PLAN30003 Research report

PLAN30003

Assignment 2: Social research report

WOMEN-SPECIFIC URBAN DESIGN

How can it ensure women’s safety in public city spaces at night?

Manasi Chopdekar (935401)

Nightlife forms an important part of a city’s urban fabric, and in Melbourne City municipality, which is well-regarded for its tourism, people travel within and into the city everyday to enjoy the various forms of entertainment the city offers at night, like restaurants, street shows and nightclubs (Stute 2015).

Despite this, the crime rates in Melbourne city municipality are among the highest in Victoria (Crime Statistics Agency 2019) with footpaths and laneways regarded as most unsafe by its women population (Lambert 2017).

In order to protect women against crimes like sexual harassment and assault, proper security measures are needed, which requires deeper understanding of the built environment that crime perpetrators and their victims interact with.

This research acknowledges crime as a “gendered phenomenon” (Whitzman 1992, pg. 169) and aims to gain in-depth understanding of the role of gendered design of public city spaces in enhancing women’s safety at night.

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Assignment 2: Social research report

Preliminary research, conducted around the early 1970s, ascertains crime in public spaces as an urban planning problem by theorizing that criminals are “exceedingly responsive to environmental cues” (Rand 1984, pg. 5). Rand and Newman explored the influence of spatial arrangement of elements like fencing, lighting and street signages, along with public surveillance influence, on criminal activity (1984, pg. 5-13). They concluded that these factors determine the kind of opportunities that enable criminals to commit crime and also evade its consequences. The report approaches this planning problem from the perspective of a criminal’s mindset, and subsequently suggests planning strategies to alleviate the high crime rates in busy city centers, such as activating crowd control measures and limiting the use of crowded public spaces like footpaths. However, its research does not focus on crimes that specifically target women at night.

Studies conducted in the early 1990s and 2000s have taken this research further by not only investigating the “opportunity potential in the built environment” for criminal activity (Samuels 2005, pg. 306), but also by addressing women’s perception of safety, its reasons, and its difference from the actual crime committed in that space (Gardner 1990, pg. 311). Samuels theorizes that inherent fear towards using a public space will reduce its foot traffic and will consequently increase chances of criminal conduct in such spaces, which would thereby increase the risk for those who use that space after dark (2005, pg. 307) . However, the planning report remains genderneutral in its research approach. Gardner’s report in contrast, studies women’s perspective on safety issues in public spaces through conduction of interviews (1990, pg. 313), and explores the different ways women feel uncomfortable in public spaces, but does not focus on the role of urban design in relation to this issue.

When analyzing these early research reports, certain questions are raised, such as: • To what extent does qualitative data like the victim’s experience of the space inform the planning process?

• What built environment elements encourage crime perpetrators to think they can easily get away with committing crime in public spaces?

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Assignment 2: Social research report

• What elements of the built environment specifically affect women’s perception of certain public spaces as unsafe? And, are these spaces coinciding with the spaces where crimes against women are actually committed?

Research conducted by URBACT in 2019 has proposed that gender-neutral or male-dominated public spaces that have not been able to cater specifically to the needs and security of women, can cause them anxiety when using these spaces (Kneeshaw & Norman 2019, pg. 47). URBACT’s research studies successful gender-equal cities like Vienna, and in its brief discussion on the need for women-centric planning for safety, it states that women are more susceptible to sexual abuse in public spaces which underpins their inherent fear for those spaces (Kneeshaw & Norman 2019, pg. 47). Its proposed arguments raise questions that could contribute to resolving some of the research gaps in previous years’ studies such as: • When looking at strategies, is gender-neutral approach to planning for cities indirectly contributing to the high crime rates?

• What do women in particular find reassuring in public spaces?

• How can women’s experiences be addressed to council and policy makers in order to plan strategies? At what stage can the everyday women users of the space have more direct involvement in the planning process?

Melbourne city municipality’s high crime rates show that its present public spaces are designed in a way that inadvertently provide opportunity for crime perpetrators. In conclusion, the city’s gender-neutral approach to planning (Brown, Wardale and Pojani 2018) could play a hand in negatively influencing its crime rates. Therefore, in order to understand how to create safer public spaces for women at night, women-specific urban design needs more extensive research.

