2023-2027 | BOF
Promotor
Principal Investigator
Research description
There is an indisputable link between the design and use of public space and gendered perceived safety. Moreover, Brussels and Belgium are not among the best in the class when it comes to perceived safety in public spaces. This is partly because minor offenses are often dismissed as everyday occurrences, leaving feelings of insecurity in public space unaddressed even though they are an imminent problem for citizens as they cause behavioural change. In addition, insights into this problem are often obtained through retrospective snapshots, while the perceived sense of security strongly depends on the situational context. This project aims at mapping gendered perceived safety of public spaces in Brussels in its context through a citizen science approach. As field experts, citizens will be involved in the research design such as the demarcation of public spaces to be studied. Citizens, as the privileged observers who subjectively appraise the context, will be involved in the data collection through an innovative application of the experience sampling method, which uses timefences and geofences (i.e., being at a certain place at a certain time) to trigger tasks for participants to complete. End-users, such as citizens and stakeholders will be encouraged to use results both as a “barometer” to monitor real-time perceived safety and as a source to support citizen initiatives.
Field research for this project is being conducted, among others, on the VUB Etterbeek campus. The study is entitled "Every Moment Matters. Share your safety perceptions on campus."
Participation may be of interest for two reasons:
- You are interested in campus safety and wish to contribute to a safer university environment.
- You are curious about passive data registration and real-time behavioural measurement, and would like to explore its potential for your own research.
In either case, you are most welcome to take part. You can find more information by scanning the QR code or clicking this link. This will also allow you to download the app that enables passive data collection.
The project was also presented at the first Citizen Science Fair, organised by Scivil, the Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences and the European Citizen Science project. More information about this event is available here.
