Digital Walks: Womens Safety Walks

London Borough of Tower Halmets, 2023

Digital Walks are a method I developed to enable people to talk about their expereince of place. They are a particulalry useful tool to use when talking to women and girls because they provide a safe context for participants. 

The Women’s Safety Walks were part of the development of the gender inclusive design evidence base. They ran over 10 days and there were three drop-in sessions per day at variable times in order to give people who are ‘time poor’ greater opportunity to join. 

Each participant guided us on a regular walk or route and used the map to highlight routes and places that work and walkers are attracted to, and places they avoid. By understanding the routes women proactively choose we could start to build a picture of what ‘works’ and what feels good. 

The sessions enabled women and girls to share how they use streets and public spaces, the ways that they navigate  the borough and the kinds of blocks and barriers they face. During the discussions we also talked about – why this route and not that route? and what changed from day to night-time. 

These conversations enabled us to learn about the places women actively use and enjoy, the areas that felt unsafe and the reasons those places felt challenging. Through listening to their experiences, I was able to develop design principles to ensure the experience of women and girls is designed-in to future development.

The digital walks were designed to be inclusive, and women could join anonymously if they wished to. The project  a collaboration between the Plan Making Team and the Community Safety Team.

What we learned from these walks was used to inform the gender inclusive design policy in the local plan and help the community safety team to design thier service in response to lived experience.