Follow this year’s conversations on LinkedIn and Twitter, as well as the ArchTam Blog.

Infrastructure shapes how we live our lives—and how society makes progress. On International Women’s Day, Lara Poloni traces her 30-year career journey from urban planner to ArchTam President, outlining what progress can look like when organizations embrace equity – and when women stand up and seize opportunities.

Infrastructure is a living testament to our progress in communities around the world, reflecting social and economic impact as well as the values we share and our aspirations for the future. When done right, infrastructure is a conduit for access, equity and sustainability.

On International Women’s Day, I’m reminded that to achieve progress and create opportunities for ourselves and others, we must – regardless of gender – do something simple yet daunting: we must be bold with our own aspirations, and that often means starting with saying ‘yes’ rather than focusing on the reasons to say ‘no’.

In an unequal society that is no easy task, especially for women. For so long, many of us have experienced barriers to career progression that have led to historical and ongoing inequities. During my 30-year career, I’ve witnessed some of those inequities first-hand. But I’ve also watched so many women and men bravely confront and overcome them by calling out bias, affirming one another, reckoning with doubts, and making hard choices that have led the way toward a more equitable industry and society. In short, we said ‘yes.’

‘Starting with yes’ is powerful, which I learned very early in my career. But sometimes you need the confidence that comes with time and experience, or with a sponsor who will look out for you to consciously shift to ‘yes’ rather than acceptance of ‘no’ or ‘too hard, not now.’

When I finished college, I naturally applied for graduate level jobs, which assumed no work experience but, of course, preferred it.Dealing with rejections was really tough, but I kept at it.

One day, I decided I wasn’t going to take ‘no’ for an answer. I walked into the office of the best urban planning practice in Melbourne. I told them that I would work for free and, if they didn’t like me, they could let me go after a month.

They never did.

I learned so much from that first experience about backing myself, and that I shouldn’t be afraid of my own drive to succeed. It was a lesson that served me well later in my career when the stakes were higher.

After many fulfilling years at ArchTam, gaining valuable experience and confidence, and managing various parts of the Environment and Transportation businesses, I was presented with a new opportunity: to become Chief Executive of ArchTam’s Australia and New Zealand business.

I was stunned and unsure if I was truly ready. Nevertheless, I said ‘yes’. 

My appointment as a senior woman in a sector underrepresented by women brought with it a level of interest and opportunity that I used to my advantage, spearheading initiatives that benefited ArchTam, and our industry.

We launched ambitious equity, diversity and inclusion targets, led our local industry in workplace flexibility, and deepened our engagement with schools to encourage young women to join the industry—efforts which fed into our graduate recruitment and a 50/50 gender split. We also commenced a long-term work placement program for young indigenous women and men, which almost a decade on continues to inspire a lot of pride in our teams.

Even in my subsequent roles as Europe, Middle East and Africa Chief Executive, and, more recently, as ArchTam President, there was that element of “how am I going to do this?” but the prior experiences of backing myself gave me the confidence I needed to say ‘yes’ to my future opportunities.  In fact, whenever am I asked for career advice from many women at ArchTam or in our industry, I start by saying that “you need to be bold and back yourself first and foremost”.

These steps in my career taught me that success, in many ways, comes from uncertainty. Only by saying ‘yes’ to ourselves can we also say ‘yes’ to others, giving them the opportunity to thrive. It’s these small actions—these affirmations of ourselves and others—that constitute progress. And in my role as ArchTam’s President, progress has been my purpose.

Today, women make up more than 33 percent of our workforce, while two thirds of our executive team and 50 percent of our Board are from a diverse background. We’re seeing Employee Resource Groups flourish across our regions, contributing to a more inclusive culture at ArchTam. We’re pioneering flexibility in the workplace that gives both women and men the freedom to grow. And these efforts to champion equity, diversity and inclusion have received recognition from The Human Rights Campaign, Ethisphere, Fortune, and more.

Infrastructure is driving progress around the world, enabling more sustainable and resilient solutions to address the climate emergency. It is also promoting equitable representation and participation. For women in particular, there is massive opportunity to continue to step up and lead this positive change.

To do so will take openness—not only to our differences, but to our aspirations as well. Challenges? There will be plenty. But we’re determined to build a more equitable world by standing up, by being heard, by ‘starting with yes.’

The post To embrace equity, we must ‘start with yes’ appeared first on Blog.

Follow this year’s conversations on LinkedIn and Twitter, as well as the ArchTam Blog.

