Perceptions of Safety for Women in Urban Areas: A Spatial Regression Analysis in the City of Naples

One of the fundamental paradigms of contemporary urban design is “the inclusive and safe city”: meaning the aim of developing spaces capable of meeting the needs of different population categories, promoting accessibility, equity, and a sense of belonging. Currently more than 4.5 billion people, or 55% of the world’s population, live in urban areas, a percentage expected to rise to 68% by 2050. Such increasing urbanization generates opportunities, but also enormous challenges in achieving and maintaining environmental, economic and social sustainability. Although over half the global urban population is female, cities are often inadequately designed in terms of the needs and expectations specific to women. The current research deepens the knowledge of women’s perceptions of safety as they move around the city, and evaluates which characteristics of the urban contexts, including physical, functional and socioeconomic elements, have significant impacts. In support of decision-makers, a tool is developed and proposed, based on GIS methodology, using open-source data on such contextual urban aspects. To these, the tool relates data on the safety perceived by women, derived from a mobile App (Wher) that collects women’s own direct suggestions, comments and ratings on their perceptions of the safest walking routes. The GIS methodology proposed allows us to capture material and immaterial elements involved in the complex issues of perceived safety, and to focus on potentials for the relative improvements in urban landscapes. The methodology allows us to analyze the impact of the built environment on women’s perceptions of walkability in different urban areas and at different times of day, identifying the relationships with various physical, functional, socioeconomic and environmental factors.