Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Safer Cities for Women: Global and Local Innovations with Open Data and Civic Technology

  • Chapter
  • First Online:
Open Cities | Open Data

Abstract

This chapter proposes a cyclic process for improving urban safety for women using Open Data together with civic technologies such as the unique ‘SafetiPin’ app and a purpose-built city dashboard. Safety is a difficult performance criterion to measure at the scale of the local neighbourhood and street. Much existing data is at the metropolitan scale rather than fine-grained local scales. Further, the data is often gender biased and underestimates the scale of crimes such as sexual harassment. This chapter examines the challenges involved in localising global approaches to urban safety with reference to a case study in Bogota. Statistical analysis and a city dashboard, using Open Data and open source technology, are developed to provide insights into the links between different urban metrics and gender balance in Bogota.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution
Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 109.00
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 139.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book
USD 139.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

Abbreviations

SDGs:

Sustainable Development Goals

References

  • Akash, S. A., Md, A.-Z., Adhikary, T., Md, A. R., & Sharmin, A. (2016). HearMe: A smart mobile application for mitigating women harassment. In 2016 IEEE International WIE Conference on Electrical and Computer Engineering (WIECON-ECE) (pp. 87–90). IEEE.

    Google Scholar 

  • Belknap, J. (2007). The invisible woman: Gender, crime, and justice. Belmont, CA: Thomson Wadsworth.

    Google Scholar 

  • Camacho, A. (2002). Laseguridad ciudadana enelmunicipio colombiano: Undiagnóstico sobre eldiseño institucional y unanálisis delcomportamiento. Bogotá: Centrode Estudios Socioculturales e Internacionales CESO, Facultad de Ciencias Sociales, Universidad de los Andes.

    Google Scholar 

  • CityLab. (2014). How urban design could help reduce rape in India. Retrieved May 8, 2018, from https://www.citylab.com/equity/2014/06/how-urban-design-could-help-reduce-rape-in-india/372612/.

  • Fenster, T. (2005). The right to the gendered city: Different formations of belonging in everyday life. Journal of Gender Studies, 14(3), 217–231.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fitzgerald, L. F. (2017). Still the last great open secret: Sexual harassment as systemic trauma. Journal of Trauma & Dissociation, 18(4), 483–489. https://doi.org/10.1080/15299732.2017.1309143

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Goldman, J., Shilton, K., Burke, J., Estrin, D., Hansen, M., Ramanathan, N., … Srivastiva, M. (2009). Participatory sensing: A citizen-powered approach to illuminating the patterns that shape our world. White Paper, Foresight & Governance Project.

    Google Scholar 

  • Grove, N. S. (2015). The cartographic ambiguities of Harassmap: Crowdsourcing security and sexual violence in Egypt. Security Dialogue (Special issue on Questioning security devices: Performativity, resistance, politics), 46(4), 345–364.

    Google Scholar 

  • Han, H., & Hawken, S. (2018). Introduction: Innovation and identity in next-generation smart cities. City, Culture and Society, 12, 1–4. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ccs.2017.12.003

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hlavka, H. R. (2014). Normalizing sexual violence: Young women account for harassment and abuse. Gender & Society, 28(3), 337–358. https://doi.org/10.1177/0891243214526468

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Khan, W. Z., Xiang, Y., Aalsalem, M., & Arshad, Q. (2013). Mobile phone sensing systems: A Survey. IEEE Communications, Surveys and Tutorials, 15(1), 402–427. https://doi.org/10.1109/SURV.2012.031412.00077

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Leao, S. Z., & Izadpanahi, P. (2016). Factors motivating citizen engagement in mobile sensing: Insights from a survey of non-participants. Journal of Urban Technology, 23(4), 85–103.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Merchán, M., & Cárdenas, M. (2007). El concepto de seguridad ciudadana; un enfoque práctico a partir de la experiencia en Bogotá (Colombia). Bogotá: Secretaria de Gobierno de la Alcaldia Mayor de Bogotá y Friedrich Ebert Stiftung.

    Google Scholar 

  • Montenegro, A. (1994). Justicia y desarrollo económico. Revista Planeación y Desarrollo, XXV, 31–45. Colombia: DNP. Retrieved from https://colaboracion.dnp.gov.co/CDT/RevistaPD/1994/pd_vXXV_1994_art.1.pdf.

  • Ong, K.-L., De Silva, D., Boo, Y. L., Lim, E. H., Bodi, F., Alahakoon, D., & Leao, S. Z. (2016). Big data applications in engineering and science. In S. Yu & S. Guo (Eds.), Big data concepts, theories, and applications. Cham, Switzerland: Springer.