Earlier this year, we teamed up with an organisation called STEM Learning to create a series of ENTHUSE Partnerships across the United Kingdom which will generate STEM career awareness and prospects for thousands of young people and help encourage more young women to consider a STEM career. This collaboration will contribute to one of our Sustainable Legacies (our Environmental, Social and Governance strategy) goals to ensure women are properly represented at all levels in the workforce at ArchTam.

We need to do more to encourage women and others from underrepresented groups to join the industry. One way to achieve this is by engaging young people from our local schools and communities to introduce them to the possibility of pursuing STEM careers.

Over three years, local ArchTam offices will work with STEM Learning to connect with schools in their area and deliver expert coaching for teachers, equipping them with the tools to inspire the next generation of STEM stars.

Meanwhile, young people across the UK will receive careers support, access to exciting enrichment opportunities and will be able to network with ArchTam STEM Ambassadors, across career levels and job roles, who will provide a real-life context to the students’ learning by explaining more about their career journeys, bringing STEM careers to life.

The partnership is up and running in the south and southwest of England in areas including Bristol, Oxford and Southampton. Our investment means young people and young women in these communities will be encouraged to pursue equitable opportunities in STEM.

 This partnership will provide structured support for our people to engage with and support local schools to create mutually beneficial outcomes. The range of expertise at ArchTam is vast, and our people are keen to help teachers and young people understand more about the scope of jobs in this industry to open opportunities for careers which are fulfilling and making a positive impact in solving the world’s most pressing challenges. We hope to encourage more girls to pursue STEM subjects at school and find a home in our industry.

The lasting positive impact of this partnership is a continued improvement in young people’s career prospects including those in underserved areas.

The post A social value partnership creates STEM career prospects for young women and girls appeared first on Blog.

Follow this year’s conversations on LinkedIn and Twitter, as well as the ArchTam Blog.

Most people know Taiwan as an Asian economic tiger. With a population of around 20 million, this island nestled off the coast of China is also home to 2.3 percent Indigenous Taiwanese of Austronesian ethnicity, peoples also found in Micronesia, New Guinea, Polynesia and Madagascar. In Taiwan, these Indigenous minority peoples are split into many small groups that maintain their tribal identities and customs.

In 1986, the village of Shi-ma-hsian, home to local Atayal people, was destroyed by a typhoon and landslides. Although advised by the government to leave their tribal land, most choose to stay, living in prefabricated housing donated by a local charity. Over the years, that temporary housing deteriorated.

The village women, renowned for their industrious nature in managing the local economy and tribal life, always sought new permanent housing designed to support their identity and lifestyle and maintain the location of the village.

Working with the Disaster Relief Foundation, we are supporting the development of a new modern village. The project site occupies an area of one hectare and can accommodate 44 household dwellings. The new village housing will be completed in 2024.

Our team has worked closely with a committee led by two local women to represent the village. Important topics such as design needs, budget, schedules and vendor selection were discussed and mutually agreed upon with the local women leaders. Six different types of housing were identified.

Based on feedback from the villagers, safety and durability are the top design priorities. Good insulation, waterproofing and ventilation are also required. Some housing will be solely for private residence, and as there are many old people in the tribe, the first floor of many dwellings is specifically designed to be barrier-free. Some housing will also have extra accommodation considering the community’s plans for establishing bed and breakfast businesses in the future. As the tribe is planning to develop local tourism, maintaining a genuine cultural environment is vital resulting in the design of traditional balconies and semi-outdoor spaces to be used for tribal gatherings.

During this project, our team attended many tribal meetings to make presentations and communicate the housing plans with the entire village as well as to become aware of the cultural perspective and lifestyle choices of this small group of Indigenous people. The learnings from these meetings will be incorporated into the project design.

This project will not only provide permanent housing for the tribe but help revive their local economy so that the young people who have left the village due to a lack of opportunity will come back to work and live in their community, which once again can grow and flourish.

The project is a powerful example of how embracing equity can help local Indigenous women maintain their identity and village location and give a little-known minority group a better chance of a successful future.

The post Uplifting an Indigenous, women-led community in Taiwan appeared first on Blog.

Follow this year’s conversations on LinkedIn and Twitter, as well as the ArchTam Blog.

Rarely does a professional project align so well with one’s passion quite like it did for me during the modernization of the Ann Richards School for Young Women Leaders in Austin, Texas. The opportunity to lead this project amplified my passion for empowering young women to pursue STEM careers.

