Behavioural / psychological perspective

transport promotes walking and cycling over personal motor vehicle, results good health and cleaner environment. If we add gender lens to public transport, women tend to use public transport more than men due to unequal authority on motor vehicle in social scenario, fewer opportunities of learning driving skill and restriction on long distance travel. Women often use the less organised public transport, sometimes being harassed and face issues like changing more than two modes of vehicle, insufficient public transportation, human stacking etc. For sustainable urban development we need to work on the public transport route, design and quality of public transportation vehicle and stations, good tariff plans and bicycle routes and footpaths. Increase the alternate energy as fuel of the mode will decrease the carbon emission as well. 4. Women’s participation and sustainable developmentCities with a gender lens in urban planning are tend to lead in sustainability for example Vienna stands out for its early implemented, comprehensive programmes for climate protection, sustainable procurement, sustainable business, and electronic reuse and recycling. Also the city is recognised as the city with a female face. Another example - Singapore’s transformation into a smart, lush and liveable city has largely been driven by the extraordinary vision of architect and urban planner Dr. Cheong Koon Hean, the first woman to lead Singapore’s Urban Redevelopment Authority and the current CEO of the Housing and Development Board. Not only will Dr. Hean be speaking at the Summit, but World GBC will also welcome trailblazing architect Lisa Bate, a global ambassador for sustainable design, as the new Chair. Singapore, ranked 35th on liveability, and is one of the greenest in Asia. Strong public policy, sustainable planning and innovative green building design have also created affordable housing, resulting in 90% of residents owning their homes

Behavioural / psychological perspective ‐

Jennifer Gardner and Larissa Begault explored three ways for designers and behavioral scientists to directly challenge unequal power dynamics: occupying space, enabling authentic representation, and reducing perceived fear. 1. Taking up spaces - Studies of nonverbal behaviour among genders have found that women in public space use shrinking, timid, or closed body language.

When women defy those gender stereotypes by asserting their right to use and control public space, they can reshape what it means to be a woman in public. For example, TPWC's founders began rehabilitating Toronto's mostly abandoned R. V. Burgess Park more than a decade ago. It is located in the heart of a multicultural, high-rise community dominated by emigrants. Today, its main programme is a weekly market featuring local women's businesses, as well as a café run by local women and teen girls. TPWC increased opportunity and put women in positions of decision-making in the community through organising around public space.

Another example is from Rio carnival; Mulheres Rodadas is a Brazilian feminist activist group that organises a yearly feminist block party during Rio's Carnival to protest street harassment and chauvinism. Women become prominent campaigners demanding respect during the infamously combative Carnival, rather than becoming subjects of harassment and violence. Mulheres Rodadas discovered that linking a protest—and a space—to a significant aspect of Brazilian culture provided it with a broader, public stage and a ready-made audience. Mulheres Rodadas follows in the footsteps of the Take Back the Night Foundation, which organises rallies and actions to raise awareness of women's right to secure communities.

2. Seeing others and being seen ‐ Historically, particularly in the western world, public spaces were designed predominantly to serve white, working men, while private spaces were associated with women. Today, in cities around the globe, designers and citizens are actively constructing ideas of what it means to embrace the visibility of women in public space. The sense of being seen and knowing the presence of other people of same gender offer feeling of safety and confidence.

Representation entails not just the visibility of faces and bodies, but also the visibility of experience. Hollaback is a non-profit organisation that provides a global forum for women and LGBTQ individuals to tell and map their tales of harassment on the streets. Hollaback conducted poster campaigns and “chalk walks” on public streets in New Orleans, alerting passersby to the unseen harassment that women and some men face in public. Hollaback also

collected a group of individuals to paste feminist artwork on the walls of New Orleans, utilising public space as a platform for advocacy and collective action.

Allowing individuals to articulate their own lived experience, whether through sensitive research or innovative communications tactics, can transform how others view space. The sensation of belonging in a place, to a group, and to a wider society is linked to seeing others and being recognised for who we are. Designers must consider who they represent and how they represent them, relying more on representation and interaction to guarantee that good intentions don't lead to more stereotyping or tokenization, diminishing the impact of interventions aimed at making vulnerable groups visible.

3. Reducing perceived fear- Designers working on places for women are frequently driven by the need to keep them safe, whether through crimeprevention methods or by making women's regular patterns of mobility and usage of the city more convenient. Women's engagement in public life in many areas of the world is dependent on these changes. Women's concerns of personal safety from male violence might prevent them from comfortably walking through public spaces. However, features intended to keep women secure might often make them feel less protected. The possible threat of male violence against women is deeply embedded in the predominant narratives that women across cultures carry with them, so much so that those narratives shape women’s everyday experiences and often limit their choices, even in places when real danger is quite rare. In this way, perception of crime or danger may in some cases be more of a persistent problem for gender equality in public spaces than incidences of crime—and one rooted deeply in unequal, gendered power dynamics. To add to the difficulty, common design features meant to increase safety and prevent crime might actually backfire when it comes to increasing safety perception. Bright floodlights, for example, are frequently used in lighting enhancement schemes, but they also generate pockets of darkness. Hedges and fences may stop attackers from entering a property, but they also limit vision and provide gaps that may be viewed as hiding spots for a possible assailant. Women may be discouraged from using public areas as a result of these design choices. In other words, we must consider whether our current design vocabulary is capable of addressing the real and perceived systemic and lived safety concerns of women in public spaces.