Fostering Inclusive Urban Futures: Gender and Care Perspectives in City Making

How does gender shape the ways in which we experience the city?

What needs remain invisible when we design public spaces without considering people’s different everyday experiences?

And how can we design cities that are not only accessible and safe, but also caring, inclusive and equitable?

These questions are at the heart of “Fostering Inclusive Urban Futures: Gender and Care Perspectives in City Making”, an educational programme developed by URBANA to introduce gender and care perspectives into urban planning and provide practical tools for creating more inclusive urban environments.

The programme was developed within the framework of the NEB Academy, the European platform for education and skills development supporting a more sustainable, inclusive and resilient built environment. As an educational provider within the NEB Academy, URBANA brings its experience and methodology in gender-sensitive planning, inclusion, participation and care into a European learning environment.

From theory to practice

The programme is designed for urban planning and local government professionals, architects, urban planners and designers, community organisations and stakeholders, students, researchers, and anyone interested in creating more inclusive cities. It combines theoretical knowledge with practical tools and consists of three recorded sessions, supporting material, and an individual or collective exercise, with an estimated total workload of approximately 10 hours.

The first session introduces key concepts around gender and its relationship with urban space, through examples and a case study from Vienna. The second presents URBANA’s guidelines for gender and care-sensitive planning, focusing on issues such as safety, accessibility, vitality and the quality of urban equipment. In the third, participants apply the tools to a space of their choice, developing observations and ideas for potential interventions and sharing their results through a process of collective reflection.

From observation to design

The training forms part of URBANA’s broader approach to urban planning based on participation, justice and care. Its methodology encourages participants to observe their own urban environments, identify needs and inequalities that may remain invisible, and translate their observations into ideas for more inclusive spaces.

The knowledge and experience generated through the programme can be used by professionals, public authorities and communities seeking to rethink how they design and evaluate urban spaces.

Take the course: NEB Academy – Fostering Inclusive Urban Futures

Visit URBANA’s NEB Academy hub: URBANA | NEB Academy