the safer cities project.
ABOUT
I'm designing a UI/UX prototype and brand identity streamlining the codesign process between women, gender-diverse people and councils to improve their public spaces.
the brief.
Public spaces are not designed for the safety of women and gender-diverse people, especially at night.
In a survey by Plan International Australia, one in five women and gender-diverse people felt unsafe post-pandemic in public spaces. And of those women with disabilities, more than one in four felt more unsafe (Source: ABC News).
As urban spaces continue to develop, there is an increased focus on reducing gender-based violence and improving the well-being and safety of women, girls and gender-diverse people with initiatives from organisations such as UN Women, Plan International and Transport NSW. These initiatives involve funding the development of safer public spaces through improved lighting, graphic interventions and facilities.
Improving the safety and well-being of women, girls and gender-diverse people contributes to Goal 11.7 of the UN Sustainable Development Goals:
"By 2030, provide universal access to safe, inclusive and accessible, green and public spaces, in particular for women and children, older persons and persons with disabilities."
the question:
how can we help councils improve 'unsafe' public spaces to be safer and more inclusive for women and gender-diverse people efficiently?
Especially when working with different council sizes, community needs and available resources.
the concept.
The proposed concept is an application system randomly generating journeys and routes to different public spaces and local services based on users' goals, group size and insights on the perception of safety within their location.
These journeys can be saved, shared or modified to user preferences. After each trip, users can review these spaces to improve recommendations for future adventures. Inspired by the concept of Airbnb’s City Portal, voluntary data from the application can provide insight to councils, urban planners and potentially local businesses to identify trends and pain points in women's and gender-diverse people’s journeys, providing live insight into how public spaces can be improved to meet their needs.
A multifunctional application, it will utilise the current crowdsource model successfully used within precedents to understand women's and gender-diverse people’s feedback in public spaces. It offers the opportunity to increase community participation in local areas, a factor improving people’s perception of safety within a public space.
And as community members, particularly Gen-Z and Millennials have stated in previous surveys about their interest in using an app to better connect with their councils, the design outcome mutually benefits both parties towards a proactive, two-way feedback system.
the deliverables.
Though still in development from June to August, the primary goal of this project will be to deliver:
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A UI/UX prototype that demonstrates the proposed concept.
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A branding campaign that supports the intended mission and values of the product.
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Current tasks involve surveying preliminary research into user behaviour and expectations of applications similar to the proposed concept, and their perception of safety within their local areas.