Thematic Review on Women’s Perception of Safety While Walking in Public Space: The STEP UP Project

first_page settings Order Article Reprints Open AccessReview Thematic Review on Women’s Perception of Safety While Walking in Public Space: The STEP UP Project by Lily Scarponi 1 [ORCID] , Lamia Abdelfattah 1, Andrea Gorrini 1 [ORCID] , Catalina Valenzuela Cortés 1, Gerardo Carpentieri 2 [ORCID] , Carmen Guida 2 [ORCID] , Floriana Zucaro 2 [ORCID] , Florencia Andreola 3, Azzurra Muzzonigro 3, Laura Da Re 3 [ORCID] , Eleonora Gargiulo 4, Carlos Cañas 4, Jim Walker 4 [ORCID] and Rawad Choubassi 1,* 1 Fondazione Transform Transport ETS, Via Lovanio 8, 20121 Milan, Italy 2 TeMA Lab, Dipartimento di Ingegneria Civile, Edile e Ambientale, Università degli Studi di Napoli Federico II, Piazzale Tecchio, 80, 80125 Naples, Italy 3 Sex and the City APS, Via della Moscova 58, 20121 Milan, Italy 4 Walk21 Foundation, 24 Moorend Road, Cheltenham, Gloucestershire GL530HD, UK * Author to whom correspondence should be addressed. Sustainability 2023, 15(21), 15636; https://doi.org/10.3390/su152115636 Submission received: 13 September 2023 / Revised: 16 October 2023 / Accepted: 30 October 2023 / Published: 5 November 2023 Download keyboard_arrow_down Browse Figures Versions Notes Abstract The contributions of this paper are the result of a thematic review conducted on some of the most relevant scientific contributions and policy guidelines about women’s perception of safety while walking in public spaces. The first part of the review focused on 23 scientific references revolving around the keywords “gender”, “safety” and “walkability”. This led to the establishment of three main Safety Factors: (i) Spatial Features (space characteristics/morphological features); (ii) City Use (traces of behavior and presence of city users); and (iii) Hotspots (safe havens and no-go areas); further resulting in 19 sub-factors. The second part of the review covered a collection of 20 reports and 10 guidelines focused on diverse geographical scales, areas of interest and target audiences, as well as data collection methods. This involved the selection of multiple case studies, which are also presented, thus maintaining a geographically diverse sample. As part of the scientific research project “STEP UP—Walkability for Women in Milan”, the outputs of the proposed thematic review will be exploited to help identify challenging areas of Milan (Italy), as samples of analysis to develop a set of policy recommendations to enhance the level of walkability for women.