Making Canberra’s public spaces gender inclusive: how you can help

Posted on 11 November, 2014

Urban planning is a pretty hot topic in Canberra at the moment. From the redevelopment of Bunda Street to plans for a new precinct in Dickson, it seems the one constant in urban planning in Canberra is change. But while a lot of the debate is about retailers and parking and traffic, one aspect which isn’t always considered is gender inclusiveness. Architect and urban planner, Jian Vun is looking to change this.

Through his experiences in working on the Australian aid program, Jian has found there is a gap in the consideration of gender equality principles and strategies in urban planning and design projects.

“Traditionally, cities have been planned and designed by men, and women have been largely overlooked or ignored in the planning and design process,” Jian says. “As a result, our cities are full of public spaces that are unsafe for women, make women feel oppressed, or are designed inappropriately to meet the specific needs of women.”

To address this issue, Jian is designing and testing a gender assessment toolkit to allow built environment professionals to analyse the gender inclusivity of an existing urban public space. The toolkit will allow its users to identify the strengths and weaknesses of a space, and recommend areas for improvement.

The toolkit is part of Jian’s thesis for his Master of Urban and Regional Planning at the University of New England.

“I hope that my research will help bridge the gap between gender equality and urban planning and design, and provide built environment professionals with a greater understanding of gender-inclusive principles,” he says.

“For Canberra in particular, I hope that my research will benefit the city as I intend to share the results with local built environment professionals in both the public and private sectors.”

Jian has developed a first draft of his toolkit, and is now looking for volunteers, both male and female, to help him test it on two public spaces in Canberra: Garema Place and Dickson shops.

“I chose these areas as they both represent important public meeting spaces for the community,” Jian says. “They are also very different types of public spaces so will hopefully provide interesting and useful results.”

The Dickson shops study will take place on Tuesday, 18 November from 7.30pm to 8.30pm and the Garema Place study will take place on Wednesday, 19 November from 7.30pm to 8.30pm.

If you would like to volunteer to help Jian test his toolkit, you will be required to choose either Garema Place or Dickson shops, and spend about an hour to analyse the space using a prepared checklist. Participants will receive a gift voucher as thanks for contributing their time.

If you are interested in helping Jian, or would like to find out more about his project, please email him at yvun@une.edu.au by 16 November 2014.