Gender is only one part of who we are. For many women, multiple intersecting realities, such as disability, migration, and age, shape how they move through and experience cities. This webinar, organised by JUST STREETS and the International Federation of Pedestrians, explores and reflect together how different lived experiences shape everyday mobility and access to public space.
Webinar: Gender & youth | 3 February 2026 | 10:00–11:00 CET
Speakers:
- Joke Quintens — Social Designer and founder of Wetopia / Girls Make The City (Brussels & international)
- Tiisetso Mofokeng – Architect-Urban Research Practicioner, PhD Candidate in Urban and Regional Planning at Stellenbosch University (South Africa)
What this session highlights:
- How young women* reimagine and shape their neighbourhoods
- How community, place, and action create inclusive, safer, girl-friendly urban spaces
- Why youth participation and co-creation are key to sustainable and just cities
About:
Girls Make the City addresses persistent gender inequalities embedded in urban public space by focusing on the everyday experiences of girls and young women as pedestrians in their own neighbourhoods, spaces where they are often both highly present and highly vulnerable. Although cities are formally open to all, their design and use remain shaped by male perspectives, leaving many girls feeling unwelcome, unsafe, or invisible and restricting their freedom of movement.
The project responds by placing girls at the centre of urban reflection and action. Through building sisterhood, Girls Make the City enables girls to reclaim their neighbourhoods’ potential and co-create spaces where they feel free, safe, and happy. Using a whole-system, regenerative approach, each edition starts from the specific qualities of place as the basis for solutions. Across five editions in Brussels, Molenbeek, Langa, Athlone and Ostend, girls from diverse contexts collectively developed seven clusters for change. Founder Joke Quintens will present the approach and outcomes, joined by Tiisetso Mofokeng, a partner in the Cape Town editions, reflecting on the project from a Global South perspective.














