Women and gender-diverse people have an opportunity to pinpoint safe and unsafe areas in New South Wales through an interactive mapping project.
YourGround NSW, collaboratively developed by Monash University’s XYX Lab, digital consultancy Crowd Spot and NSW government stakeholders, launched on Wednesday as a way to hear from people how to make urban areas safer.
On the YourGround NSW site, women and gender-diverse people can select a pinpoint on the interactive map and leave a comment on various measures of safety, such as the quality of lighting, the time of day they feel the most/least safe and other measures.
The map is open until February 2024, when researchers from Monash University’s XYX Lab will collate and analyse the data on the map in a report. The findings will provide guidance on how to make public spaces more accessible, inclusive and equitable.
The project comes as statistics from the 2023 NSW Government’s Safer Cities Survey in July this year found 59 per cent of women respondents feel unsafe most or all of the time in public, compared to 32 per cent of men.
More than three quarters (76 per cent) of the women surveyed said, if they felt safer, they would walk more often, and 69 per cent said they would use public transport more often.
NSW Women’s Safety Commissioner Dr Hannah Tonkin, who was involved in the launch of YourGround NSW, said all people should feel safe and welcome in public spaces.
“Feeling unsafe can limit people’s ability to access education, employment and services, and to engage fully in their communities,” she said.
“By hearing directly from women and gender diverse people as they move around their cities, towns and regions, YourGround NSW will amplify their voices, help us understand their experiences, and provide important data and evidence for NSW policymakers into the future.”
Exciting new project!@YourGroundMap asks women & gender diverse people to pin a spot on an interactive digital map & share their experiences about safety across NSW. Tell us where you feel safe to help create more inclusive public spaces.
— Hannah Tonkin, NSW Women’s Safety Commissioner (@HannahTonkinWSC) November 14, 2023
Visit the map: https://t.co/Qifh5zb7gM pic.twitter.com/J4Pdzv7FrK
NSW Minister for Transport Jo Haylen MP said the government shares a commitment to providing safety to all people, especially women and gender-diverse people.
“This is a complex issue that has real impacts on the lives of so many women across the state. It is a priority for us to ensure that everyone feels heard, feels safe and feels welcome in our public spaces,” Minister Haylen said.
“The stories and information gathered through this program will help chart a path toward creating exciting and interesting public spaces in our cities and towns.”
Feeling unsafe in public is a shared experience for a lot of women and gender-diverse people, said Jodie Harrison MP, the NSW Minister for Women, and it impacts their day-to-day life significantly.
“Women and gender diverse people tend to feel less safe in public and that perception can often impact their movements and opportunities to participate in the community. That feeling of not being safe may cause them to change their behaviour, such as avoiding using public transport or certain spaces altogether,” Minister Harrison said.
“The NSW Government is pleased to be supporting the YourGround initiative to help identify how we can make our cities, towns, transport and community spaces more accessible for women, girls and gender diverse people.
“I look forward to seeing the results of the program which will help make our spaces mores accessible and inclusive.”
YourGround NSW is inspired by YourGround Vic, which launched in 2021. Dr Nicole Kalms from the Monash University XYX Lab said Victoria’s version of the interactive mapping project received more than 6,000 submissions, and YourGround NSW is hoping for the same level of uptake in NSW.
“As designers, architects, urban planners, policymakers, even equity experts, we can’t make assumptions about what women and gender diverse people experience. XYX Lab works from lived, sometimes hidden, experiences to really make an impact,” Dr Kalms said.
“As a grassroots, crowdsourcing tool YourGround uncovers experiences that restrict access and inclusion in public space.
“We’re looking forward to finding out about the everyday experiences of women and gender-diverse people all across NSW that can provide important insights to those making key decisions in the future.”
You can check out YourGround NSW and contribute to the map here.