Displaying items by tag: Safety
How Urban Design is Failing Women’s Safety
We’ve all felt it. That momentary chill walking through a deserted public space at night, even when the lights are on. It’s that feeling of being "small and invisible", as urban planner Nourhan Bassam aptly describes it in a recent article for Dutch newspaper Nrc. It perfectly captures a paradox at the heart of community safety.
In the wake of tragedies, like the murder of 17-year-old Lisa in Amsterdam on a cycle path women had already flagged as unsafe, the typical response is a call for "formal security measures". This usually means more CCTV or a greater police presence.
But as the report highlights, these measures don't always make women feel safer. Why? Because CCTV only helps after the fact. At the moment of the crime, it’s useless.
The real issue, experts argue, is that our cities have been historically designed by and for their "original planner: the man". This has created environments that fail to account for the lived experience and safety perceptions of women.
The Failure of Design: Formal vs. Social Safety
The core problem is a simple lack of 'eyes on the street' — a term famously coined by the visionary writer and activist Jane Jacobs in the 1960s. It refers to the natural, social surveillance from surrounding buildings and passers-by that makes a public space feel alive and safe.
The article identifies several common design failures that breed insecurity:
- Hostile Architecture: Anonymous office buildings, locked doorways, and few ground-floor windows create dead zones where no one is looking out.
- Poor Sightlines: Bus stops with advertising panels that block the view, or high fences around parks, make it impossible to see who is nearby.
- Bad Lighting: This isn't just about too little light; lighting that is too intense can be just as bad, creating deep, dark shadows where someone could hide.
- Obscured Areas: Overgrown bushes or tunnels without emergency exits create points of high anxiety.
- Single-Use Spaces: A renovated square in Utrecht, fitted with a skate park and CrossFit equipment, was cited as a prime example. As the urbanist notes, "it really seems as if half the population is simply forgotten".
- (Anachronistic or) Outdated Materials: Stone and cobblestone pavements, while aesthetically pleasing, create accessibility issues for women in heeled shoes. The irregular surface forces the heel to wedge between gaps, risking twisted ankles or broken heels. Unlike smooth surfaces, stone floors require constant attention while walking, making the experience tiring and uncomfortable. This architectural choice, though traditional, inadvertently excludes those who wear formal footwear, particularly women in professional or elegant settings.
How to Design for "Eyes on the Street"
Frustratingly, this knowledge isn't new. As one academic notes, urban planners were "having the same conversations forty years ago". It begs the question: why has so little changed?
The solutions proposed are not complex or expensive. They are simply centred on encouraging human presence:
- Placing more bars or kiosks that stay open late.
- Encouraging shops with windows that remain lit in the evening.
- Positioning tram stops near busy cafes, with open-plan shelters that don't block the view.
- Designing parks with well-lit paths and placing benches or sports facilities in raised, visible positions rather than hidden corners
- Choose smooth, even surfaces that accommodate all footwear types and mobility needs.
- Select vegetation that maintains clear sightlines: tall trees with high canopies, hedges kept below waist height, and open lawn areas that eliminate hiding spots while preserving green space.
Lessons from Europe
Whilst the Netherlands has been slow to act, other European cities are already showing how it's done.
- Vienna has had an office for gender-inclusive urban planning for 25 years.
- In Barcelona, women can request extra bus stops along the route after 10 PM to be dropped off closer to their homes.
- In Karlskoga, Sweden, authorities prioritise clearing snow from pavements (used more by women) before clearing roads.
These examples prove that a safer city for women is simply a safer city for everyone.
Experts insist this approach must become "a stable and mandatory part" of all urban development. It should be, they argue, "an essential requirement in tenders for newly built neighbourhoods".
This isn't just about changing infrastructure; it's about changing a mindset. We must move beyond reactive security and finally start designing public spaces that feel safe, by ensuring there are always eyes on the street.
Valeria Lorenzelli
Source: The analysis and expert opinions in this article are drawn from Steden zijn gebouwd door de ‘oorspronkelijke planner: de man’. Dat moet anders. (Cities were built by the 'original planner: the man'. That has to change.) by Julia Vié, originally published in Nrc (Netherlands), 10th October 2025.
The Gallup "Global Safety Report 2025" reveals a striking paradox: in an era experiencing more armed conflicts than at any time since the Second World War, the global population's personal perception of safety has never been higher.
This report measures public confidence using the benchmark question for the UN's Sustainable Development Goal 16: "Do you feel safe walking alone at night in the city or area where you live?". The findings offer a complex and nuanced picture, especially for Europe.
A world that feels safer
Globally, 2024 marked a historic milestone. 73 per cent of adults worldwide said they feel safe walking alone at night. This is the highest figure recorded since Gallup began tracking the metric in 2006.
This positive trend is visible across several regions. The Asia-Pacific (79 per cent) and Western Europe (77 per cent) lead the rankings for perceived safety. Even Latin America and the Caribbean, while remaining among the least safe regions, reached the 50 per cent threshold for the first time.
At a national level, Singapore leads the world, with 98 per cent of residents feeling safe. At the other end of the spectrum is South Africa, where just 33 per cent of adults feel safe.
However, the report shows a clear fracture in this perception: the gender gap. Globally, there is an 11-percentage-point gap between men who feel safe (78 per cent) and women (67 per cent). This disparity, the report demonstrates, is particularly stark in the world's wealthiest regions.
Focus on Europe – a dark mirror for women's safety
Western Europe shines in the general rankings. With a 77 per cent regional score for perceived safety, it has matched or set new records. Countries like Norway (91 per cent), Denmark (89 per cent), Finland (88 per cent), and Switzerland (88 per cent) are among the safest in the world.
And yet, the Gallup report provides a critical insight: Europe has a systemic problem with women's perceived safety.
The report highlights that the largest gender gaps are found almost exclusively in "high-income economies". It explicitly states that the European Union is "overrepresented" in the list of the 10 countries with the largest gaps.
Five of the ten countries with the widest gender gap globally are EU members:
- Italy: Presents a 32-point gap. While 76 per cent of men feel safe, only 44 per cent of women do.
- Malta: A 29-point gap (85 per cent of men vs 56 per cent of women).
- Greece: A 26-point gap (77 per cent of men vs 51 per cent of women).
- Cyprus: A 26-point gap (85 per cent of men vs 59 per cent of women).
- The Netherlands: A 26-point gap (95 per cent of men vs 69 per cent of women).
The case of Italy is particularly striking. The 44 per cent of women who feel safe is not only the lowest figure in the European Union, but it is also the lowest figure for Italian women in more than a decade.
To put this figure into perspective, the Gallup report makes a stark comparison: the level of safety perceived by women in Italy (44 per cent) is on par with that of women in Uganda (44 per cent). In the same country, the safety perception of Italian men (76 per cent) is similar to that of men in Germany (78 per cent).
The 2025 Gallup report, while celebrating global progress, serves as a strong warning for Europe. It demonstrates that economic progress and strong institutions, by themselves, do not "eliminate inequality in how safe people—particularly women—feel in their daily lives". In a continent that perceives itself as a beacon of safety, the data shows this safety remains a profoundly unequal experience—a privilege not yet extended to all its citizens.
