IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/cog/urbpla/v10y2025a9043.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Participatory Interventions: Digital Crowd Mapping Perceptions of Safety in Public Space

Author

Listed:
  • Gill Matthewson

    (Design Department, Monash University, Australia)

  • Nicole Kalms

    (Design Department, Monash University, Australia)

  • Jess Berry

    (Design Department, Monash University, Australia)

Abstract

Current estimates indicate the world will not achieve the United Nations SDG #5 of gender equality by 2030, with a more accurate prediction post-2300. Escalating global crises have brought existing gender disparities into sharper focus, exacerbating issues of unequal access and opportunity. These conditions make the prioritisation of gender equality imperative to the sustainable development of cities, regions, and rural communities. This article presents a case study of the YourGround project, which utilises an interactive, geolocative digital crowd-mapping platform as a participatory method to gather insights into perceptions of safety among women and gender-diverse people in public spaces in Australia’s two most populous states, Victoria and New South Wales. The data and insights from YourGround provide city planners, urban designers, and community members, with a gender-sensitive lens developed by the expertise of people from the community. This method of data collection and feminist co-design democratises the research process, amplifies marginalised voices, and avoids the hazards of technocentrism and top-down approaches. The findings underscore the nuanced and context-specific nature of gender inequality in public spaces, highlighting the pervasive impact of social and environmental factors on safety perceptions and access in both urban contexts and rural areas.

Suggested Citation

  • Gill Matthewson & Nicole Kalms & Jess Berry, 2025. "Participatory Interventions: Digital Crowd Mapping Perceptions of Safety in Public Space," Urban Planning, Cogitatio Press, vol. 10.
  • Handle: RePEc:cog:urbpla:v10:y:2025:a:9043
    DOI: 10.17645/up.9043
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.cogitatiopress.com/urbanplanning/article/view/9043
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.17645/up.9043?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:cog:urbpla:v10:y:2025:a:9043. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: António Vieira or IT Department (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.cogitatiopress.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.