Plan our streets for safety

[ErrolTheDragon]

There's a report in the Sunday Times by Sarah Ditum

www.thetimes.co.uk/article/how-to-make-the-streets-safer-plan-them-with-women-in-mind-88rdwr6t0?shareToken=e91c150acc612788ae1d3977736d6d80

I thought this might form a good basis for discussion on practical steps (or rather, ramps....) . Most of the ideas would benefit all sections of society, especially vulnerable groups, so there's no need for any male whataboutery.

Good article.

Very much agree with this article. However, Public Sector Equality Duty often ignores women's needs or at the very least pays lip service to it.
No planning application should go forward without considering all the protected characteristics including women and children. However, other things are important too. How many companies change working patterns without considering their female staff's needs? How many transport companies cut costs by removing " non essential" guards etc. These things have to change too.

I reckon there's a big problem that women aren't adequately represented in planning applications at all stages. I don't know how to find out the sex ratio for people involved in town planning but I'll take a bet it's massively skewed. And public consultations- physical meetings of many sorts are imbalanced because of women doing more than their fair share of childcare, and many being uncomfortable going out alone at night.

There was such a good thread here a while ago about planning. It had fascinating items about the very long term vision and anticipation of details such as the placement of trees and how they will provide useful sight lines or block them in 20 years time etc.

Some seemingly small things can be in place quickly.

Have a way in which broken street lights can be reported and fixed seven days a week, not report Friday afternoon, fixed Monday if you are lucky.

Stop putting the clocks back in winter. Whatever you do will not stop the fear of being in the dark immediately, but at least this would reduce the number of weeks going home from work in darkness for many people.

I‘m not sure that sex ratio in planning teams will resolve everything. There are so many young women, often at points in their career when the harsh reality of sexism hasn’t hit them yet, who disregard the needs of other women, esp. mothers. Could mandatory representation of the protected characteristic ‘pregnancy and maternity’ be a solution?

more cameras, lots of cameras

"When the Ikebukuro district of Tokyo realised it was faced with a plummeting female population, planners took drastic action to create a more welcoming environment"

Tokyo underpass Sunset Wall Mural

@Daca

I‘m not sure that sex ratio in planning teams will resolve everything. There are so many young women, often at points in their career when the harsh reality of sexism hasn’t hit them yet, who disregard the needs of other women, esp. mothers. Could mandatory representation of the protected characteristic ‘pregnancy and maternity’ be a solution?

No, it wouldn't solve everything but it might help. And yes, there ought to be much more proactive consultation with people with protected characteristics.

@FindTheTruth

"When the Ikebukuro district of Tokyo realised it was faced with a plummeting female population, planners took drastic action to create a more welcoming environment"

Tokyo underpass Sunset Wall Mural

Nice... but... I'm a bit dubious. Making a place look safer and more welcoming is counterproductive if it's still as risky an environment. Perhaps graffiti etc sometimes serve as useful warnings of places that really are best avoided? Hopefully the installation of the mural was accompanied by excellent lighting and cctv.

Couldn't find the one that I want but this has some interesting discussion, especially from @smithsinarazz

I'm a town planner - well, i prefer to say "urbanist" and, yeah, there completely IS a need to recognise that the main function of urban open spaces is to be used by the people who live there. If half the population don't feel safe there, they don't fulfil that function.
I completely wouldn't want to say "so chop all the trees down then" because then you create a boring space that nobody would want to be in. But, yeah, there's a need to find a middle ground.
(Tbh- private bugbear coming up here - what bugs me is that a massive proportion of open spaces are playing fields - which are great for the subset of youngish, fittish, mostly male people who play on them once a week- boring as hell for everyone else. (I know, I know, women play sports too.))

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/womens_rights/3829787-So-it-turns-out-that-even-saving-the-planet-isnt-women-friendly

Many of the things that used to make public spaces and public transport safer - bus conductors, train guards, park-keepers, toilet attendants - are things we had but were lost to budget cuts.

Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design (CPTED)

Natural Surveillance:
opportunities for people to watch over one another encourages the use of areas and creates a sense of responsibility in residents toward their space. This, in turn, increases the inherent risk and difficulty of crime and dissuades rational would-be criminals

Access Control:
restricting entry and exit of visitors, we can reduce the possibility that intruders will access certain areas. include features that suggest: who is authorized to be in a given site, who is not allowed to be there, and what
activities are permissible.

Maintenance:
maintaining a pleasant image for an area to protect ownership and improve quality of life. The appealing image of a well-kept area enables residents to develop attachments to their neighbourhood and strive
for its safety

Territoriality:
allows owners to define and control their property and to restrict intruders’ access. This can be accomplished using physical
barriers (e.g., fences and hedges) or symbolic barriers (e.g., signage, planting, and landscaping).

Activity Support:
aims to increase community interaction using a variety of passive or active strategies. The use of design elements that attract legitimate users (e.g., proper landscaping, gathering areas) is referred to as passive activity support. Active examples, on the other hand, involve strategies such as holding cultural events, which increase the presence of people—making the area less desirable for motivated offenders

@ErrolTheDragon

There's a report in the Sunday Times by Sarah Ditum

www.thetimes.co.uk/article/how-to-make-the-streets-safer-plan-them-with-women-in-mind-88rdwr6t0?shareToken=e91c150acc612788ae1d3977736d6d80

I thought this might form a good basis for discussion on practical steps (or rather, ramps....) . Most of the ideas would benefit all sections of society, especially vulnerable groups, so there's no need for any male whataboutery.

I remember going to Berlin on a trip and going out drinking - the streets are so wide and well lit and there's activity well into the night. We went into a bar and had a few drinks then walked down the street to get some food - had a beer in the fast food place then sat outside a convenience shop of all places where they had more beers, then we walked home. It was REMARKABLE how safe I felt. So much light and so many people around. Obviously we can't change the layout of our cities now, but I do feel like there are more things councils can do to protect the safety of women in their cities. I always get really angry at the 'energy saving' street lights for example, surely there are other ways they can save energy without compromising visibility?

To walk to my town centre I can go in 3 ways. All of these have a lengthy underpass with blind corners. Consequently I never go to town at night if I am alone. (And they always stink of piss in the morning.)

Everything has been set up for car usage with pedestrians needs a bothersome afterthought.

I would like to see the town centre closed to cars at night and restaurants able to use the pavements. Hopefully creating a continental, family friendly atmosphere. At the moment it's just populated by drunk teens.

Better street lighting is absolutely necessary. And those sodding subways have to go.

This is a thread about some good work if anyone hasn't seen it yet

Teenage girls and public space/facilities : an update www.mumsnet.com/Talk/womens_rights/4181054-Teenage-girls-and-public-space-facilities-an-update

@EmbarrassingAdmissions thanks for the mention! This is a great article, and a long overdue discussion.
@alkanet completely agree that pedestrians in some towns (particularly the centres) seem to be a "bothersome afterthought".
It's my belief that if you make a town more friendly for one vulnerable group, then you end up making it better for others, as well. So when the DDA came in and consideration had to be given to wheelchair accessibility, it meant getting rid of stairs and putting in dropped kerbs - and perhaps the most numerous group of beneficiaries were mums with buggies. Likewise, if you make cities safer for women, in terms of the physical fabric and in terms of policing and social attitudes, then they end up being safer for everyone - and more prosperous, especially since women still do the bulk of all shopping.
That's not to say that there aren't conflicts of interest. As a massive environmentalist who's always banging on about reducing traffic for the sake of road safety as well as reducing emissions, I was pulled up short the other day reading the results of a survey which pointed out how lack of vehicular access can be particularly off-putting for women, particularly with kids. But there's a need to consider safety from assailants, safety from vehicles, "walkability" and so on as well.

@FindTheTruth good link.