    Google Scholar 

  • Palermo, T., Bleck, J., & Peterman, A. (2014). Tip of the Iceberg: Reporting and gender-based violence in developing countries. American Journal of Epidemiology, 179(5), 602–612. https://doi.org/10.1093/aje/kwt295

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pettit, C. J., & Leao, S. Z. (2017). Dashboard. In L. A. Schintler & C. L. McNeely (Eds.), Encyclopedia of big data (pp. 1–6). Cham: Springer International Publishing.

    Google Scholar 

  • Pettit, C. J., Lieske, S. N., & Jamal, M. (2017). CityDash: Visualising a changing city using Open Data. In Planning support science for smarter urban futures (pp. 337–353). Springer International Publishing.

    Google Scholar 

  • Smaoun, S. (2000). Violence against women in urban areas: An analysis of the problem from a gender perspective. United Nations Urban Management Programme, Working Paper 17.

    Google Scholar 

  • The Economist Intelligence Unit Limited. (2017). Safe Cities Index 2017: Security in a rapidly urbanising world. Report, London. Retrieved November 27, 2017, from https://dkf1ato8y5dsg.cloudfront.net/uploads/5/82/1-safe-cities-index-2017-eng-web.pdf.

  • UN Women (United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women). (2011). Matrix of violence against women prevalence surveys, by country. Retrieved from http://www.endvawnow.org/uploads/browser/files/vaw_prevalence_matrix_15april_2011.pdf.

  • UN-Habitat, United Nations. (2016). A guide to assist national and local governments to monitor and report on SDG Goal 11 indicators: Monitoring framework, definitions, metadata. UN-Habitat Technical Report.

    Google Scholar 

  • Vallicelli, M. (2017). Smart cities and digital workplace culture in the global European context: Amsterdam, London and Paris. City, Culture and Society, 12(1), 25–34.

    Google Scholar 

  • Viswanath, K., & Basu, A. (2015). SafetiPin: An innovative mobile app to collect data on women’s safety in Indian cities. Gender & Development, 23(1), 45–60.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Whitzman, C., Andrew, C., & Viswanath, K. (2014). Partnerships for women’s safety in the city: Four legs for a good table. Environment and Urbanisation, 26, 443–456.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • WICI. (2012). Tackling gender exclusion: Experiences from the Gender Inclusive Cities Program. Retrieved from http://safecities.economist.com/safe-cities-index-2017.

  • Zheng, Y., Capra, L., Wolfson, O., & Yang, H. (2014). Urban computing: Concepts, methodologies, and applications. ACM Transactions on Intelligent Systems and Technology (TIST), 5(3), 38.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

The authors acknowledge the Australia Korea Foundation and the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade Australia for funding related to this project.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Urban Development and Design, Faculty of the Built Environment, University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW, Australia

    Scott Hawken

  2. Urban Modelling and Simulation, University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW, Australia

    Simone Z. Leao

  3. University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW, Australia

    Ori Gudes

  4. Design and Built Environment, Curtin University, Perth, WA, Australia

    Parisa Izadpanahi

  5. SafetiPin, Gurgaon, India

    Kalpana Viswanath

  6. Urban Science, Faculty of the Built Environment, University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW, Australia

    Christopher Pettit

Authors
  1. Scott Hawken
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Simone Z. Leao
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Ori Gudes
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Parisa Izadpanahi
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Kalpana Viswanath
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  6. Christopher Pettit
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Scott Hawken .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Urban Development and Design Faculty of the Built Environment, University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW, Australia

    Scott Hawken

  2. City Planning, Faculty of the Built Environment, University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW, Australia

    Hoon Han

  3. Urban Science, Faculty of the Built Environment, University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW, Australia

    Christopher Pettit

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2020 The Author(s)

About this chapter

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this chapter

Hawken, S., Leao, S.Z., Gudes, O., Izadpanahi, P., Viswanath, K., Pettit, C. (2020). Safer Cities for Women: Global and Local Innovations with Open Data and Civic Technology. In: Hawken, S., Han, H., Pettit, C. (eds) Open Cities | Open Data. Palgrave Macmillan, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-6605-5_4

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-6605-5_4

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Singapore

  • Print ISBN: 978-981-13-6604-8

  • Online ISBN: 978-981-13-6605-5

  • eBook Packages: Social SciencesSocial Sciences (R0)

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation