Welcome to the ‘Gender-inclusive Cities’ project website.

This project investigates gender walks as an inclusive and practical approach to knowledge-gathering in urban planning and design. Grounded in gender-sensitive design, the research responds to persistent gender-based inequalities in cities. Recognising the complexity of intersectional urban experiences, the project explores the potential of walking—simple yet effective—as a method for engaging with lived realities. With different sorts of research collaborations (2022-2026), the project examines how gender and intersecting forms of inequality shape everyday urban life, governance, and spatial politics, and aims to support gender-transformative urban development through feminist research and practice.

Learn more about this project.

Take Part

  • We have recently launched the Maternal Spaces Research in collaboration with P+HS Architects, inviting mothers and caregivers of young children in Newcastle (UK) to share their experiences of the city centre through a short survey.
  • We welcome academics undertaking ethnographic or qualitative research on gender-inclusive spaces and cities to join our ongoing conversations. You can explore recordings and materials from previous talks here. If you are interested in sharing your work with us, please drop us a message.
  • We also invite local residents who wish to carry out a walk audit of streets or neighbourhoods in their community to help build consensus around desired changes. We encourage you to join our upcoming events and gender walks.
  • If you are city planners or engineers who might conduct a walk audit with community members to inform the planning or design process for local streets of the city, please feel free to contact us.
  • We also welcome collaboration with researchers working in related fields. We are keen to learn from different approaches, exchange ideas, and explore opportunities for joint funding applications. If you are interested in collaborating with us, please drop us an email here.

Please read the data protection for this research.

Publications

  • Zhu, M., Jin, J., Grimshaw, L., (2025). Urban Gendered Spaces: A Spatial Perspective to Sexual Crimes. 33rd Annual GIS Research UK Conference (GISRUK). University of Bristol, UK. DOI
  • Jin, J. (2024). Gender Mainstreaming in Urban Public Spaces: Exploring Planning Strategies of Women-friendly Cities via Gender Equity Walks (GEWs). Women and Planning: From theory to practice. Leeds Beckett University, UK.
  • Jin, J. (2024). Navigating Integration: Implementing Intersectional and Culturally Sensitive Strategies for Gender-Inclusive Planning. Women designing and planning for social equality, Zurich University of Applied Sciences, Winterthur, Switzerland. DOI
  • Jin, J., Huang, K. Zhu, M., (2023). Engendering the City: A Participatory Approach to Gender-Responsive Planning and Urban Design in Cairo. In Urban Poetics and Politics in Contemporary South Asia and the Middle East. IGI Global. DOI
  • Jin, J., Bertolino, N., Huang, K., (2022).  In the XXIX International Seminar on Urban Form. ISUF 2022 Urban Redevelopment and Revitalisation. A Multidisciplinary Perspective. Łódź University of Technology Press. Poland. DOI

Explore our detailed publications.