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When parks don’t feel like safe public spaces

Date

A bandstand in a park in front of a large pond

Parks are often seen as places of freedom — spaces to walk, relax, exercise, and connect. But for many women and girls, these spaces don’t always feel safe or welcoming. In the UK, one in six women say they feel unsafe in parks during the day. After dark, that number rises to four in five. 

This vulnerability, shaped by harassment, poor visibility, exclusionary design and broader inequalities, leads many women and girls to avoid parks. The impact goes beyond missed leisure time. It affects physical health, mental wellbeing, social connection and independence.  

At the University of Leeds, a research team led by Dr Anna Barker and Professor George Holmes, in partnership with the West Yorkshire Combined Authority (WYCA), asked an essential question: What would make parks feel safe and inclusive for everyone? 

Watch the video summary

Impact

  • Policy impact: shared knowledge, evidence and best practices to improve understanding of women and girls' safety in parks with civic partners
  • Community collaboration: worked with local community groups and individuals to ensure their views and experiences were included.

Key information

  • Major funders: UK Home Office 'Safer Streets' funding
  • Partners and collaborators: West Yorkshire Combined Authority, West Yorkshire Police, Keep Britain Tidy, Make Space for Girls, Leeds Women’s Aid
  • Disciplines: law, social sciences
  • Investigators: Dr Anna Barker, Professor George Holmes.

Listening to women and girls

While parks are public, they are not equally accessible. Many women and girls describe having to carry out ‘safety work’, such as changing routes, avoiding isolated areas, staying alert, or only visiting with others. These aren’t just small inconveniences — they add up to lost opportunities, affect quality of life, and place an unfair burden on women and girls.  

Despite this, their needs are often left out of the design and management of parks. To change that, the research team, funded by the Mayor’s Safer Streets programme, spoke with 117 women and girls aged 13 to 84 across West Yorkshire. 

What they found was striking: although women had different ideas about what made a park feel safe, a common factor emerged — the presence of other women. Spaces with walking groups, exercise classes or events were seen as inviting. In contrast, empty parks, particularly after dark, felt unsafe, even without any obvious threat. 

Women and girls also expressed a strong desire for urban designers and park managers to see the park through their eyes, and to involve them from the start.

Two women standing on a path in a park with large trees behind them

Dr Anna Barker and Alison Lowe OBE,
Deputy Mayor of West Yorkshire for Policing and Crime

Working together for change

The team worked closely with women’s centres and youth groups to create supportive spaces for women and girls to share their stories and recognised that safety is influenced by race, age, disability, and other factors.  

Through a follow-on ESRC-funded partnership project, they formed the Safer Parks Consortium, bringing together wider collaborators such as Make Space for Girls and Keep Britain Tidy who manage the Green Flag Award programme. 

Together, they co-produced Safer Parks: Improving Access for Women and Girls. Rooted in lived experiences and consultation with park managers, urban designers, planners, women’s safety experts, and crime prevention officers, it includes illustrations, case studies and practical tips to make the guidance accessible and relevant. Harper Perry and Josie Brookes did the graphic design and illustrations.  

The guidance is based on 10 principles, grouped into three themes: 

  • Eyes on the Park: Encouraging regular and mixed use to create a sense of safety 
  • Awareness: Supporting visibility, wayfinding and confidence in the space 
  • Inclusion: Ensuring women and girls feel they belong and are considered throughout planning and management.

A table of people reading materials at a workshop. Anna Barker is standing behind them.

Making an impact on parks

The project raised awareness, generating extensive coverage on the BBC, ITV, and in The Guardian. It was presented and discussed at the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Parks and Green Spaces, and shaped the national Love Parks Week 2023 campaign.  

But the real impact lies in its adoption and use. By building the guidance into major frameworks, it will be used for years to come. The guidance has become part of the Green Flag Award programme, used across 2,500 parks in 19 countries, with a new award recognising improvements for women and girls. Park managers and the UK’s network of police Designing-Out-Crime-Officers have been trained in its principles.  

Working with the Suzy Lamplugh Trust, the team also co-designed active bystander training for park staff and volunteers. Using real-life examples from the research, the training builds confidence to safely challenge harassment. It is now being rolled out across the UK.  

Councils across the UK, such as Leeds, Bradford and Doncaster, are applying the guidance to redesign parks, shape policy and update design codes. In West Yorkshire, 12 parks have already been co-designed with women and girls. In Bradford, a live open data dashboard is being developed to support planning and safety audits, with potential for national use. 

In addition, the research has informed the work of Active Travel England, Sport England, and other national organisations. The London Legacy Development Corporation has adopted it as part of its national handbook on gender-sensitive urban design. 

Internationally, the guidance has been shared with UNESCO, UN-Habitat, the World Urban Forum and more. It has been cited in global reports and adopted in countries including Mexico, the United States, Italy, and Australia. 

Anna Barker, Associate Professor in Criminal Justice & Criminology, said: “The real strength of this work to foster safer parks is the breadth and depth of the collaborative partnership, their commitment to bring about change and the value of doing this by engaging with women and girls’ lived experiences.”

A creative partnership with the Cultural Institute at the University of Leeds, known as the Wow Park project, has also explored how art and culture can help make parks more welcoming and joyful.

A table of people reading materials about safe park research at a workshop.

Looking ahead to safer public spaces

The project has been widely celebrated, earning shortlisting for national design and planning excellence prizes. But most importantly, it is already shaping safer public spaces and more inclusive and caring communities.  

As cities around the world look to become more equitable, Safer Parks offers a leading example of how meaningful change happens when research, partnership and lived experience come together.