Measuring Youth and Gender Responsiveness of Cities

Cities for Youth is part of an initiative sponsored by the Botnar Foundation, carried out by a consortium of partners, led by Safetipin, India. The project aims to ensure meaningful inclusion of young people’s voices and experiences to create youth and gender responsive cities through data, technology and human-centered design.

It is being implemented in four cities of Rajasthan (Jaipur, Udaipur, Jodhpur and Kota) to create pilots for safe and inclusive urban spaces for young people, especially young women. We partnered with Safetipin and the YP Foundation

to derive gender and youth responsive city indicators to generate relevant and robust data, which could be used to influence urban design and policy frameworks. 

We conducted in-depth individual and group interviews with a total of 40 participants from varied backgrounds and identities to understand their experiences with respect to the city.  Since the interviews were conducted remotely, we went for an observation visit to Udaipur to understand the context behind the experiences shared by participants. We then clustered the findings from the interviews to derive a set of insights and develop our first set of indicators. We obtained user feedback on these directions through testing workshops across the four cities, and develop a final set of indicators refined by user testing. 

We started the project with defining  “urban well-being for youth” in a co-creation session with the project stakeholders. Along with the partners, we were able to identify the major components that influence young people’s access to and participation in the city. The four categories shortlisted under the scope of the project were: public spaces, transit systems, growth opportunities and support services. 

Since young women form a large section of the vulnerable population in a city, this project was focused on creating equitable access to the city for young women. 

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Through the interviews, we realized that young women in particular- irrespective of factors such as their educational background and marital status-  have restricted mobility. To avoid the risk of unwanted interactions with non-family men, they are restricted from accessing the city alone. 

Their sheltered access to the city further reduces their  familiarity with the city, adding a layer of friction to accessing spaces, services and opportunities offered by the city independently for the first time.

We micro-analysed their access to public spaces, transit systems, growth opportunities and support services in the city, to identify aspects of urban design and policy that enable or prevent equitable access for young people. 

Here’s one example:

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Public spaces that shift attention from their users

Young people, especially young women need public spaces where they don’t feel watched because being in the spotlight is likely to attract unwanted looks and (sexual or judgemental) attention

Design Direction

Young people, especially young women need public spaces where they don’t feel watched because being in the spotlight is likely to attract unwanted looks and (sexual or judgemental) attention

Indicators

Percentage of residential area accessible by PT

Percentage of road length with streetlight

Percentage of area under mixed use

Percentage of alcohol shops outside bustling markets

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Public transport stops in every neighbourhood

Young women need to be able to safely and easily walk to public transit stops at any time of the day because otherwise they have to arrange for someone to drop them to the transit stop, reducing their access to public transport.

Design Direction

Increase coverage of transit stops and enhance walkability and perception of safety of the walking paths to the transit stops

Indicators

Percentage of residential area accessible by PT

Percentage of road length with streetlight

Percentage of area under mixed use

Percentage of alcohol shops outside bustling markets

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Growth Opportunities without opportunity costs

Design Direction

Provide growth opportunities at the neighbourhood level with flexible time slots and short duration with clear justification for return on investment

Indicators

Percentage of blocks (or neighbourhoods) that provide growth opportunities with flexible time slots 

Percentage of blocks (or neighbourhoods) that provide learning courses that do not require young people to go without earning for more than 6 months

Percentage of young women and men graduates (school-leavers, university, technical and vocational) who secure employment in their areas of study/training

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Services that feel familiar and approachable

Young people need infrequently visited services (such as police station & shelter homes) to feel familiar and approachable because they feel hesitant accessing them independently for the first time.

Design Direction

Create an approachable interface for infrequently visited services while providing opportunities for young people to familiarise themselves with these services (especially for support services).

Indicators

Percentage of infrequently visited public facilities with formal/ informal help touchpoint (separate from service provider)  such as reception or security guard or digital helpdesks

Percentage of infrequently visited public services with a digital help touchpoint such as a helpline

Percentage of police stations staffed by women police officers

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