Safer cities for women: Global and local innovations with open data and civic technology

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.