Gendered Dimensions of Urban Mobility and Safety

Urban mobility and safety are deeply influenced by gendered social norms, spatial design and systemic inequalities. Women, LGBTQ+ individuals and other marginalised gender groups frequently encounter unique barriers when navigating cities, from the threat of harassment or violence to limitations in transport availability. These challenges shape travel patterns, leading to differences in trip frequency, destination choice and mode selection. Perceived safety—an individual’s assessment of risk—intersects with built-environment features such as lighting, street layout and vehicle design, as well as broader socio-economic factors like income level and access to public services. Understanding how these elements interact is essential for crafting inclusive and equitable urban transport systems. Research in this area has combined quantitative analyses of large mobility datasets, qualitative interviews and participatory planning exercises to reveal not only the extent of gendered disparities but also practical interventions—ranging from enhanced street lighting and gender-responsive vehicle interiors to community-driven safety audits—that can promote safer and more accessible urban journeys for everyone.

Research from Nature Portfolio

Recent large-scale studies using anonymised mobile phone and travel card data have revealed a persistent gender gap in urban mobility: women tend to visit fewer unique locations and distribute their travel time less uniformly compared with men. This disparity is most pronounced in lower-income districts and areas with limited public or private transport options, indicating a complex interplay between socio-economic status, land-use planning and transport provision. By mapping gendered mobility patterns across administrative regions, this research identifies priority zones for targeted infrastructure improvements and policy interventions. The insights underscore the importance of integrating transport accessibility, land-use equity and economic support measures to mitigate gendered mobility constraints and enhance overall urban resilience.

Gendered Dimensions of Urban Mobility and Safety publication trend

The graph below shows the total number of articles in gendered dimensions of urban mobility and safety across all publications each year (not limited to Nature Index journals).

Technical terms

Intersectionality: A framework for analysing how overlapping social identities (such as gender, class and ethnicity) create interconnected systems of disadvantage or privilege.

Perceived safety: An individual’s subjective evaluation of risk in a specific environment, shaped by personal experience, social context and environmental cues.

Urban affordances: Characteristics of the built environment (for example, walkability, lighting and signage) that enable or constrain particular activities.

Gender gap in mobility: Measurable disparities between genders in travel behaviours, including the range of destinations visited and distribution of time spent across locations.

References

1. Crime and safety in transit environments: a systematic review of the English and the French literature, 1970–2020. Public Transport (2022).
2. Fear of Sexual Harassment and Its Impact on Safety Perceptions in Transit Environments: A Global Perspective. Violence Against Women (2021).
3. Women’s mobility and transport in the peripheries of three African cities: Reflecting on early impacts of COVID-19. Transport Policy (2021).