A US-based expert supporting movements for greater public mobility has urged urban planners in the Philippines to consider the “gender dimension” to make public spaces more inclusive and allows better use of infrastructure designed to make users move comfortably.
Benjie de la Peña, CEO of the Shared-Use Mobility Center (SUMC) and chair of the Global Network for Popular Transportation, said buildings, walkways or sidewalks, and transport terminals should not be mere infrastructures as they must be public spaces where people should be able to move comfortably.
“Engineers tend to think of efficiency and movement alone and don’t think about the waiting part, right? … It’s always about the moving and not about the waiting. But in a good system, you think about how it is to wait and dwell,” he told participants of the recent Philippine Mobility Series “Mobility Chat.”
De la Peña cited how women and caregivers have different trip patterns from men and regular office workers, hence, the significance to also create mobility hubs for women, as well as caregivers.
Their analysis noted that in most cities, available public transport services go to the employment areas and serves particular times, but that’s not how women and caregivers move.
“They sometimes have to stop over at school to drop off the kids, or on the way home, stop over and pick up a grocery, or if they’re caring for someone older, they have to take them to the doctor or to the pharmacy. And so, none of the public transportation systems are particularly friendly to that,” said the Filipino urban transport expert.
After interviewing 100 women aged 11 to 95 on their transportation needs and challenges, De la Peña noted how the framework they designed had radically changed when the gender dimension was added.
“If we design for the people with the most challenges, it works better for everyone else,” De la Peña said.
In a country where comprehensive and inclusive urban planning seems to be an afterthought, the quality of our infrastructure and public spaces could certainly benefit from better and more thoughtful design and execution.
One prime example of this failure is that walkability, which is the most basic requirement, can hardly be achieved consistently in most towns and cities. That is an indicator of just how much work needs to be done to make our public spaces fit for humans, which is a long way from world class standards, but it is what our public officials will have to target for the meantime.*
