The 2024 Women
in Urbanism Survey
Women's Experiences
in our City
Women in Urbanism Aotearoa (WiUA) and Arup together recognise the traditional custodians of the land we together call Aotearoa, New Zealand. We extend our respects to Te Tai Tokerau, Tāmaki Hauraki, Tainui, Tauranga Moana, Te Arawa Waka, Mātaatua, Te Tai Rāwhiti, Tākitimu, Hauāuru, Te Moana O Raukawa, Te Tau Ihu Waipounamu and Rēkohu/ Wharekauri, Waipounamu and Rēkohu/Wharekauri whom reside across Aotearoa.
Working in partnership, WiUA and members of Arup’s Community Engagement Programme identified an agreed need to better understand the experiences of wāhine (inclusive of binary folk and transwoman) and girls across Aotearoa as they choose to move through and use or choose not to use public spaces and transport across the urban environment.
Arup have extended a survey previously done by WiUA to update and reassess our understanding of wāhines’ experiences in the public realm. translating responses into a visualisation of the difficulties, concerns and lived experiences of wāhine and girls in our communities. It presents WiUA with a publicly accessible and interactive visualisation dashboard to support their continued work and advocacy.
The results paint a persistent picture of ongoing gender-based violence and intimidation, accompanied by a lack of understanding for how to report such incidents. It highlighted the additional barriers wāhine face when travelling across the public realm, and the resistance they face trying to fit into and utilise a system and exist in spaces which were not designed for them. However, most importantly it presented an overwhelming sense of hope which still exists within our communities and whanau. Wāhine shared limitless visions and unwavering hope for more inclusive spaces and systems designed with and for them.
Please share this dashboard and pdf to support your own advocacy, inform decision making, designing and planning in your work and within your community. The dashboard is interactive with results pulled directly from survey responses. The supporting pdf is free to download and summarises the dashboard results with supporting information, background and acknowledgements.
For any technical questions related to data and visualisation please email brittany.mark[at]arup.com
This work discusses sensitive topics related to women’s experiences. Support lines are provided below for your safety. Please take care. Thank you for being here, for advocating with and alongside us. For consistently showing up and for your strength in demonstrating unwavering hope. This work has just begun.
Lifeline provides free, confidential support 24/7 from highly trained staff and volunteers to assist with emotional issues, anxiety, abuse and more whenever you need it. You can call 0800 543 3541 or send a text to ‘4357’
Manaaki Tāngata Victim Support provides free, confidential support 24/7 for people directly affected by crime and traumatic events, including their whānau and witnesses.
Crimestoppers is an independent agency that allows you to anonymously report a crime or incident, by calling 0800 555 111 or completing an online report. If you are in immediate danger please phone 111. For police non-emergencies call 105.
Community Groups: Manawa Māori is a leading provider in Te reo revitalisation and reclamation of Māori culture. Follow them @manawamaori on instagram.
Neighbourhood NZ is a community centered charity hosting events and initiatives to foster human connection and unite communities through conversation, compassion and collective change. Follow them @neighbourhoodnz.
Traditionally, city planning has not taken into account the differences of marginalised groups. Historically, urban planning has often been designed with a bias towards the needs and experiences of men, neglecting the diverse needs and perspectives of women, and other marginalised groups. Women, for example, can have significantly different travel needs and patterns to men. This includes higher safety concerns and more complicated travel patterns caused by trip-chaining (e.g. picking up children and doing some shopping on the way home from work). But our cities are not often designed to support the ways in which women, (also children, the elderly, people with disabilities, Wāhine Māori and Pasifika women and other marginalised groups) use our urban environments.
Often these experiences of marginalised groups in our cities are not well documented, leading to their experiences going unnoticed and unrecognised in urban planning. This is why Women in Urbanism Aotearoa and Arup put this survey together, to ensure designers, decision makers and those who contribute to the design and build of our cities have a better understanding of how those who have historically been let down by poor planning, can be accounted for in their work.
This survey followed on from our 2018 survey, which found that more than 75% of women had experienced harassment while using public transport, walking or cycling. This is unacceptable.
The purpose of this survey was to understand how women/wāhine and girls/kōtiro feel while moving around their cities and what factors influence their experience when traveling from to/from home. The findings from this survey will also be used by Women in Urbanism Aotearoa and Arup to help our work in shaping our urban areas to be fairer and more equitable - ensuring that our organisations have the latest data and remain evidence based.
When we referred to “women” in the survey, we were referring to all women (cis and transgender). Wāhine, the Reo translation of the word women, was included alongside as Te Reo is the official language of Aotearoa New Zealand.
When we referred to “girls” in the survey, we were referring to all girls (cis and transgender) who are 16 and older. Kōtiro, the Reo translation of the word girls, was included alongside as Te Reo is the official language of Aotearoa New Zealand.
The purpose of this survey was to understand how women/wāhine and girls/kōtiro feel while moving around their cities and what factors influence their experience when traveling. This was not meant to exclude or discriminate against men and boys, but rather to focus on women and girls who have different perspectives and challenges in this area. Gathering this data on a regular basis allows us to identify trends and experiences amongst women and girls using evidence-based insight.
We worked with Arup, who has convened a Technical Advisory Group/Hunga hangarau to ensure that the content produced, how we communicated about the survey, and the space we held for all women/wāhine and girls/kōtiro while taking the survey was all technically, culturally and ethically sound. In addition to gender and cultural specialists at Arup, the Technical Advisory Group is made up of various professionals from University of Auckland, Victoria University of Wellington, and Auckland Transport.
Arup is a global sustainable development consultancy whose fundamental aim is to serve society and deliver meaningful work for a more sustainable development within the built environment. As an organisation, they have committed themselves to the 17 UN Sustainability Development Goals (UNSDGs), two of which will be carried out through this project:
1. UNSDG Goal 5: Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls
2. UNSDG Goal 11: Make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable
Partnering with their Community Engagement team has allowed us to use their expertise in data analysis, dashboard creation and storytelling to craft, distribute, summarise and visualise the survey results.
A key part of the project was to have a more inclusive approach to survey outreach. Arup have set the project metrics of a 50% increase in the number of Māori and Pasifika women and girls who see and complete the survey. To achieve this, Arup and the Technical Advisory Group/Hunga hangarau developed a survey distribution plan that goes beyond the traditional WiUA channels and includes media (radio, social media) targeted to Māori and Pasifika audiences. As ambassadors of the project, the Hunga hangarau shared the survey to contacts, which are reflective of this population.
