The ACT Gender Sensitive Urban Design Framework and Toolkit demonstrated excellence in best practice for how urban spaces can be effectively designed to be inclusive, accessible, and safe to all members of the community.
The framework and toolkit serve as a comprehensive guide to achieving best-practice urban design outcomes for the public realm.
The ACT Government through the ACT Women’s Plan 2026 is investing in practical initiatives to improve gender equality including the inclusiveness of Canberra’s public spaces.
The GSUD Framework and Toolkit is an evidence-based research report that sets out expectations and guides the delivery of best-practice urban design outcomes for the public realm through a gender lens. The project synthesises research and insights, gathered through extensive literature review, consultation, and place audits, into recommendations for progressive and effective strategies tailored to the ACT context.
It consists of three key documents: 1. An extensive global literature review; 2. The GSUD Framework that sets out the principles to achieve gender sensitive urban places generated from the consultation, research, and analysis; 3. GSUD Implementation Toolkit, a practical guide that examines common gender-related public realm inequalities and challenges, offering recommendations to remedy and resolve them. The Toolkit is for use by practitioners and the community alike who are interested in the places in which they live – extending beyond the borders of the ACT. The project was led by PLACE Laboratory in collaboration with Communication Link, Oculus, and Inhabit Place.
AWARDS
2023 PIA ACT: Community and Wellbeing