It offers an interesting insight into planning issues and their impact upon women. The way we plan our cities affects every aspect of women’s lives from accessing work, training, social activities, leisure and employment. Some great examples of policy making a difference include:

Lewisham’s citywide planning =There is a lot more emphasis built within local planning to reduce long distance travel and greater interest in generating local jobs for all levels. Lewisham, catford, Deptford, New cross and surrey canal road are all sights targeted for new town centre regeneration / development.

Midlands and Yorkshire = Women have been involved in directly saying where childcare should be provided around employment and major transport sites.

Thames Gateway = Used innovative ways to get the views of women who identified toilet provision and staffing at stations as major issues in their planning proposals.

More work needs to be done:

• More women in planning and other built environment sectors
• LA tech departments need to focus on incorporating gendered issues effectively into street management, maintenance, public toilets and street management
• More local statistical data on gendered transport use, travel, access to education and employment
• Gender should be taken more seriously in relation to all aspects of planning and environmental issues.