This report summarises the key takeaways and recommendations from the Roundtable on “Fostering the Equiverse: Building Inclusive Urban Spaces”, jointly organized by TalentNomics India and the Regional Economic Programme Asia (SOPAS) of Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung (KAS) in Japan. The event was held in New Delhi on March 6th, 2024. It was a closed-door event that brought together inspirational leaders, entrepreneurs, transport and urban development specialists and practitioners, researchers and senior leaders from development and international organizations.

The event provided an opportunity to bridge the gap between intent and action in building gender-inclusive urban spaces and to foster collaborative initiatives by bringing together diverse perspectives and experiences. Emphasizing collaboration, the round table charted a course forward for urban planners, policymakers, enlightened private sector leaders, and citizens to pilot gender-inclusive cities in South Asia. The roundtable discussions brought out several reasons and factors that have historically posed barriers to building inclusive urban spaces and cities that are amenable to women. Gender-blind planning and design greatly restrict the mobility and freedom of women, adding to existing restrictions due to socio-cultural norms.

One of the key messages that emerged from the roundtable was the need to mainstream gender into all stages and phases of urban planning and design. City masterplans must imbibe gender considerations and be articulated as integrated plans with gender as one component. Gender sensitisation of policymakers, many of whom are men, and increasing the proportion of women workers and leaders in urban planning and decision-making were highlighted as two steps that are vital for enabling the mainstreaming of gender into urban plans. Collection of gender-disaggregated data, implementation of universal design principles, practising participatory planning, setting up Gender Labs, institutionalizing gender planning, and greater enrolment of women in urban service delivery like transportation and safety were some of the other requirements that were highlighted in the discussions.

The roundtable participants also discussed specific elements of urban spaces and cities that currently pose a challenge for women. The first set of elements comprised of infrastructure in public spaces that can be made inclusive to enable women better access education, work, wealth, and well-being. This would include the provision of street lighting, walking paths, pavements and parks, adequate number of hygienic public toilets, and enough “eyes on the streets”.

Inclusive urban areas would also need to gender mainstream public services and amenities, by providing safe housing for single or working women, efficient childcare and eldercare services, and caregiving support facilities like lactation rooms and diaper changing stations.

Inclusive public transport infrastructure and networks are also critically important for women to have the same opportunities as men. This can be enabled by bringing in inclusive design considerations (like low-floor buses and reserved coaches), enabling safe first-mile-last-mile connectivity, increasing the diversity of transport staff and providers, better lighting and safety measures at metro/bus/train stations. Deploying user-generated data is essential to make transport systems more efficient for all users.

Cities can become safer for women with initiatives to reduce gender-based violence. In addition to safety measures for mobility and infrastructure, increasing the proportion of women in police services and improving working conditions for female police officers. Enhancing the capacity of forensic labs and improving judge-to-population ratio were highlighted as keys to ensuring quicker justice in rape trials to dissuade perpetrators. Building enabling infrastructure like efficient helplines and crisis centres would be vital components of inclusive urban spaces.