Transport for NSW leads the Safer Cities program which is investing $30 million over two years to help improve perceptions of safety in our cities and towns, particularly for women, girls and gender diverse people.  

The program has three aims, which are aligned with the United Nations Safer Cities for Girls program:  

1. Increasing women and girls’ safety and access to public spaces  

2. Enabling women and girls to move freely and alone in their community  

3. Increasing women and girls’ engagement with how the spaces around them are designed and managed. 

Transport for NSW hosted a webinar on 6 March 2024 in partnership with the Power of Public Spaces program. The webinar marked the launch of five draft tools and guides aimed at building knowledge and capabilities for shaping safer journeys for women, girls and gender diverse people in and around our cites.  

The new draft Tools are designed to further explore ways in which practitioners might begin to involve women, girls and gender diverse people in their community engagement or research studies. The draft Guide to Gender Inclusive Placemaking also incorporates research from Monash University XYX Lab and others.  

Brooke Wharton, Lead Partner Investigator to the program, and A/Executive Director Cities Revitalisation and Place at Transport for NSW hosted the event.  The Hon. Jo Haylen, Minister for Transport at the NSW State Parliament made opening remarks to webinar attendees about the value of ensuring feeling safe and included in all public spaces in our cities is vital to ensuring women, girls and gender diverse people can fully participate in the life of their city. and opening remarks.  

The webinar then featured Juma Assiago, Global Coordinator Safer Cities Programme at the UN-HABITAT speaking from Nairobi, Kenya, on the Safer Cities program globally, and Dr. Hannah Tonkin, inaugural NSW Women’s Safety Commissioner who spoke about the significant barriers faced by many vulnerable women in accessing services, infrastructure, jobs and transport; and the vital role that safety, and feelings of safety play in overcoming some of these barriers.  

Speakers:  

Juma Assiago is an urbanist and social scientist and is the Global Coordinator for the Safer Cities program at UN-Habitat, and an alumnus of Oxford University, UK. He established the Global Network on Safer Cities.  Juma works to support local governments to develop and implement city crime prevention and urban safety measures and has published several articles and books on the topic.  

Hannah Tonkin is NSW’s inaugural Women’s Safety Commissioner and provides leadership and oversight across NSW Government to foster collaboration and coordination. The Commissioner also works to raise awareness of domestic violence, women’s safety and give a greater voice to women.