Impact stories
Since 2021, we have launched 25 partnership projects and fully implemented 13 initiatives in Africa, the Middle East, Latin America, Asia and Europe. Each project is described through an impact story highlighting the project’s challenges, good practices and solutions, outcomes and opportunities, potential impact, lessons learned and recommendations as well as its relevance to related SDGs. The projects have either implemented the entire process or have focused on specific blocks, activities and steps to meet the particular local needs.
The Her City partnership projects have been jointly implemented by UN-Habitat and Shared City Foundation together with our local partners all over the world. Even if the projects vary in geography and character, there are many commonalities between these unique projects such as their focus on youth, on public space, on socio-economic vulnerable contexts.
The first pilot project “#UrbanGirlsMovement” was instrumental in developing the methodology and tools that now are digitalised, made accessible via the Her City platform and scaled to global contexts. It resulted in an outdoor living room that was developed together with young girls in Fittja, Botkyrka. A wider regeneration of the area has sprung out of the process and several actors are taking the designs and the girls’ experiences forward.
The Her City project in Beirut focuses on the two neighbourhoods Mar Mikhael and Gemmayzeh. The targeted public spaces have been affected by the blast in 2020 and the project aims to regenerate and upgrade the urban spaces. The main focus of the project is three public stairs: St Nicholas, Laziza and Vendome stairs. The project is a joint initiative with UN-Habitat Lebanon, Block by Block Foundation and Catalytic Action.
The Her City Chania project is a unique project in the sense that it is a partnership between UN-Habitat and an academic institution: the Chania Technical University of Crete. So far, the academic course “Planning the Smart and Virtual City”, has engaged 40 urban planning undergraduate students with support from the municipality of Chania. They focus on the following public spaces: Korai, N.Foka, 1866square, Daskalogianni, El. Venizelou, Markou Botsari park, Smirnis, Pl Agoras market, Minwos and the Polychronis Polychronidis park.
Under the name “Youth led, Nature – Culture Living Labs in India”, the Delhi projects are a continuation of previous projects carried out at four different sites; Badshahpur Forest Corridor, Wazirabad channel, entry area to Gurugram, Anath Road and Ghazipur settlement. The projects are utilising local culture and knowledge as a foundation for implementing nature-based solutions. The project is a joint partnership between Sida, Swedbio, Beyond Built, Care Earth Trust, UN-Habitat and Global Utmaning.
Through the Haya joint program, UN-Habitat in Palestine together with UN Women and partners have initiated interventions to address and contribute to preventing violence against women and girls in various public spaces in the targeted cities in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. Local authorities, architects, property owners, constructors and other multi-stakeholders have been working alongside marginalised communities, including women and girls, to promote youth leadership and propose recommendations and redesigns for various areas.
The project in Fredriksdal in Helsingborg is a joint collaboration between Helsingborg municipality, UN-Habitat, Block by Block Foundation and Global Utmaning. The area of Fredriksdal is undergoing densification and the ambition is for it to become a child friendly area with accessibility to green spaces.
The project in Flemingsberg “Urban Challenges” is a joint initiative together with a range of private partners (MTR Nordic, Fabege) and Huddinge municipality. The project was facilitated by the civil society organisations Impact Hub and Changers Hub, financed by the Swedish Institute. The project focuses on accessible urban mobility with a specific concentration on safety in public transportation and station areas.
UN-Habitat’s Global Public Space Programme and Global Utmaning first piloted the new digital Her City Toolbox in the Diepsloot township, Johannesburg. Together with the Johannesburg Development Agency (JDA) and the Block by Block Foundation the “Indlela Yabafazi – Women’s Way” project aims at creating safe routes connecting safe public spaces in the informal settlement. Through different tools and digital technologies for participatory planning and community engagement, multi-stakeholders have been working alongside marginalised young women and girls, to redesign the area with a focus on accessibility, affordability, safety and inclusivity of public spaces for all.
