Urban Greenspace and Gender
I am conducting a 3-year research fellowship funded by the University of Surrey to explore the role of gender in restorative experiences and nature-health pathways. I am currently conducting empirical research on the influence of gender-related aspects on restorative and wellbeing experiences of nature. These include safety perceptions, gendered stereotypes, gender roles and further intersectional characteristics
I am a member of the FEM. DES. network, the world’s largest feminist design network by The Gendered City, drives inclusive, gender-equal urban spaces
Review study: the role of gender and sex in restorative experiences of urban greenspace
Exposure to urban greenspaces such as parks, forests, and gardens can support psychological restoration. However, restorative environments research currently lacks theory and empirical evidence on gendered restorative processes. In this paper we explored how gender-related socio-cultural norms, attitudes, and behaviours; roles and relations; stereotypes, expressions; identity and sexual orientation, as well as certain sex-related factors, can affect women's (and gender minorities') psychological restoration and wider psychological experiences in urban greenspaces.
Key results:
- gender-related and certain sex-related factors can affect aspects of person-greenspaces interactions, including when greenspaces are accessed and where; why they are visited and with whom; and how greenspaces are experienced.
- Several potential barriers to women's and gender minorities' experiences in urban greenspaces are identified. These relate to visit characteristics (transport accessibility and mobility patterns, frequency, time, social context and purpose of visits), experiences of contextual features (perceived and objective safety, the quality and maintenance of urban greenspace, infrastructure features), and several top-down person and group-based experiences (personal meanings, majority dynamics and group belonging, intersecting sociodemographic and personal characteristics).
- Overall, this might reduce the restorative and psychological benefits of urban greenspaces for women and gender minorities.