Exploring women's night walking safety in London
The safety of women on the streets of London is in the spotlight following the tragic death of Sarah Everard. In response to the Mayor of London's Charter for Women's Safety at Night, the project aims to better understand how the built environment features relate to crimes that occur in women night’s walking and perceptions of risks. The specific objectives are fourfold:
1) To explore the relationship between built environment features and crimes happened during women’s night walking.
2) To predict the crimes and identify the high-risk areas for women’s night walking in London.
3) To compare the difference between women and men in safety perception of night walking.
4) To provide guidance for planning a safer street for women walking at night.
Expected outcome
This research is the first attempt to investigate perception of women’s night walking safety using Google Street view data and a machine learning approach. The expected outcomes will be:
1) The high-risk areas map in London for women’s night walking in London will be identified and produced. The high-risk areas map in London for women’s night walking in London will be identified and produced. The corresponding safety improving suggestions will be provided.
2) The perception of safety may significantly vary by women and men. Several female-specific factors will be identified and will be used to guide further planning of a women-friendly built environment for walking at night.
3) Building on the Mayor’s seven key ledges to improve women’s safety and perception of safety at night, this research will come up the 8th pledge from the built environment perspective to improve the safety of women walking at night in London.
Social
relevance
The societal relevance of this proposal can be summarised into threefold.
First, the high-risk map will help women choose better routes for night walking. In addition, the map will be used as a reference for upgrading the built environment to improve women’s night walking safety and the perception of safety.
Second, the key built environment features identified in relation to crime occurred in women’s night walking, such as street lighting, will be used as a structural intervention to guide street planning, thereby reducing the incidence of night-time crime in London.
Third, this research will provide transferable experiences for other cities in the UK and even other international cities to improve the safety of women walking at night, and thus achieve their commitment to the UN Women Safe Cities and Safe Public Spaces global initiative.
Info
