| dc.description.abstract | Sustainable public transport systems are an important tool to create green and healthy cities. To increase public transport ridership and its attractiveness it is crucial that all users feel safe from victimization while using the public transport system. Research has shown that women perceive safety different from men and are more likely to develop avoidance behavior when they experience a reduced feeling of safety which may lead to the avoidance of public transport (Hempel, 2011, Kim, 2019, Crime Concern, 2002, Loukaitou-Sideris and Fink, 2009b). Understanding what influences the perception of safety and how it does so, can help public transport operators, planners, architects, and other authorities to develop strategies and take measure to increase the overall feeling of safety.
It is therefore the aim of this research to investigate which environmental factors influence the female public transport user’s perception of safety in Berlin and discuss to what extent design and planning practices can mitigate the issue by adopting the approaches of Crime Prevention through Environmental Design.
A combination of several complementary methods was chosen to investigate the factors that impact female public transport user’s perception of safety in Berlin. These methods are desk-based research of documentation on the topic, an online survey with 106 participants and online interviews with 10 participants. The results and findings were discussed within the framework of Crime Prevention through Environmental Design to analyze how such design principles can mitigate women’s perception of safety in the public transport setting.
The results and findings show that the factors influencing female public transport user’s perception of safety can be divided into those stemming from the social environment and those stemming from the physical environment, whereas factors from the social environment seem to have a stronger influence. These are especially fellow public transport users whose behavior is unpredictable, e.g. due to intoxication, and the absence of people in the stations. Among the factors of the physical environment it is especially poor visibility and a bad overview of the station layout that contributes to a reduced feeling of safety. It was found that familiarity with a station and the area around it may contribute to a feeling of confidence and comfort among female public transport users. Stations located in areas that have a bad image seem to be avoided more frequently.
The issue of women’s perceived safety on public transport in Berlin cannot be solved by physical interventions solely. A holistic approach including the design of the physical environment, but also policy changes and social interventions needs to be adopted. | |
