How to build a feminist city

Abstract

In 2013 in Delhi, a city still reeling from the brutal gang rape and murder of Jyoti Singh on a city bus a year earlier, Dr Kalpana Viswanath and Ashish Bashu co-founded SafetiPin.

The app, which allows users to rate public areas on safety criteria and to pinpoint areas of concern, now has over 51,000 data points in its home city alone. They highlight lighting, visibility, transportation, density and more, and together create a map of exactly where and how the design of the city itself disadvantages women.

SafetiPin and other innovations like it are part of a growing movement around “women-led” or “feminist” cities. These initiatives and campaigns aim to bring a gender perspective to urban planning, transport design and infrastructure in order to create cities that work for everyone.