Cities and places are most often designed with a normative lense and what’s best for ”all” at focus. This leads to excluding and unsafe places that limits some groups’ right to public space and the city. In this seminar, you will learn some concrete tips and what research says about how to plan and design more equal spaces in the city – where it is natural to take into account groups like children, youth and women at different ages. 

According to studies and the accounts of social movements, there is a need for a method that addresses the root of the problem and includes ”de ohörda rösterna” (the voices unheard), as intersectionality does, in order to increase every citizen’s right to the city. 

We will reflect on the dominating discussions on safety in cities and who is identified as a problem, and suggest alternative understandings as well as practical tools and examples on how to design and plan equal and safe cities. Furthermore, we will show how an intersectional approach can support social workers as well as organised local citizens in their tasks to contribute to the planning of living areas and how a joint work can support the right to a safe and accessible city.