Gendered Spaces in Developing Cities: Services and Infrastructure Planning in Kampala City Uganda

The understanding of space use in cities differs due to variations in planning experiences across the developed and developing world. This paper focuses on equal access to spaces with infrastructure and services that meet the residential, travel, commercial and leisure needs of women and men at neighborhood to city level. Triangulated data from Kampala city, Uganda’s capital, showed that women often prefer physical and social spaces that offer personal security, flexible mobility, hygiene and physical comfort while performing their domestic and commercial travels. Men on the other hand, were primarily concerned about quality alternative travel modes, adequately-lit streets, sufficient road safety measures and directional signage, which can guarantee punctuality, security and convenience as they drive and cycle around the city for connectivity to public utilities. But planning at city level is based on economic and environmental principles that overlook these gender differences in the use of physical and social spaces, which ultimately leads to the delivery of infrastructure and services that are less aligned to end-user needs. The paper therefore draws implications on how the design of urban spaces can be made responsive to women’s compared to men’s needs in the context of developing cities.