Can Cities Keep Up with High Heels? Rethinking Pavements for Women on the Move

Many women choose to wear heels for confidence, celebration, fashion, or simply because they want to.

In my experience, very few women truly enjoy wearing high heels. Yet many continue to do so – for a wide range of reasons.

During my walking interviews with women across various urban settings for my research, one unexpected theme kept resurfacing: the daily challenge of navigating city streets in heels. For many, this wasn’t just about fashion – it was about freedom of movement and personal expression. And yet, pavements often feel like they were never designed with them in mind.

High heels alter the body’s balance, placing pressure on the forefoot and affecting posture, the spine, hips, knees, ankles, and feet. The risk of falling – especially on cracked pavements or uneven surfaces – is very real, with injuries ranging from minor sprains to serious fractures requiring surgery.

Still, many women choose to wear them for confidence, celebration, elegance, fashion, or simply because they want to. But pavements, for the most part, fails to accommodate this choice.

Not just shoes – statements in motion

Paving the Way – Seoul Style

Take Seoul, for example. In 2007, the Korean capital launched Women Friendly Seoul Project – a mosaic of 90 small-scale urban interventions developed in consultation with feminists, residents, and women’s studies experts. The initiative aimed to eliminate ‘the inconveniences, anxiety and discomfort that women in Seoul experience on a daily basis’. Among its boldest moves? Repaving pavements with a slightly spongy material to make them more comfortable for walking in high heels.

The story goes that women had complained about their heels getting stuck in the cracks of the pavement outside City Hall. In response, the municipality committed to resurfacing streets to ensure safer and smoother passage for heeled pedestrians. It was a small but symbolic step toward recognising women’s embodied experience of the city centre.

In many contexts high heels are worn on special occasions to mark festivity or distinction

The Cultural Politics of Heels

Heels have a long and storied history, worn by both women and men across cultures for centuries. The invention of the high heel in 16th-century Paris is often attributed to Catherine de Médici, who, being short in stature, used them to elevate her presence, soon making them fashionable among European aristocracy.

Contemporary women wear heels not just to appear taller, but for elegance, confidence, and a sense of urbanity. Heels are a controversial topic within feminist debate. Despite all these considerations, many women continue to wear them!

Walking in heels is a science that requires practice. Taking a stroll in trainers could not be further removed from the experience of spending a night in stilettos – where you must pay great attention to your balancing act. Moreover, fit matters. In Spain, every woman has a trusted zapatero – a shoe repairer who can file the heels to suit. In Italy, women are expected to wear heels on special occasions, such as to weddings, christenings and funerals. Women in Seoul and those who still don their high heels in Europe, believe that pavements along critical routes must be adapted to soften the clacking song of their heels as they make their way in their daily lives. 

According to Professor Sreedhari Desai of the University of North Carolina, heels offer a unique lens through which to understand the persistence of gender inequality. Her research shows that women wearing flats are often perceived as more competent in the workplace—by both men and women. The notion that a woman’s willingness to endure physical discomfort proves her professional worth is, thankfully, beginning to fade. Still, the cultural expectations around heels endure.

The Ground Beneath Her Feet

Urban infrastructure is never neutral. From street lighting and escalators to toilets and pavement design, cities are imbued with assumptions about whose bodies move through them and how. When women speak about heels, they are not just talking about fashion. They’re talking about the right to move comfortably, confidently, and safely on their own terms.

So, should cities adapt their pavements to accommodate high heels?

Absolutely – if we want to create urban environments that reflect the diverse needs and expressions of all who live in them. Making pavements more heel-friendly may seem superficial to some, but it’s part of a broader and deeply important conversation about inclusive design, embodied urbanism, and feminist infrastructure.

Because in the end, it's not just about the shoes—it's about who the city is really designed for.