taking the long way round

Taking the Long Way Round

‘Cities have the capability of providing something for everybody, only because, and only when, they are created by everybody’ (Jane Jacobs, 1961).

Designing to support a sense of security or safety can still be an area that design teams treat as a nice to have rather than a fundamental driver for design. Even when design teams are themselves diverse there can still be scope to test and stretch thinking in this area. Two evidence based handbooks published by London authorities (in 2022 and 2024) establish firm ground for a wider shift in practice.

 In their introduction to the GLA’s handbook – Safety in Public Space – Women, Girls and Gender Diverse People, Manijhe Vergese, a Mayor’s Design Advocate describes how women, girls and gender diverse people adapt to places to make them work for them. How they might a times have to take the long way round, walk quickly or think about weaponizing their possessions. The experience of being hypervigilant is quite common and can make experiences of public spaces stressful*.  

 The GLA handbook provides a range of potential principles or actions a projects team could adopt across the four stages of a project:

 Project set-up

1. Take the lead
2. Set up gender inclusive systems and processes
3. Get the right team
4. Allocate enough resource

 Understanding

5. Listen to women, girls and gender diverse people
6. Collect gender disaggregated data
7. Rebalance power across the project
8. Document and share your finding

 Making

9. Develop and test designs in partnership
10. Get the design basics right
11. Look beyond the site boundary
12. Establish occupier strategies early
13. Celebrate people’s stories

 Using

14. Measure your impacts and adapt accordingly
15. Develop a safety management plan
16. Create a continuing community programming and engagement strategy

‘An intersectional lens is critical to … recognising that safety is different for different people’ Dr Mimi Sheller (2018)

 In defining what is meant by safety the handbook highlights the importance of recognising that safety is experienced on a spectrum from experiencing mild inconvenience, feeling ill at ease through to experiencing extreme danger. Where safety is experienced as: freedom from violence, harassment and intimidation; usability; and a sense of belonging.

Implicit questions from a woman, girl or gender diverse persons point of view are:

• Do I feel free from the threat of violence?
• Does this space meet my needs?
• Do I feel welcome, empowered and a sense of ownership of this space?

 The handbook describes how answering these questions positively can be impacted to the extent that people might be inconvenienced, feel ill at ease and ultimately be endangered. The second part of the GLA handbook includes lessons from London and tests the principles through the development of ten live projects.

 The London Docklands Development Corporation – Creating Places that work for Women and Girls evolves the subject at the scale of a local authority offering a practical playbook of ten interventions for achieving gender sensitive places. This includes some aspects of design that regularly come into Design Review conversations such as land use distribution, lighting and passive surveillance, boundary treatments, elevation design and links to public transport.

*As Saoirse Ronan demonstrated on the Graham Norton Show women are often thinking about their safety in this way, when the clip including the audience response to her question; ‘am I right ladies?’ went viral.

Greater London Authority (2022) Mayor of London Safety in Public Space – Women, Girls and Gender Diverse People

The London Docklands Development Corporation (2024) Creating Places that work for Women and Girls, Handbook for Local Authorities, Developers and Designers

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November, 2024