Cases, urban gender planning, women, social cohesion, social rights, equality, gender-responsive
Institutionalising Gender Equality in Urban Planning: The Local Equality Action Plan of Mersin
Mersin Metropolitan Municipality has developed an institutionalised approach to gender equality in urban governance through its Local Equality Action Plan (LEAP). Initiated in 2021 and currently in its second planning cycle (2024–2026), the LEAP is the central framework through which gender-responsive principles are embedded into municipal policy, the LEAP provides a structured approach to integrating gender-responsive principles into municipal policy, service delivery, and organisational culture
Tags: Urban planning, public services, Mersin, women, development, social inclusion, gender inclusion, urban gender planning, civil society
Challenges addressed
1: Gender Sensitive Data Collection
Since 2021, the Equality Unit under the Department of Women and Family Services has started to collect gender-disaggregated data on municipal service users, categorised by gender, age, disability status, and migration background. This data infrastructure underpins evidence-based planning across all municipal departments.
2: Bus Terminal Women’s Counseling Center
Established in 2021 within the intercity bus terminal (MEŞOT), this is the first center of its kind in a bus terminal in Türkiye. It provides a safe first-contact and support point for women in crisis — particularly those fleeing violence or displacement — offering psychological, social, and legal guidance, essential material support, and referral to national protection mechanisms.
Key features of the model include:
- Strategic location: Positioned within a major urban mobility hub, ensuring accessibility for women in crisis situations
- Integrated support services: Provision of psychological, social, and legal guidance, alongside referral mechanisms
- Immediate response capacity: Distribution of essential hygiene and care materials for women and children
- Protection pathways: Coordination with national mechanisms (Violence Prevention and Monitoring Center-ŞÖNİM) for shelter placement
3: Participatory Governance — Monday Talks & Women’s Cycling Programme
Regular structured meetings with women’s NGOs (“Monday Talks”) create a co-production platform where urban challenges are identified and solutions are co-designed. A direct outcome is the Women’s Cycling Programme, promoting safe and inclusive urban mobility for women, anchored at a dedicated stop in Mersin’s most popular coastal park.
4: Gender Mainstreaming in Institutional Culture
The LEAP is supported by mandatory gender equality orientation training for all new municipal employees and a Gender-Sensitive Language Guide, embedding equality principles into the day-to-day functioning of the municipality
Main objectives
The LEAP addresses the structural challenge of gender neutrality in urban governance — whereby planning decisions, service design, and institutional practices default to assumptions that fail to account for differentiated needs and experiences. Specific objectives include:
- Making gender inequality visible through systematic, disaggregated data on urban service users
- Ensuring that women in crisis can access support at critical moments and locations within the city
- Enabling civil society to co-produce urban equality policies, moving beyond consultation to genuine participation
- Embedding gender equality into organisational culture, so that it becomes a shared institutional responsibility rather than the remit of a single unit
- Creating a continuous, monitored, and adaptive planning framework that evolves across successive cycles
Facts
| Project type | Institutionalised approach to gender equality in urban governance |
| Partnership |
LEAP was developed within the framework of the Women-Friendly Cities Programme in Türkiye |
| Start date | Initiated in 2021 and currently in its second planning cycle (2024–2026) |
| Funding |
UNFPA and European Union |
Project description
Mersin Metropolitan Municipality has developed an institutionalised approach to gender equality in urban governance through its Local Equality Action Plan (LEAP). Initiated in 2021 and currently in its second planning cycle (2024–2026), the LEAP is the central framework through which gender-responsive principles are embedded into municipal policy, the LEAP provides a structured approach to integrating gender-responsive principles into municipal policy, service delivery, and organisational culture
The LEAP was developed within the framework of the Women-Friendly Cities Programme in Türkiye and reflects a sustained commitment that predates this programme. Rather than a single project, the LEAP represents a governance model that integrates four interrelated practice areas, each contributing to the overarching objective of gender-responsive urban planning.
Key success Factors
- Institutional anchoring: a dedicated Equality Unit with sustained mandate and resources ensures continuity beyond individual projects or political cycles
- Multi-cycle planning: three LEAP cycles since 2021 have built institutional learning, adaptation, and credibility
- Integration rather than addition: gender equality is embedded into mainstream municipal systems — data collection, HR, training, planning — rather than maintained as a parallel structure
- Strategic spatial innovation: the bus terminal counseling center demonstrates how existing urban infrastructure can be repurposed as a social protection entry point
- Structured civil society engagement: Monday Talks provide a regular, co-production platform that generates concrete programmatic outcomes
- Practical cultural tools: the Gender-Sensitive Language Guide operationalises inclusion at the level of everyday institutional communication
Participatory plan development: involvement of public institutions, civil society, and community groups in LEAP design ensures broad ownership
Impact and results
- Share of women in the municipality rose from 17% (2019) to 26.8% — reflecting internal institutional transformation
- The bus terminal center reached over 3,800 women; 75 women facilitated into shelter since 2021
- Equality Award (2022) by Social Democrat Foundation; model replicated by other municipalities in Türkiye
- Monday Talks recognised by the International Observatory on Participatory Democracy (2025) as a good practice in citizen participation
- 3rd LEAP cycle (2027–2029) in preparation, demonstrating sustained multi-term commitment
- Women’s Cycling Programme operational with dedicated infrastructure and regular safety training in public space
Lessons for Peer Learning
For municipalities seeking to develop or strengthen gender-responsive urban governance, Mersin’s experience offers the following transferable insights:
On institutionalisation:
- A Local Equality Action Plan is most effective as a governance instrument — not a one-off document — when paired with monitoring mechanisms, iterative cycles, and genuine political commitment
- Internal transformation (HR practices, language, training) and external urban impact are mutually reinforcing: start both simultaneously
On data and evidence:
- Disaggregated data — by gender, age, disability, and migration status — is a prerequisite for identifying invisible inequalities and justifying targeted interventions
- Integrating data collection into existing service systems is more sustainable than building parallel monitoring structures
On spatial and service innovation:
- Urban transport infrastructure can be reimagined as social protection infrastructure — the bus terminal model is replicable with modest adaptation
- Locating support services at points of crisis and transit dramatically increases accessibility for the most vulnerable women
On participation:
- Participatory platforms are most impactful when regular, structured, and linked to concrete decision-making — not limited to consultation
- Co-produced programmes (such as the cycling initiative) build civil society ownership and sustain engagement over time
On scalability:
- The bus terminal center model has already been replicated by other municipalities in Türkiye, confirming its transferability
- Practical tools (language guides, orientation training) can shift institutional culture incrementally and at low cost — making them highly replicable
.
