A statewide research project will map how safe women and gender diverse people feel in public spaces, including in Ballarat, to help inform local government decision making.
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Monash University's gender, design and space specialists XYX Lab in collaboration with digital consultancy CrowdSpot launched the YourGround project on Tuesday.
City of Ballarat is one of 20 councils participating in the research project and is encouraging residents to share their feelings about safety in community spaces.
Monash University Associate Professor and XYX Lab director Nicole Kalms said the project would provide new data on safety perceptions specific to pinpointed locations rather than broad postcode or suburb data.
"YourGround will uncover the experiences that restrict access to exercise and freedom of movement and provide important insights to those tasked with making key decisions," she said.
A 2019 Community Council for Australia report revealed 80 per cent of Australian men and 50 per cent of women reported feeling safe while walking alone at night.
I have been heckled here and there are often drug affected people around, who are often aggressive. I walk around feeling like I will be mugged or attacked.
- Comment on YourGround about Bridge Mall
Contributions made so far on the YourGround map reveal Little Bridge Street, Bridge Mall, Camp Street, Bath Lane, Lake Esmond and Black Hill lookout as locations women and gender diverse people feel unsafe.
Willow marked Bridge Mall as an 'unsafe spot' and said there was 'poor lighting' and she felt 'trapped'.
"I have been heckled here and there are often drug affected people around, who are often aggressive. I walk around feeling like I will be mugged or attacked," she wrote.
Em added Camp Street as an unsafe spot and said poor lighting and a lack of people around were safety issues.
"As I work nearby, I am often faced with walking along Camp Street after dark," she wrote.
"It is very poorly lit with many small alleys, driveways and other areas where anyone could be waiting. It is deserted at night with no incidental traffic by car or foot."
One contributor said Bath Lane felt unsafe as there was no one around at night due to a lack of activation.
"I tell my child to never come down here alone," they wrote.
Users marked Federation University's Mount Helen campus and areas around Lake Wendouree as places they felt safe.
Associate Professor Kalms said creating inclusive spaces for women and gender-diverse people was a priority state-wide under Victoria's Gender Equality Act 2020.
She said the YourGround data and stories would be collated and presented in reports, heat maps and other data visualisations for each participating local government area.
"This will really help councils see what is happening for women and gender diverse people which isn't always very clear," she said.
"Councils may then think about how they might want to prioritise budgets or... think strategically about what to do next."
Associate Professor Kalms said the project could encourage urban designers and city planners to apply a gender lens to future developments and public space projects.
"We are working with urban planners all the time who have certain types expertise but may not know how to design in a gender sensitive way," she said.
"It is not just making spaces brighter or putting in more CCTV cameras. We need to approach the issue of safety from many perspectives with a range of techniques."
The YourGround project has been translated in seven languages so far to capture the experiences of women and gender diverse people from multicultural backgrounds.
City of Ballarat is also running a similar project called Right to the Night which is focusing specially on safety around the hospital precinct.
View the interactive map here or visit yourground.org/ to contribute to the project.
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