How to Design Public Seating for Women

*Lounge seating in a park (Toronto, ON, taken by Nicole Roach).*

Public seating is an essential part of creating vibrant, inclusive, and comfortable spaces for all ages and abilities. Despite seating being so vital to urban life, many cities skimp on benches, use hostile tactics, or lack creativity in seating design. If cities aren’t seriously thinking about their public seating and other placemaking amenities, they run the risk of excluding vulnerable people from accessing and enjoying these shared spaces.

Scroll through this photo essay to explore some of the characteristics of quality public seating for women, girls, and gender-diverse people. The article covers themes of availability, accessibility, comfort, safety, shelter, connection, creativity, and variety.

Availability

The most important thing about public seating is simply it being there. The existence of public seating, and lots of it, is crucially important for everyone, but especially elderly women, women with disabilities, unsheltered women, and women breastfeeding. These particular groups of women, among others, may require more frequent rests along their journeys. When there is a glaring absence of a facility in a public space, this is known as a “ghost amenity”, a term coined by researcher Cara Chellew, for something that “disproportionately affects a lot of people who are vulnerable”.

Increasing the availability of public seating may require wider sidewalks, more parks, and/or taking space from cars to create parkettes, plazas, and other kinds of pedestrian-friendly spaces.

Designing good public seating for women starts with providing it, everywhere.

*Bench seating with artwork next to a garden (Roncesvalles, Toronto, ON, taken by Nicole Roach).*

Lots of seating in a park including a platform, tables and chairs, and large picnic tables (Toronto, ON, taken by Nicole Roach).

Accessibility

Once the seating is in place, it is important that it can be used by all. Accessible seating can take many forms, but it should consider how a person can access the seat, if they can lay down/lean back, and how easy it is to sit there for a long period of time. This excludes facilities known as “hostile architecture” or “defensive urbanism” that adds spikes or separators that limit their access, street furniture that is designed for leaning rather than sitting, seating without backrests, or seating that is too low and/or on the ground and may be challenging to access for those with mobility constraints.

Good public seating for women is accessible for all ages and abilities.

Wavy benches with steel dividers in between sections, which may limit access for people laying down, but may provide benefits for other groups *(Toronto, ON, taken by Nicole Roach).*

Comfort

Making public seating comfortable is also key to attracting people to stay and linger in shared spaces. However, comfort is often overlooked because it can be challenging to provide seating with cushions or other comfortable components because of vandalism, costs, and weather conditions. Despite these barriers, some cities have found creative ways to provide comfortable seating with the use of back rests, angles, and padding.

Designing good public seating for women is comfortable and relaxing.

*Reclined lounge seating in a pocket park (Montréal, QC, taken by Nicole Roach).*

*Fabric lounge chairs with covers in a pocket park (Montréal, QC, taken by Nicole Roach).*

Safety

No matter how available, accessible or comfortable a public seat is, a woman isn’t going to sit there if they don’t feel like they are safe enough to do so. Some key components of making public seating safe is creating animated spaces that offer more “eyes on the street”, having sufficient sightlines, appropriate lighting, and ensuring multiple access points to reduce the risks of being trapped. While some people prefer seating options that are a bit secluded and offer some privacy, it’s best to provide options for everyone to choose the seats that best suit their comfort levels.

The social circumstances that lead to ongoing public safety issues in Canadian cities, and beyond, cannot be addressed with seating alone. However, it is still important to consider design interventions that can support everyone’s safety and well-being.

Designing good public seating for women requires considerations of safety.

*Light-up bench (Vancouver, BC, taken by Nicole Roach).*

*Women sitting on a bench during an open-street festival (Roncesvalles, Toronto, ON, taken by Nicole Roach).*

Shelter

Whether it is sunny, rainy, or whatever weather conditions in between, shelter is critical in providing quality seating (yes, this also includes seating at transit stops!). With summers getting hotter, and women being more susceptible to extreme heat, providing seating with shade is critical. One of the best forms of shelter is good ol’ trees, followed by structures, umbrellas, fabric coverings, and many other options.

Shelter is also incredibly important to enable continued warmth and comfort during the colder winter months. It helps to ensure the seating being built can be used throughout the year, and on any given day.

Designing good public seating for women requires shelter from the elements.

*Picnic benches sheltered by trees in public plaza (Stockholm, Sweden, taken by Nicole Roach).*

Tables and chairs with umbrellas in a pocket park *(Montréal, QC, taken by Nicole Roach).*

Connection

Public seating provides so many benefits, with one very important benefit being how it fosters social connections. For women, and many others, connecting with friends, family, and neighbours socially is critical for social well-being and overall happiness. Creating seating that enables this, such as seats in circles, long tables, and seating at varying heights, makes for comfortable environments to carry on conversations with both large and small groups alike.

Good public seating for women is made to be enjoyed together.

*Circular benches on open street (Montréal, QC, taken by Nicole Roach).*

*Chairs set in a conversation-style configuration on open street (Montréal, QC, taken by Nicole Roach).*

Creativity

Cities have long defaulted to the classic bench for public seating needs (no hate on benches!), but fortunately, many designers are getting more and more creative with their seating options. Some are creating seating that is interactive/gamified, some are exploring seating that transforms to fulfill various purposes, and some are exploring innovative materials and creating new shapes. Women, and especially teen girls, love seating options that are pretty, interesting, and engaging (and for some of us, pink seating is always a welcome addition!).

Designing good public seating for women requires designers to get creative.

*Multi-level seating platforms with pink backrests in pocket park (Montréal, QC, taken by Nicole Roach).*

*Rolling chairs and games alongside wavy benches in public plaza (Stockholm, Sweden, taken by Nicole Roach).*

*On-street parkette with seats, tables, and flowerbeds (Montréal, QC, taken by Nicole Roach).*

*On-street parkette with flowerbeds (Montréal, QC, taken by Nicole Roach).*

Variety

Everyone is different and has different needs when using public spaces. Some may be there to feed pigeons, eat their lunch, play with their kids, read a book, and so many other uses. While it’s difficult (or maybe even impossible!) to design the perfect seat for everyone, it’s best to provide a variety of seating options in parks, plazas, and other shared areas that suit the needs of women and others. This can include benches, swings, chairs, recliners, platforms, picnic tables, stools, planter boxes, and many other creative seating options. You may see the younger folks gravitate towards the swings, while the older people prefer the benches, and that’s exactly why a variety of options is so important.

Creating good public spaces for women means a variety of seating options, suitable for everyone.

*People sitting on platforms, steps, and grass alongside an open-street (Montréal, QC, taken by Nicole Roach).*

*People sitting on concrete platforms and wood benches (Vancouver, BC, taken by Nicole Roach).*

Variety of seating options including tables and lounge chairs (The Forks, Winnipeg, MB, taken by Nicole Roach).

*Open street/pocket parkette with benches, planters, platforms, picnic tables, and lounger chairs (Montréal, QC, taken by Nicole Roach).*

More “Just Right” Seating

In conclusion, there is no ‘one’ public seat that will meet the needs of every woman, and everyone else. There will always be a seat that is too hard or too soft, too high or too low, because the seat that is “just right” is different for everyone. In the absence of a perfect seat, designers must continue to advocate for more public seating, push the boundaries of how we create seats, and to consider the needs and preferences of all the users of a space (including those that have been previously excluded).

Public seating is critical in creating a welcoming, comfortable, and safe environment that women want to sit down and spend time in, so let’s keep working on providing “just right” public seating for as many people as possible.