The Spatial Geographies of Women Urban Runners

Abstract

Taking the northern suburbs of Melbourne, Australia, as a case study, we researched the running experiences of women through a feminist geography lens. Interviews with runners informed the design and interpretation of a spatial analysis of women’s running patterns in Strava Metro data. Our study showed how women runners are limited in where they run, and illuminated features of urban environments that can contribute to gendered limitations running women experience. Our approach took us beyond critiques of park management (e.g. lighting, toilets, trail surface), to eventually form findings about how urban form influences the spatial geographies of women runners. HIGHLIGHTS Women restrict where they run alone more than men do because of fear of being attacked by a man, avoiding isolated places in particular. Running is an activity in which women can feel at their most vulnerable in urban public space, as they are often alone, outside beyond daylight hours, and are seeking soft surfaced paths away from motor traffic, places where real-life passive surveillance is usually lower. Gendered differences in the use of urban space by runners can be observed in Strava Metro data. A key feature of women’s running route decision-making is that women will avoid and seek certain places based on how many other people they expect to be present there. Women runners benefit from urban forms which encourage high pedestrian activity, including medium-high urban density and pedestrian prioritised links to greenspaces that are separated from key traffic routes.