The design of towns and cities and of buildings is an area that concerns everyone, and is a subject area that, while being technical, also has great social significance. For instance, the Social City and Urban Reconstruction East programmes at federal level are fostering social cohesion, the avoidance of social trouble-spots and the structural change in Eastern Germany. Gender plays a role in all of this.

The subject area building and urban planning covers urban planning law, national and international urban planning policy, matters of building culture, building technology and energy supply. Upon closer inspection, a male norm lurks behind supposedly neutral technical specifications. Conventional norms and procedures in urban planning clearly bear the mark of their constructors, planners and architects, who are more often than not male. In addition, a perspective that is focused on male full-time workers ignores different gender-specific needs as regards mobility and transport, safety, supply structure and use of public spaces. Gender Mainstreaming aims to integrate the perspective of gender equality between women and men into building and urban planning. GM then makes a significant contribution to the development of urban centers as socially sustainable, democratic places for working and living with a high level of quality of life for all the people.


There are a few gender aspects that are often important for building policy.