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Time of India
8 hours ago
- General
- Time of India
Towards a safer city for women
A public toilet with hooks behind the door or a closet for women's handbags, and street lights pointed at the footpaths instead of being fixed on dividers, are just some of the designs presented by the Gender and Policy Lab (GPL) of Greater Chennai Corporation in its manual on inclusive infrastructure. This manual takes into account the safety and other needs of women, as well as those of persons with disabilities. "Women use public toilets more than men, but there are invariably two men's toilets, including a urinal, as against one for women," says Vaishnavi Chidambaranathan, Policy Expert at GPL. "In the case of bus shelters, good lighting is crucial. The empty lots behind bus shelters shouldn't be dead spaces so that they remain safe for everyone." As for parks, women mostly come with their children and hence look for play equipment, she says. "Open gyms in parks should also take into account women's specific needs." The project will span parks, beaches, streets, public shelters, open and closed markets, urban delivery centres, subways, foot overbridges, spaces under flyovers, and transit hubs. The keywords are safety, comfort, and accessibility. Once these components are integrated, women will automatically start using public spaces more, which will lead to better safety overall, says Vaishnavi. "That would be the ideal outcome. " Research shows 80% of women rate Chennai as a safe city, and hence it is ahead in terms of mobility and affordability for women. "But there are several areas where we can do better," says Vaishnavi. "We are not trying to get women out of their homes; we are trying to make their experiences in public spaces better." The inclusive recommendations are already being integrated into new bus shelters, parks, and footpath designs, and are also being used to improve existing infrastructure. Recently, 250 engineers from 15 zones of the GCC were provided with training on embedding inclusive design principles into everyday infrastructure. As part of the launch of the manual, a photography exhibition, Aval Idam, is on at the Thiruvanmiyur MRTS Park in Chennai. The photographs, the outcome of an open submission call, depict women occupying public spaces for leisure, commute, work, and more. "About 21 artists have captured the way women navigate, engage with, and shape Chennai's public spaces," says Gayatri Nair, Founder of Kala Collective, which has collaborated with the GPL for the project. The exhibition is on until June 15.
The Hindu
2 days ago
- General
- The Hindu
Voices of Chennai women take centre stage at Chennai Corporation exhibition
'I have been taking public transport — the bus and the local train — while working from various parts of the city to reach my home in Perungudi, and I have always felt safe. I have been bold,' said Vijiya, a 56-year-old worker with the Greater Chennai Corporation (GCC), at the photography exhibition — 'Aval Idam' by the civic body's Gender and Policy Lab on Friday. She said women in Chennai had become more independent and free compared to the past years and the city's infrastructure had been improved to meet their needs. At the event organised by the GCC with the Chennai Photo Biennale and The Kala Collective, at the Thiruvanmiyur MRTS Park, Chennai Mayor R. Priya released a design guide — 'Inclusive Design Manual' — for gender-inclusive and accessible urban infrastructure. The exhibition will go on till July 15. The guide covers general design policies for 12 types of public infrastructures such as parks, beaches, streets, public spaces, open and closed markets, e-service centres, subways, foot overbridges, and spaces under flyovers. According to the GCC, inputs were collected from experts and a range of user groups, including people of different genders, ages and abilities, before finalising the guide. Advaita, a student of Indian Institute of Technology, Madras (IIT-M), said, although Chennai is much better regarding safety compared to New Delhi, her recent visit to Kannagi Nagar changed her perspective as locals pointed out to her places which are unsafe for anyone, let alone women. A native of Kerala, she said, 'Privilege has to be acknowledged and better amenities are needed,' she added. Shanthi Radhakrishnan, 53, who moved from Bengaluru to Chennai 18 years ago said the safety infrastructure, especially roads were better in Chennai. Sakthivel of Vyasai Thozhargal, a photographer whose work has been featured at the exhibition, said, in North Chennai, people of all genders speak up when they see something amiss and question the wrongdoers. While writing in Bengali to her friend in West Bengal at the booth set up by the GCC, where people can send postcards about their favourite places in Chennai, Shayanthika says that her favourite spot is the Thiruvanmiyur MRTS Park. She appreciates it for its gym equipment and the ample walking space it provides for her elderly mother.
New Indian Express
3 days ago
- General
- New Indian Express
GCC releases gender-inclusive guidelines manual for urban infrastructure design
CHENNAI: Greater Chennai Corporation (GCC) Mayor R Priya on Friday launched the city's first gender-inclusive urban design manual. Prepared by the GCC's gender and policy lab (GPL) with financial backing from the Nirbhaya Fund, the manual outlines detailed, gender-sensitive urban infrastructure design guidelines aimed at ensuring safety, accessibility and usability of public spaces for all — particularly women, trans persons and non-binary persons, children, persons with disabilities, elderly individuals, and others. The launch was made following the 'Aval Idam' event, a photo exhibition held at MRTS Park in Thiruvanmiyur curated to celebrate women in public spaces. The manual was initiated in August 2023 and developed through a research process beginning March 2024. Twelve key types of public infrastructure — including parks and playgrounds, beaches, spaces under flyovers, bus shelters, transit stations, subways and foot overbridges, streets, open and closed markets, urban delivery centres, community halls, shelters for the urban homeless, and public toilets — were studied. The research combined spatial audits, observational studies, and in-depth discussions with over 80 users such as sanitation workers, migrant women, young girls, trans persons and persons with disabilities to understand barriers they face in navigating and accessing public infrastructure. The manual identifies structural gaps in urban design that hinder inclusion -- such as dim lighting, broken footpaths, absence or inaccessible toilets, lack of signage, absence of seating, and unsafe or poor surveillance areas — and offers a set of actionable design guidelines and a practical checklist for engineers, architects, and civic planners. For example, in parks and playgrounds, the study found that only 30% of users were women, many of whom cited inadequate toilets (24%), poor infrastructure (20%), and a lack of adult-friendly leisure elements such as swings and others. The guidelines recommend multiple entrances to make entry and exit accessibility to adjacent roads, low-height permeable boundary walls, edge seating using ledges or steps, pathway widths of at least 2.5m, play areas segmented for toddlers, children, and young adults, indoor play facilities, adult gym equipment, proper toilets, changing rooms, mother-feeding rooms, drinking water, universal accessibility, and lighting with a minimum 50 lux intensity.