Women in Cities International (2010) have addressed the difficulties that women-specific design could face when catering to the needs of diverse group of women populations, in terms of age, race, culture, sexuality, economic status and so forth (WICI 2010, pg. 10). The report uses multiple

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PLAN30003

Assignment 2: Social research report

case studies to analyze and plan safety interventions according to its proposed theories and strategies. However, the question remains whether such generalized interventions can be applicable to Melbourne city municipality.

This brings the report to discuss the kind of data and analysis required for Melbourne city municipality-specific research. Due to the restrictions brought upon by the ongoing COVID-19 situation, any form of site-specific investigation will be limited to desktop research, like academic books and journals, government and crime statistic reports, existing planning strategies and online newspaper articles.

This research will adopt a mixed-methods approach (MacCallum, Babb and Curtis 2019, pg. 40) wherein it will use quantitative and qualitative data and analysis methods as shown in table 1 (see pg. 4 and 5).

Table 1. Research methodology for investigating role of gendered design in reducing rate of crime against women

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Assignment 2: Social research report

Table 1. Research methodology for investigating role of gendered design in reducing rate of crime against women (cont.)

Note. Qualitative and quantitative data analysis from Doing research in urban and regional planning: lessons in practical methods (pg. 34-41 ) by D. MacCallum, C. Babb., & C. Curtis, 2019, Routledge. Copyright 2019 by Taylor and Francis.

Ethical considerations when presenting information from these sources including if citing victim names from news reports and social media, understanding the sensitivity of readers around criminal acts such as sexual assault and being aware of and acknowledging any personal biases in analyzing the site areas (virtually) and the problems associated with it, will be acknowledged.

To conclude, in order to alleviate the problem of criminal conduct against women in public city spaces at night, it is important to research further into how women-specific urban design and planning can create spaces in which women feel more confident, and which discourage criminals from conducting unlawful acts towards them.

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References Brown, K., Wardale, D., & Pojani, D. (2018, Apr 18). Sexism and the city: how urban planning has failed women. Architecture Media. Retrieved from https://architectureau.com/articles/sexism-and-the-city-how-urban-planninghas-failed-women/ Crime Statistics Agency. (2019). Criminal Incidents – Melbourne: Top 5 location types [Tabular data]. Retrieved from https://www.crimestatistics.vic.gov.au/explore-crime-by-location Gardner, C. (1990). Safe Conduct: Women, Crime, and Self in Public Places.

Social Problems, 37(3), 311-328. doi:10.2307/800745 Kneeshaw, S & Norman, J. (2019). Gender-equal cities. France: URBACT III programme. Retrieved from https://urbact.eu/sites/default/files/urbactgenderequalcities-edition-pages-web.pdf Lambert, O. (2017, Mar 29). Women reveal harrowing stories of sexual harassment and abuse they cop on Melbourne streets. News Pty Limited.

Retrieved from https://www.news.com.au/lifestyle/real-life/news-life/womenreveal-harrowing-stories-of-sexual-harassment-and-abuse-they-cop-onmelbourne-streets/news-story/9e15de77fe471d8e71822cdd5ffd61d8 MacCallum, D. B., & Courtney Curtis, C. (2019). Doing research in urban and regional planning: lessons in practical methods. Routledge. Retrieved from https://doi-org.ezp.lib.unimelb.edu.au/10.4324/9781315818894 Rand, G. (1984). Crime and environment: A review of the literature and its implications for urban architecture and planning. Journal of Architectural and Planning Research, 1(1), 3-19. Retrieved from www.jstor.org/stable/43028670 Samuels, R. (2005). After-dark design, night animation, and interpersonal interaction: toward a community-security paradigm. Journal of Architectural and Planning Research, 22(4), 305-318. Retrieved from www.jstor.org/stable/43030749

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Stute, D. (2015, Feb 24). Why urban planners should pay attention to nightlife.

Deutsche Welle. Retrieved from https://www.dw.com/en/why-urban-plannersshould-pay-attention-to-nightlife/a-18274824 Whitzman, C. (1992). Taking back planning: Promoting women’s safety in public places – The Toronto experience. Journal of Architectural and Planning Research, 9(2), 169-179. Retrieved from www.jstor.org/stable/43029073 Women in Cities International (WICI). (2010). Learning from women to create gender inclusive cities: baseline findings from the gender inclusive cities programme. Québec, Canada. Retrieved from https://femmesetvilles.org/downloadable/learningfromwomen.pdf

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