Publica and The City Hub and Network for Gender Equity (CHANGE) are pioneering new standards for violence prevention that centre inclusion, dignity, and belonging to design cities where women, girls and non-binary people can thrive.

This initiative presents a significant opportunity to guide built environment professionals across the CHANGE cities network to develop new skills and set new best practices in gender inclusion. By learning from Publica’screative, participative feminist methods, they can create and implement their own programmes of action to tackle GBV in public spaces. Publica’s research is already transforming how the public realm is designed in these cities. Our ambition is to mainstream gender inclusive design processes around the world and redefine the way the public realm is envisioned, creating environments for women, by women.

Across cities worldwide, women continue to face alarming levels of gender-based violence (GBV) in public spaces, from everyday sexual harassment to more extreme cases of abduction, rape and femicide. However, improving women’s sense of safety and belonging in urban environments goes beyond reducing acts of violence and harassment. It is inextricably tied to the design, quality, management and maintenance of public spaces, as well as the availability of accessible amenities such as well-maintained toilets, benches and shaded areas.

CHANGE is an international network of 17 cities committed to removing structural barriers to women’s equality. Through their Declaration to Tackle GBV, member cities pledged to create urban environments where women can safely access services, participate in civic life and move freely through their communities.

Publica’s Campaign for Inclusive Cities advocates for the proactive planning and design of public spaces that affirm women and girls’ power to be active participants in shaping their own neighbourhoods – and by extension, their lives.

In partnership with CHANGE, Publica conducted research in Bogotá, Louisville and Stockholm to help put this declaration into action. To better understand the safety experiences of women, girls and non-binary people in public spaces, Publica interviewed city leaders, ran design charettes with young women and girls, trained professionals in new safety approaches and explored public spaces through a series of creative, joyful and participative feminist methods.

Despite their radically different contexts, governance structures and histories, many of the themes and findings from the research resonate across the three cities. Insights from each city reveal the ways in which urban design, public policy and social norms intersect to shape women’s individual and collective sense of safety and belonging.

A summary report for each city outlines opportunities and actions for city authorities to adopt new policies and approaches to delivering built environment projects, aligned with their goals to create safer, more inclusive public spaces. Louisville, Bogotá and Stockholm are already acting and delivering on the opportunities identified. Across all three, city officials, workshop participants and politicians recognised the potential of inclusive urban design to help prevent GBV and shape more equitable urban environments.