‘I don’t think we’ll ever be finished with this’: Fear and safety in policy and practice

Linda Sandberg and Malin Rönnblom
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Linda Sandberg: Umeå University, Umeå Centre for Gender Studies, Sweden
Malin Rönnblom: Umeå University, Umeå Centre for Gender Studies, Sweden

Urban Studies, 2015, vol. 52, issue 14, 2664-2679

Abstract: In planning contexts, safety is often discussed from a women’s perspective. An ideal site for exploring some of the key issues is Umeå, a medium-sized town in northern Sweden. Here, attention to women’s fear of violence greatly increased at the turn of the century, when a single repeat offender known as the ‘Haga Man’ assaulted several women in the city. People’s (especially women’s) fear of violence came to be seriously recognised, discussed and taken into consideration in the city’s planning. The present research is based on an analysis of empirical data collected in 2008, through interviews with people who in various ways work to increase safety in Umeå. The paper addresses how the informants define the problem of fear of violence in public space and the strategies they employ to address it, what could be described as the analytical-practice paradox, as the results show the difficulties of integrating gender-aware planning into planning practice.

Keywords: fear of violence; gender equality; safe spaces; Sweden; urban planning; urban space (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2015
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:sae:urbstu:v:52:y:2015:i:14:p:2664-2679

DOI: 10.1177/0042098014550453

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