
 
Marina Milosev, Co-founding Partner, Beyond the Red Line. 

Gender equality is not a women’s issue; it is a fundamental human right and a cornerstone of sustainable development. Empowering women and girls is everyone’s responsibility, across all sectors and professions. The built environment is no exception. 

I invite all practitioners reading this, regardless of gender or seniority, and across disciplines—architects, urban designers, planners, developers—to approach this topic not as a niche concern but as a core principle of designing sustainable and equitable places. After all, this is the very purpose of our professions.  

Addressing gender equality is not only a moral imperative, but also a legal requirement. From international commitments including the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals at the heart of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development (2015) to national legislation including the Equality Act 2010, our profession is required to actively remove inequalities that affect people based on protected characteristics, including gender. Beyond compliance, designing for gender equality makes practical sense. Cities that work for women and girls—who are often described as intersectional, as they can experience discrimination due to multiple issues like race, gender, class, sexual orientation, and disability—tend to work better for everyone. 

But what does designing places that truly work for women and girls look like in day-to-day practice? Over the past five years, I have explored this question in national and international contexts, working alongside inspiring practitioners and advocates driving this agenda forward, and above all, learning from the very experts—women and girls themselves. At the London Legacy Development Corporation, we developed the first local evidence base on women’s and girls’ experiences of public spaces and created practical frameworks to embed gender equality in policy and planning through to design, procurement, and delivery. More recently, I have been working with international agencies on integrating gender perspectives into urban redevelopment in crisis contexts and climate action planning. 

Through this journey, I have learned that addressing gender inequality effectively requires a systemic approach. This goes far beyond one-off consultations or isolated interventions; it demands a fundamental transformation of systems, policies, processes, and practices at every stage of development. 

So, how do we turn these principles into tangible outcomes? We start by recognising how the built environment disadvantages women and girls, and by committing individually and organisationally to addressing it. From these commitments, we translate principles into action. This includes collecting gender-disaggregated data and, equally importantly, understanding the experiences of women, girls, and gender-diverse people. These insights inform strategies and policies across planning, housing, transport, and climate action. These strategic objectives must be reflected in individual projects through project briefs, ensuring that sufficient resources and time for meaningful engagement during design and development are allocated from the outset. Participatory approaches, such as exploratory walks and co-creation processes, empower women and girls to shape solutions that meet their needs. Crucially, once delivered, we revisit and evaluate the impact of these actions—learning from outcomes and experiences. This feedback loop allows practice to continuously evolve, embedding gender equality at every stage of development. 

Cities such as Vienna in Austria and Umeå in Sweden have been integrating these approaches for decades. Similar steps are now being applied in the UK. The Greater London Authority has committed to gender equality in the built environment and has produced guidance for industry. Local planning authorities such as Tower Hamlets and Newham are embedding requirements into draft planning policies, making the voices and experiences of women and girls a material consideration. Glasgow has declared itself the UK’s first feminist city. Many developers are beginning to embed these principles into project briefs, enabling design teams to respond meaningfully to women’s and girls’ needs  

The articles in this issue offer practical insights into how these changes are unfolding around the UK. They show how the needs of women, girls, and gender-diverse people are being considered—shaping planning policy and gathering evidence, preparing project briefs, engaging communities, designing major schemes, and curating public art. 

Discussion around gender equality in the UK continues to evolve. Some aspects, such as access to affordable housing, remain particularly important to explore, given their critical role in advancing equity. While we may not have all the answers, we should not hesitate to take action simply because we might not get everything right at the start. This issue therefore reflects an ongoing process of learning, adaptation, and humility within our professions. At its core, this is about redistributing power, giving women a genuine voice in shaping their environments, and continuously learning from those experiences. 

I have intentionally chosen not to standardise terminology across the articles to reflect this evolution. Terms such as gender-sensitive, gender-informed, and gender-inclusive are used interchangeably, but the principle and intended outcome remain the same. Internationally, leading actors are increasingly adopting the term gender-transformative, emphasising the structural change needed to reshape the systems that influence women’s and girls’ daily lives. 

This issue is both a celebration of progress and a practical guide for the work ahead. The articles showcase insights, tools, and case studies that demonstrate how gender equality can be integrated into planning and design. I hope they inspire you to bring these ideas into your projects, policies, and decision-making. I also encourage readers to embrace the role of a gender champion and engage with the wealth of knowledge and resources available, many of which are referenced in these articles. 

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