Safe public spaces for whom? A research overview on the determinants of safety in public space with a focus on gender, age, function and socio-economic background

Safety in public space is a basic human right. However, existing research- and development initiatives tend to mainly be interested in how fear of crime can be generated for people in general, thus leaving out other determinants of safety including issues of gender, age, function and socio-economics. The aim of this report is to contribute to a broader understanding of the phenomenon of safety in public places. It does this by providing a research overview on the subject matter consisting of in total 82 peer-reviewed research papers. The research overview shows that women, elderly, people with disabilities as well as those in poverty, tend to feel less safe in public spaces than others do. Furthermore, the overview points to several factors that tend to increase the sense of safety for one or several of these groups, such as the presence of other, friendly-minded, people, refuge, visibility, accessibility, and the absence of fees and other economic costs. That said, there are a wide range of other factors that play a role for feelings of safety in public space, which could not be addressed in this study. There are also other grounds for discrimination that could have been dealt with, such as ethnicity, religion and sexuality. However, the study has been able to show some major trends as a basis for continued discussion, research, and development.