The Her City related activities in Kakuma and Kalobeyei in Turkana focus on four sites in the Kakuma Refugee Camp and “Kalobeyei Town” in the Kalobeyei Settlement. This is the first project in an informal settlement that makes use of parts of the methodology and thus provides important lessons and recommendations for a way forward to widen the toolbox to larger groups of vulnerable populations such as refugees and minorities. The project is a continuation of previous interventions in the area.
In Kampala in Uganda, Holistic Action and Dreamtown create spaces with and for women and girls. Using the Her City Toolbox they are co-designing a new space for women in Kamwanyi: Now working on a green rooftop. The space is productive both as a social meeting space and as a space that fosters income opportunities for women. Highlighting the power of urban design by women.
The work is supported by CISUDK with guidance from UN-Habitat and Shared City Foundation.
Under the name “Female builders of an inclusive and resilient city-wide system of public spaces in Lima” the project aims to promote resilience, social cohesion and citywide public policy improvements, lead by Foundacion Avina across several sites: El Rosario, Los Álamos, El Óvalo and El Remanente public spaces. For example, El Cerrito Hermoso park in Pamplona Alta (San Juan de Miraflores) now benefits more than 3,000 neighbors by offering mixed activities such as gardening, shopping and relaxation. It was designed using the toolbox. It is the first step for accessible and functional public spaces in the community of Pamplona Alta
The “Her Streets” project in partnership with the GoDown Arts Centre aims to improve the Dunga and Dundori streets around the upcoming New GoDown Cultural Arts Complex in Nairobi. It aims to make them safer and more inclusive public spaces, accommodating a diversity of shared commercial, social, and cultural activities and inviting all Nairobians to become a part of the new cultural hub.
An independent academic project conducted as part of a master’s thesis by two students at the Bauhaus University Weimar. The project focused on various public spaces in Weimar particularly in the old parts of the town, such as the historic squares Frauenplan, Platz der Demokratie, and Herderplatz, but also Wielandplatz, Seifengasse and Posecksche Garten. The work consisted of a modified application of the Her City toolbox, movement and public life measurements, including a citizen survey with 250 participants. Extensive advocacy work is taking place to sensibilise both decision-makers and the wider public.
Montego Bay
In the Canterbury Community Center and Public Space Project, an initiative of UN-Habitat, Saint James Municipal Corporation, and Sandals Foundation, in transforming Canterbury’s open space into a vibrant, green, and safe community area, enhancing resilience and fostering social cohesion, recreation, and social services. During an intensive month of June, the community was engaged in 7 workshops using the Her City Toolbox.
Pemba
Her City Pemba is Fostering Inclusion and Cohesion among internally displaced people (IDPs) and Host Communities in the Mahate Neighborhood, Mozambique. The upcoming Mahate Action Plan will transform this neighborhood, with a special focus on women and girls. In Pemba, Her City brings tangible change, one neighborhood at a time. Her City fosters locally-owned infrastructure, by empowering local communities, both IDPs and Host Communities.
Chiang Kong
In the Her City Thailand pilot project UNFPA and UN-Habitat conducted neighbourhood assessments with the community in the Chiang Khong district. Adolescent girls and youth from ethnic minority groups participated in activities using the Her City Toolbox including exploratory walks and comparative analysis.
Corvetto
In Her City Corvetto, the multicultural neighbourhood of Corvetto in Milano is battling increasing discrimination and criminality. To change this development Dare.NGO is using theHer City Toolbox together with local girls, 12 local organisations and support from the municipality – providing community based solutions to make it an accessible and safe neighbourhood for all. The participating girls and women have focused on increase security around the Gabriele Rosa Square. Many urban interventions have been suggested such as renovation of the green areas and playground, street emergency buttons and photovoltaic street lamps.
The results
The results from the various projects (some already implemented, others ongoing) shows that, despite geographical context, similar priorities and solutions are proposed by the girls and the multi-stakeholder teams of professionals. One outstanding result is that girls indeed tend to make other priorities and design different solutions than boys. We have seen that the girls tend to value and propose developments that are of a “common good” character with rather long term sustainable consequences for both “people” and “planet”.