Designing Streetscapes for Gender Inclusivity

Abstract

Within the US, Los Angeles has been at the forefront of making efforts to factor gender inclusivity into transportation planning. In 2021, LADOT released Changing Lanes: A Gender Equity Transportation Study, which found that LA’s current transportation system is not adequately serving low-income and BIPOC women, girls, and gender minorities. To address these inequities, LADOT is taking the next steps to implement gender-inclusive transportation infrastructure design strategies. This capstone, Designing Streetscapes for Gender Inclusivity, presents case studies on infrastructure that supports walking, biking, rolling, and waiting and strategies that can improve comfort and safety in transportation environments. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with planners from five transportation agencies: the Seattle Department of Transportation, the New York City Department of Transportation, TriMet (Portland Region), the Minneapolis Department of Public Works, and the Austin Transportation Department. Transportation guidelines and plans produced by these agencies were also reviewed. From the information gathered, five case studies were developed, each focusing on a different strategy for improving gender inclusivity in streetscape design: pedestrian street lighting, public seating, bus stop amenities, pedestrian infrastructure, and bike infrastructure. Coupled with an equity-focused and data-driven project prioritization approach that takes gendered differences in travel behavior into account, the implementation of these design strategies can ensure the needs of women, girls, and gender minorities who rely on active transportation and public transit are met.

About the Project

This capstone project was completed in partial satisfaction of the requirements for the degree Master of Urban & Regional Planning at the UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs.