Women perspective for safe and healthy public spaces: Study from Indian city - Vijayawada

Abstract

Public Spaces play an important role and are vital to communal life and quality of life of citizens. Public spaces are meant to provide benefits to all individuals and groups of people. This study identified the different factors that have an impact on women's safety in public spaces and developed a Women's Safety Index to evaluate the safety levels in public spaces. Firstly, the identified factors were categorized into four categories -social, physical, visual, and functional. Secondly, these factors were analysed using perception surveys to understand how men and women perceive safety in public spaces differently. The index developed is helpful in evaluating the levels of safety of women in public spaces and identifying unsafe public spaces. Inferences from the study are useful to understand the key differences in the perceptions and requirements of men and women with respect to safety in public spaces. This further helps point out the specific areas of improvement and formulate strategies which can be used to design safer and more gender inclusive public spaces. Results of this study also help establish the relationship between varying dimensions of a public space and women safety in public spaces in other cities also.