Design perspective

Hence, Kolkata has a well-balanced gender-public-space relationship. Women and men from the working class use the public spaces on a daily basis, yet women are less visible than men. Improvising public spaces: After the brutal gang rape and murder of 23 year old woman in a city bus Dr Kalpana Viswanath and Ashish Bashu co-founded ‘SafetiPin’, an app to provide credible data and build vibrant ecosystems for safe, inclusive and accesible cities. The app allow user to rate public places on safety criteria, the app highlight lighting, visibility, transportation, density and more, and together create a map of exactly where and how the design of the city itself disadvantages women. Clearly the design itself becomes the reason of crime commencement, and there is scope for betterment of the public spaces for every citizen including women and elderly. According to the American Planning Association, “great public spaces” should promote human contact and community involvement, as well as reflect local culture and a place’s special character. They should be safe, welcoming, accommodating and visually attractive.

Design perspective‐

For a better design of gender just cities, following areas require designer’s attention- 1. Street lighting and public eyes - Women and men benefit from well functioning street lighting in equal measure. Installing efficient lighting technology in the right places makes sure everyone’s needs are met, especially those of the non-motorised road users, i.e. mostly women, children, youth and elderly people. Gender-equitable public lighting is moving away from simply lighting traffic lanes to fully illuminating footpaths and pavements as well. Outdoor lighting is intended to enhance safety and security at night, but too much lighting can actually have the opposite effect. Visibility should always be the goal. Glare from bright, unshielded lights actually decreases safety because it shines into our eyes and constricts our pupils. This can not only be blinding, it also makes it more difficult for our eyes to adjust to low-light conditions. According to Von Soomeren adequate street lighting is important illuminating pathways as well as it allows homeowners and shopkeepers to scan their surroundings clearly and act on any criminal activity they see.

Cities need more mixed use land use for better eyes on street function, where the commercial areas feel empty and scary after working hours, mixed use buildings where residential and commercial coexist bring some comfort and safety to the street. Same way parks and public spaces which includes more activities where people can sit and linger, broaden pathways where strollers and wheelchair can roam, clean and adequately planed seating for nursing mothers, and grounds for different sports to accomplish needs of every gender and age groups. 2. Water and sanitation – School sanitation is a neglected problem in many parts of the world. Hygienic conditions are often very poor, meaning that handwashing facilities as well as separate individual cabins and anal cleansing materials for the pupils are missing in many toilets. Girls, particularly at and after puberty, do miss school or even drop out of their schools due to the lack of sanitary facilities. girls also stay away from school when they are menstruating (GWA 2006; HANNAN and ANDERSSON 2002) Lack of adequate toilets and hygiene in schools is a key critical barrier to girl school attendance and girl’s education. If sanitation facilities fail, women might not attend (vocational) training and meetings (GWA 2006). Simple measures, such as providing schools with water and safe toilets, and promoting hygiene education in the classroom, can enable girls school attendance, and reduce health-related risks for all (UN WATER 2006). Same as in public places not having access to safe and clean toilets, sometimes lead to another issue for women, which is safety. In absence of public toilets, people urinate in open (in shade and dark or behind bushes) as in India, men urinating in public is normalised, but this become a matter of dignity and safety for women, as they sexualised and being stared. Or often charged more for using unhygienic toilets run privately by men, in that case insuring absence of camera and the continuous fear being trapped making women more uncomfortable and venerable. Providing adequate public toilets and their proper maintains is highly required for making cities comfortable and safe for women. 3. Public transport – a developed city is not where the poor use car for transport, a city is developed where even rich use public transport. This is just a saying, but if want sustainable development, increasing the road width is not the solution of traffic problem, a well designed public transport is. Good public