Elisabeth ENHUS, Vrije Universiteit Brussel - department Criminology, Belgium
Parinaz PAJOUYAN, Vrije Universiteit Brussel - department Criminology, Belgium
This paper will present the results of data collected by SaferCities project of Plan International in Brussels analysed in the master thesis of Parinaz Pajouyan. A part of the work explored the reasons of fear of women in public space at night and the role of lighting in it.
The analysis found that if women experience higher fears, it is because harassers target them constantly. Such experiences relegate women to non-participants in the city in a large number of ways, especially in their mobility and at night, as many women resort to tactics such as taking roundabout paths or only travelling accompanied to their destination, to cope with these fears. But this is not to say that this is the only reason why women fear in public spaces. Lighting was mentioned as important for the women in the survey to increase actual feelings of safety at night. However, the effectiveness of public lighting depends on many different factors: the height, angle, type, intensity, and uniformity of the luminaries all influence whether the place looks safe or not.
Mots clés : Fear of crime|night|women|public lighting
A105185EE