What do women want in a safe city?

If you want details, a pair of female authors from Toronto (reportedly the safest city in North America?) wrote Safe Cities: Guidelines for Planning, Design and Management. Here are some of their recommendations for safe cities, which are essentially ‘eyes on the street’ fundamentals:

– Retail street frontages (encourages street life);
– Restaurants/venues that stay open late;
– Outdoor seating; street entertainers and vendors;
– People-attracting food services;
– Mixed-income housing (creating a diversity of residents who frequent the streets at a diversity of hours);
– Pedestrian-friendly streets;
– Late-night transit hours;
– Housing above stores (built-in neighborhood watch);
– Upper-story windows and balconies overlooking the street;
– Street-front buildings built up to a continuous setback line to eliminate ‘hiding places’ and blindspots.

It’s also important to concentrate activity on the main pedestrian traffic corridors, just like the North End in Boston.

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