The Her City Toolbox is an initiative managed by the United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-Habitat) and the Shared City Foundation, and funded by the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida), the Swedish Innovation Agency (Vinnova), and Global Utmaning. It supports local governments and other urban actors to scale up and mainstream girls’ and young women’s participation in planning, therefore supporting urban development from a girls’ and young women’s perspective.
Including girls’ unique perspectives and needs is crucial for building cities that are inclusive, equal, and sustainable. Participatory processes in public planning are essential for hearing the voices of girls and involve them in urban development. The purpose of the initiative is to make methods and tools for mainstreaming girls’ and young women’s participation as part of the city’s long-term plan available to local governments and other urban actors globally.
Why girls’ and young women’s participation matter?
By 2050, it is estimated that 70% of the world’s population will live in urban areas. Poor planning often results in widening gaps between different social groups in the city. Helping disadvantaged social dwellers is critical for local governments to advance towards an inclusive and sustainable future.
Girls and young women are among the most vulnerable and neglected. From the age of eight, 80% of the public spaces can be dominated by boys, and girls and young women express that they feel significantly more insecure and excluded. Participatory urban development involving girls and young women creates opportunities for more sustainable, inclusive, and equitable urban futures.
The initiative provides municipal professionals, urban actors, and local decision-makers with a toolbox for mainstreaming youth, gender, and socioeconomic perspectives by strategically involving girls and young women in urban planning and design.
“Women’s everyday experience of the urban space is important to ensure sustainable urban development. Her City builds on the active participation of girls and women in the planning and design process, ensuring the quality of the city,” said Yasmeen Dinath, from the Johannesburg Development Agency.
Building the capacity to listen to girls and young women
The toolbox consists of a wide range of resources, knowledge products, training materials, and features an open-source digital platform, KoBo Toolbox, which allows users to collect, analyze, and manage data efficiently for surveys and research.
It is organized in 9 building blocks, representing the three phases of urban development, as a digital guideline for co-planning cities from girls’ and young women’s perspectives.
“Her City is our way to make solutions and tools available for everyone, from feminist activists, decisionmakers and the private sector. By working together, our future will be her future,” UN-Habitat Executive Director Maimunah Mohd Sharif said.
Impact stories
To date, Her City has partnered with 430 initiatives and projects with 1,500 registered users in 540 cities, and 125 countries. The initiative has launched 25 partnership projects and fully implemented 13 initiatives in Africa, the Middle East, Latin America, Asia, and Europe.
In Botkyrka, Sweden, the first pilot project “#UrbanGirlsMovement” resulted in an outdoor living room that was developed together with girls and young women. In consultation with the girls, White Architects, and the municipality of Botkyrka, designed a temporary pop-up to test some of the elements from the project.
The Her City project in Beirut, Lebanon, regenerates and upgrades public spaces that have been affected by the blast in 2020. The team adopted gamification by collecting data on girls’ and young women’s preferences through redesigning the space in Minecraft.
“Today I discovered I have a passion for design. When I grow up, I want to be an architect to design nice spaces in my neighbourhood,” says a 15-year-old participant in the project.
Getting inovolved
The Her City Toolbox is more than just a planning resource—it is a call to action for cities to center the voices of girls and young women in shaping the urban future. By equipping local governments and urban practitioners with structured, inclusive tools and methods, this initiative is helping transform girls and young women from passive urban dwellers into active changemakers.
Register at https://hercity.org/register to start the journey and assess the toolbox.
