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• The Atlantic Cities SEP 16, 2013 "What made the project unique was that we worked to define the needs of the people using the space first and then looked for technical solutions," Kail says. "Very often it is the opposite, where technical or aesthetic solutions determine the end result." Following completion of Women - Work -City, city officials turned their attention to Vienna's network of public parks and commissioned a study to see how men and women use park space. What they found was surprising. The study, which took place from 1996 to 1997, showed that after the age of nine, the number of girls in public parks dropped off dramatically, while the number of boys held steady. Researchers found that girls were less assertive than boys. If boys and girls would up in competition for park space, the boys were more likely to win out. City planners wanted to see if they could reverse this trend by changing the parks themselves. In 1999, the city began a redesign of two parks in Vienna's fifth district. Footpaths were added to make the parks more accessible and volleyball and badminton courts were installed to allow for a wider variety of activities. Landscaping was also used to subdivide large, open areas into semi - enclosed pockets of park space. Almost immediately, city officials noticed a change. Different groups of people -- girls and boys -- began to use the parks without any one group overrunning the other. M. l- py- A city park in Vienna. Photo courtesy of David Bohmann. People have started to pay attention. In 2008, the United Nations Human Settlements Program included Vienna's city planning strategy in its registry of best practices in improving the living environment. Vienna's park redesign project, along with a program to create a gender mainstreaming pilot district, has even been nominated for the United Nations Public Service Award, a badge of honor recognizing efforts to improve public administration.