Urban form, mobility, gender and sustainability – examples from

Denmark and China

Professor Petter Næss,

Aalborg University, Denmark

(with part-time positions at Oslo University College and Institute of Transport Economics, both in Norway)

Urban development and gender mainstreaming

• “Gender mainstreaming” is incorporated as a goal in the EU Amsterdam Treaty and refers to a process that seeks to advance gender equality by revising all mainstream policy arenas

• Are there any potential conflicts between goals of gender mainstreaming within the field of transportation and sustainable mobility? How could the two goals be reconciled

• How can urban planning contribute to gender mainstreaming within the transportation sector?

• The presentation will show results from studies of residential location and travel in a Danish and a Chinese urban region and discuss these results in 3 scenarios for future gender roles

Why does the amount of travel depend more on metropolitan-scale than on local-scale built environment characteristics?

• For most travel purposes, most people do not necessarily choose the closest facility, but rather they travel a bit further if they can then find a better facility. This is especially true as regards workplaces.

• Travel distances therefore depend more on the location of the dwelling relative to large concentrations of facilities than on the distance to the closest facilities

• People who live close to the city center have a large number of facilities within a short distance from the dwelling and therefore do not have to travel long, even if they are very selective as to the quality of the facility

• Since travel distances are often short, inner-city residents carry out a higher proportion of trips by bike or on foot

But….• There are gender differences in this!• Among women, the amount of travel is

influenced nearly as much by the location of the dwelling relative to local centers as by its location relative to the main city center

• Among men, the location of the dwelling relative to the main city center is the clearly most important urban structural factor influencing the amount of travel, whereas its location relative to local centers shows little influence

Commuting distances and travel modes for journeys to work, Copenhagen

A similar pattern is found in Hangzhou Metropolitan Area too (as well as in Oslo, cf. Hjorthol, 1998)

Traveling distances on weekdays, controlled for other investigated variables than the location of the dwelling

relative to the city center of Hangzhou

Gender differences in activity patterns and responsibilities

More frequently represented among women:• Wage-laborer life-form

(when workforce participant)

• Distance decay• Care-taking/family

obligations

More frequently represented among men:• Career-oriented life form• Life-form of the self-

employed• Money-making lifestyle

Gender differences in access to and attitudes towards different modes of travel.

More frequently represented among women:• Limited or no access to

private car• Positive attitudes toward

other modes than the car• Not much fascination with

speedy driving or the car as a symbol of status

More frequently represented among men:• High access to private car• Car-oriented attitudes• Symbolic values attached

to car ownership and driving

Rationales for location of activities in a gender perspective

More frequently represented among women:• Minimizing spatial

traveling distance• Minimizing travel time• Minimizing economic

expenses

More frequently represented among men:• Choosing facilities where

the instrumental purpose can best be met

Some conclusions• The location of the dwelling relative to the main center of

the metropolitan area tends to influence overall traveling distances, commuting distances as well as travel modes more strongly among men than among women

• Both in Copenhagen and Hangzhou, women’s accessibility is more equal to that of men if they live in the inner districts.

• Among suburbanites, there is a clear tendency that women find it necessary to choose among a narrower range of job opportunities and leisure facilities than their male counterparts.

• Both from a feminist and sustainability perspective, a more dense urban development, with proximity between the different facilities, should be encouraged rather than urban sprawl

Scenario 1: Existing predominating gender roles persist

• In a situation where existing gender roles persist in terms of domestic responsibilities and the privilege of using the car if the household has only one such vehicle at its disposal, dense urban structures will provide a high and fairly equal accessibility to facilities for both genders

• With these gender roles, a dispersed city structures will provide a high accessibility for men and a low accessibility for women.

• The dispersed urban structures will also facilitate less environmentally sustainable mobility patterns compared to more dense urban structures.

Scenario 2: Women adopt male mobility patterns

• If gender mainstreaming in transport is achieved through an adoption of traditionally male traveling patterns by women, a dense urban structure will provide fairly high accessibility to facilities for both genders, although congestion may make accessibility somewhat lower than in the previous scenario

• In this scenario, a dispersed urban structure will provide fairly high accessibility to facilities for women as well as for men, although the large amount of car travel may imply congestion levels reducing traffic flows along suburban roads as well as in the inner city

• This gender role scenario, and especially its dispersed variant, is the least favorable one in terms of environmental sustainability

Scenario 3: Men adopt female mobility patterns

• In a situation where men adopt traditional female mobility patterns with moderate traveling distances and a high proportion of travel by feet, bike and public transport, a dense urban structure will provide a high accessibility to facilities for both women and men

• With these gender roles, a dispersed urban structure will provide low accessibility for both genders

• In terms of environmental sustainability, this gender role scenario implies a lower environmental impact of urban travel. In particular, the combination of female mobility patterns and a dense urban structure enhances sustainable mobility