By Design Constructive Conversations- 15 November 2023.
How can urban environments and public spaces be designed in such a way as to make them feel, and be, safe spaces for women and girls? Our panel discussed how urban design elements can make women and girls feel safe, and be safe when walking, wheeling, cycling, or otherwise actively travelling or socialising in public spaces.
Following watching the recording you may find it useful to take a few minutes to reflect on the discussion.
- What is still circling around in your head on this topic?
- What do you feel is ‘squared away’ – you feel you have a much clearer understanding of?
- What key takeaways or highlights do you have from the discussion?
Feedback Survey
We would really appreciate if you could take a moment to provide feedback on this session.
Below are contact details for some of our panelists if you wish to contact them directly, and some links to further information relating to this topic that you may find useful.
Further Information
See below for some links to further information and projects mentioned by the panelists. Some of our panelists have also provided contact details if you would like to get in touch with them about their work in this area:
- Heather Pringle, Equally Safe in Practice Programme Lead at Scottish Women’s Aid – Heather.Pringle@womensaid.scot
- Ruth White, Planning and Mobility Manager at City of Edinburgh Council – Ruth.White@edinburgh.gov.uk
- Katie Brown, Equally Safe Policy Manager at Convention of Scottish Local Authorities (COSLA) – katie@cosla.gov.uk
- Angela Voulgari, Equally Safe Edinburgh Committee Lead Officer at City of Edinburgh Council – Angela.Voulgari@edinburgh.gov.uk
- Sophie Lloyd, Programme lead in Sustrans Cymru, Sophie.Lloyd@sustrans.org.uk
Useful Links
- Violence Against Women and Girls (VAWG) Partnerships (in Local Authority Areas) are a source of invaluable guidance and information on gender and VAWG perspectives and local knowledge, and I would encourage people to utilise them. They have links to many parts of not just the council but across the local ‘system’. Contacts for the national network are here https://www.improvementservice.org.uk/products-and-services/consultancy-and-support/tackling-violence-against-women/national-violence-against-women-network
- Scottish Women’s Aid Equally Safe learning framework and the tools available to increase gender and VAWG competence & use of gender lens across policy/practice plus information and a resource page (The framework is aimed at orgs across public sector, local authorities, third sector.): https://womensaid.scot/equally-safe-in-practice/
(Note: The next two links take you to the City of Vienna website which is in Austrian German, a Chrome browser was better able to translate the pages than Microsoft Edge).
- Information on the Gender Mainstreaming Approach taken in Vienna: https://www.wien.gv.at/english/administration/gendermainstreaming/?dm_t=0,0,0,0,0
- More information about some of the projects that have been developed in Vienna, including the redesign of Reumannplatz mentioned by Lena: https://www.wien.gv.at/stadtentwicklung/architektur/oeffentlicher-raum/strassen-plaetze/index.html
- Information on the George Street Project: https://www.edinburgh.gov.uk/georgestreet/
- More information on the recent City of Edinburgh Council consultation on Women’s Safety in Public Places: https://consultationhub.edinburgh.gov.uk/cf/womens-safety-in-public-places/
About Constructive conversations
Grab a cuppa, get comfortable and join us for some informal constructive conversations about some of the challenges in delivering active travel infrastructure.
At each 1 hour session, our expert panel will spend half an hour discussing key questions and more around the chosen topic. Following this, you can take part in an optional small group discussion where you can share your own experiences on the topic, present a related issue in a live project, and receive advice and feedback from peers.
Other sessions
The ‘By Design’ series of constructive conversations explores how urban design in active travel projects can help to address some of the big issues facing society today.
The Climate Emergency and Infrastructure series of constructive conversations explores sustainability in construction of active travel projects.
Look out for more series on different topics in future, and if there is a topic you would like to suggest for a series, or a standalone session, please do get in touch with us placesforeveryone@sustrans.org.uk