Housing and Neighborhood Design: Analyzing Gender

The Challenge

Integrating gender analysis into architectural design and urban planning processes can ensure that buildings and cities serve well the needs of all inhabitants: women and men of different ages, with different family configurations, employment patterns, socioeconomic status and burdens of caring labor (Sánchez de Madariaga et al., 2013).

Method: Analyzing Gender

Analyzing gender in architectural and urban design can contribute to constructing housing and neighborhoods that better address people’s everyday needs, by fully integrating caring issues—caring for children, the elderly, and disabled—into research design. 

Gendered Innovations:

1. Integrating gender expertise into housing and neighborhood design and evaluation is well underway, especially in Europe, and will improve living conditions for its residents, particularly parents, children, and the elderly.
2. Gender-aware housing and neighborhood design will improve pedestrian mobility and use of space for women and men of different ages, care duties, and physical abilities.