Feeling Safe
- Perceptions of safety and concerns about potential criminal activity are as important as crime rates. People make decisions regarding which public spaces to use or not to use, as well as how to use, public space based on perceptions and fears. The design of a space can help ease safety concerns while deterring criminal activity.
- A fence or landscaping may be needed to create a sense of boundaries between different uses of space. For instance, a play area for children can be separated from a parking lot by low bushes or a fence.
- Multiple light sources - instead of fewer brighter lights - can remove shadows and eliminate dark areas where people can't be easily seen.
- When a pathway makes you enter one end and leave at the other, your movement can be predicted. We can sometimes feel unsafe when these pathways are isolated or rarely used.
- Children are safer when play areas are away from driveways and loading zones. A see-through fence can protect children from traffic and danger when play areas are near sidewalks and streets.
- Residents need to feel confident and certain when using pathways and entries to schools and libraries. Pedestrian lighting, low shrubs, and see-through fencing identifies pathways clearly.
Tell us your idea!
*Note that to be eligible for funding under our capital improvement budget, ideas must involve investment in infrastructure owned and maintained by the city. Also, proposed investment must be something that will last 10 years or more.