Assessing Gender Inclusive User Preferences: A case of Urban Public Spaces in Chandigarh

Various global studies have brought out the different advantages of preferred usability for inclusive urban public spaces with a special focus on varying age-groups. However, a knowledge gap exists in identifying the parameters that impact the preferred choice of using urban public space based on gender preferences. Though the essence of public spaces lies in its accessibility and usability to people of diverse cultures, backgrounds and races, the needs of certain gender-defined user groups such as women are often ignored. In view of the same, this study presents the issues associated with gender inclusiveness in urban public spaces in the context of Chandigarh, a utopian city, north of India. The aim is to evaluate the various attributes of urban public spaces that impact the user’s choice. The city’s master plan encompasses a wide variety of urban public spaces of scales varying from the city level to neighborhood to street level. Based on the existing literature review, study validates four constructs namely comfort, image, usage and vitality to analyze the user preference of urban public spaces in Chandigarh. Qualitative research methodology through questionnaire surveys and interviews was adopted for the present research. Study sample comprised of people from five diverse neighborhoods of Chandigarh, each possessing unique socio-economic characteristics. Data was compiled through an intensive mapping activity carried out in the identified neighborhoods including markets to evaluate the user preference based on the identified parameters. The findings of the present study suggest that user-preference by female users is dominantly governed by comfort because of the safety concerns faced by women, while vitality took dominance in case of male user preferences for public space that offer vivid mediums of entertainment and variety of activities. The study concludes that the identified parameters can prove to be vital in making public spaces more gender inclusive. It will further help the planners and designers to discover novel solutions for amplifying the inclusivity and accessibility of public spaces, and thus boosting the recreation levels for a wider range of people