{"id":10779,"date":"2025-12-10T13:31:57","date_gmt":"2025-12-10T13:31:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ecwronline.org\/?p=10779"},"modified":"2026-03-11T13:04:40","modified_gmt":"2026-03-11T13:04:40","slug":"safe-routes-study-warns-that-non-inclusive-urban-planning-increases-violence-against-women","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ecwronline.org\/?p=10779","title":{"rendered":"“Safe Routes”: Study Warns That Non-Inclusive Urban Planning Increases Violence Against Women"},"content":{"rendered":"

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text css=”” el_class=”force-left “]<\/p>\n

Cairo, 10th<\/sup> of December 2025<\/em><\/p>\n

The Egyptian Center for Women\u2019s Rights (ECWR) has issued a new study titled: “Cities Without Women: How Does Urban Planning Exclude Women from Public Space?”<\/strong><\/p>\n

This is part of its online campaign, “Safe Routes,” which was launched in conjunction with the 16 Days of Activism Against Gender-Based Violence campaign.<\/p>\n

The study highlights that the design of the urban environment in many cities is governed by a dominant male mindset, making it a fundamental cause for the exclusion of women and the reinforcement of stereotypical roles. The study emphasizes that this spatial exclusion represents a hidden form of gender-based violence, as it restricts women’s movement, limits their freedom, and reducing their participation in public life.<\/p>\n

The study identifies a set of challenges that women face in public spaces, most notably:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Unsafe mobility:<\/strong> Public transport networks are primarily designed for the so-called \u201c<\/strong>typical commuter[1]<\/a>\u201d<\/strong>, overlooking the complex and multi-purpose travel patterns of women, which often combine caregiving, shopping, and work. Poor lighting and narrow pathways further increase the risk of harassment and violence.<\/li>\n
  2. Excluding public spaces:<\/strong> Streets, squares, and parks often fail to consider women\u2019s needs in their design, creating unsafe environments that drive women to avoid these spaces as a form of self-protection.<\/li>\n
  3. Neglected caregiving burden:<\/strong> Unequal distribution of essential services, such as nurseries, hospitals, and markets, increases the distances women must travel, thereby amplifying the time and effort spent on unpaid caregiving tasks.<\/li>\n
  4. Greater impact on economically vulnerable women:<\/strong> Women, particularly those with limited income living in informal areas, bear a disproportionate burden due to the lack of essential services like water and sanitation, which jeopardizes their health and reduces their opportunities for education and employment.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    The study reviewed inspiring experiences from cities around the world (such as Vienna in Austria, Ume\u00e5 in Sweden, and Naga City in the Philippines) that successfully adopted “<\/strong>Gender-Sensitive Planning,”<\/strong> which contributed to providing safer and more inclusive public spaces for everyone. Such experiences confirm that achieving “Safe Routes” is a possible and feasible goal.<\/p>\n

    The study concluded with a set of recommendations, including the following:<\/p>\n

      \n
    1. Strengthening Institutional and Political Frameworks:<\/strong> Establishing mechanisms for gender-responsive budgeting, and ensuring women’s active participation in urban planning committees and decision-making.<\/li>\n
    2. Developing Safe Urban Design:<\/strong> Conducting community-led safety audits, spearheaded by women, to improve lighting, widen pavements, and raise safety standards in public transport.<\/li>\n
    3. Relying on Data and Knowledge:<\/strong> Collecting and analyzing gender-disaggregated data to understand women’s travel patterns, and incorporating gender and planning topics into academic curricula.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

      Nehad Aboelkomsan, ECWR\u2019s chairwoman, stated: “This study comes to affirm the importance of our ‘Safe Routes’ campaign. It reveals that the continued marginalization of women’s needs in urban planning means a waste of opportunity to build productive and safe cities for all. We face a moral obligation and a developmental necessity to redesign our spaces to be nurturing for women, not repelling.”<\/p>\n

      She added, “We call on decision-makers and planners to adopt these recommendations and benefit from global experiences, to transition toward ‘Cities for All,’ where spatial justice is a fundamental pillar for achieving social justice.”<\/p>\n

      To view the full study in Arabic, please click here<\/a><\/p>\n

      [1]<\/a> The person assumed to be able to use transport easily, without any additional needs or special circumstances. That is, a person who does not face physical or sensory disabilities, nor bears responsibilities or requirements that increase the difficulty of their travel, such as carrying children or numerous purchases<\/em><\/p>\n

      [\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row]<\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

      [vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text css=”” el_class=”force-left “] Cairo, 10th of December 2025 The Egyptian Center for Women\u2019s Rights (ECWR) has issued a new study titled: “Cities Without Women: How Does Urban Planning Exclude Women from Public Space?” This is part of its online campaign, “Safe Routes,” which was launched in conjunction with the 16 Days of Activism Against […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1499,1674],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10779","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-press-release","category-publications-en"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ecwronline.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10779","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ecwronline.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ecwronline.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ecwronline.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ecwronline.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=10779"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/ecwronline.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10779\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10935,"href":"https:\/\/ecwronline.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10779\/revisions\/10935"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ecwronline.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=10779"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ecwronline.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=10779"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ecwronline.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=10779"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}