Gender-inclusive placemaking: Creating healthier, safer spaces for all

Creating safer, more inclusive places is fundamental to tackling health inequalities. Where people feel unsafe, they are less likely to walk, connect with their communities, or access everyday opportunities that support health and wellbeing. This is particularly true for women and girls, whose experiences of public space are often shaped by both actual and perceived safety.

Recent national planning proposals have been criticised for failing to adequately address the safety of women and girls, highlighting a persistent gap between policy ambition and lived experience. Addressing this gap requires practical, place-based approaches that centre equity, prevention and lived experience.

At next week’s UK Walking Summit, hosted by Living Streets in Liverpool at St George’s Hall, partners have an opportunity to engage directly with these challenges. The Getting Home Safely: Women’s Safety Walkshop, led by AtkinsRéalis, will bring together expertise in equality, transport planning and urban design to explore how environments can be assessed and improved through a gender-informed lens. Using the “Getting Home Safely Audit”, participants will examine how perceived safety can be systematically evaluated and translated into tangible design and policy changes.

The session will also showcase work across the Liverpool City Region, demonstrating how local partnerships are implementing interventions to improve accessibility and safety for women and girls.

This aligns with our wider work, where we collaborate across sectors to address the conditions that shape health outcomes and inequalities. As with our ongoing work on safer cultures in sport, in partnership with MSP (Active Partnership for Liverpool City Region), we recognise that sustainable change requires coordinated action, evidence-based interventions and strong partnerships.

We encourage colleagues across local authorities, the NHS and the voluntary sector to explore the Summit and engage with this important agenda.

For more information about Living Street and the UK Walking Summit, please click here.