Founded in 2007 on the vision of Governor Ann Richards, the mission of the school is “to prepare young women to attend and graduate from college, commit to a healthy and well-balanced lifestyle, lead with courage and compassion, and solve problems creatively and ethically in support of our global community.” Comprised of students equally committed to this mission and changing their community and the world one day, the school is advancing education and empowering women from all backgrounds, especially those from economically disadvantaged backgrounds, by providing the skills and confidence they need to succeed in college, career and life. This public, all-girls college preparatory school serves grades 6 through 12 and is open to all qualified students in Austin Independent School District (AISD). With a proud 100 percent graduation rate, the U.S. News & World Report ranks the Ann Richards School at #20 in the state of Texas and #128 nationally. Children at Risk ranked the Ann Richards School at #2 in the Greater Austin High School Rankings and #33 in the state of Texas.

A proud partnership and vision

ArchTam partnered with the Austin Independent School District (AISD) as the program manager to successfully deliver their $1.05 billion 2017 Bond Program to modernize the urban learning experience. The new Ann Richards School, a 184,000-square-foot facility, features modernized, collaborative and flexible spaces including outdoor classrooms, state-of-the-art STEAM classrooms, a two-story library (with a slide), new fine and performing arts spaces, and new athletics facilities. My personal favorite is the makerspace where girls get hands on experience with laser cutters, 3D printers and power tools to create amazing projects like furniture, musical instruments and robots.

Ann Richards School students are on a journey to becoming lifelong leaders not only in the classroom but also through extracurriculars like sports, fine arts and leadership programs. Keeping these multi-faceted student aspirations in mind was key to developing and showcasing this sense of community and advancement of women in leadership.

Strong leadership approach for strong leaders

This project was initially planned to be the first phase of a multi-phase modernization of the existing campus, originally built as a middle school. With strategic permitting, alternative delivery, value engineering, and collaboration under ArchTam’s management, the project team provided a full campus replacement increasing student capacity by 20 percent and providing brand new efficient and sustainable mechanical, electrical and plumbing systems, modern security, and a full-size competition-level track and field facility.

Several project challenges arose that our management approach successfully overcame, including a program-wide strategy to present to the City of Austin Historic Preservation Committee. We also coordinated student transport to offsite locations for athletics and extracurriculars during construction.

All contributors to this project, especially the women, were proud to be part of such an important and transformative school for the school district and the Austin community. Women were involved in nearly every aspect of the project including the project managers, construction managers, architects, engineers, sheet metal fabricators, painters, cleaners, and local artists. For students to observe firsthand the strong women involved at every stage of this project was especially meaningful and rewarding.

Achievements and recognition

Ann Richards School has been recognized with several awards including the Austin Business Journal’s 2022 Community Impact Award, the 2022 Austin Association of General Contractors Outstanding Construction Award, and two 2022 awards by the Construction Management Association of America (CMAA): 2022 Project Achievement Award in Education, and the 2022 National Project of the Year Award. The building is also LEED Silver Certified and received a 3-star Austin Energy Green Building rating.

We are proud to have contributed to such a meaningful project with AISD, uplifting communities and prioritizing the needs of future women leaders.

The post Modernizing the urban school experience for young women leaders appeared first on Blog.

Follow this year’s conversations on LinkedIn and Twitter, as well as the ArchTam Blog.

We seek to build diverse teams, create an inclusive workplace, and provide opportunities to support women in the local community across our Middle East and Africa region. Our mCircles AlUla initiative is a testament to that commitment, and is giving local women entrepreneurs the skills they need to succeed.

Originally launched in 2014 in the United States, mCircles  was  created to help ArchTam’s women professionals seek and receive mentorship and boost their career growth.  Recently, this grassroots initiative was launched in our newest office in the Middle East in AlUla, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

Adapting the format, mCircles AlUla extended its welcome to local women working in the AlUla Governate. Offering a supportive space for soft skills education and development opportunities, the inclusive forum allows for the sharing of experiences amongst aspiring women entrepreneurs. Each session is guided by a theme allowing for varied discussion and group mentoring. Topics range from finance to sales and marketing. 

Organized in collaboration with our client, the Royal Commission for AlUla (RCU)—the Saudi government entity responsible for the development and protection of the AlUla province—and with the support and capabilities building company, AstroLabs, this is the first forum of its kind in AlUla, designed to upskill and empower local women.

mCircles AlUla to launch its third session for IWD 2023
To celebrate International Women’s Day this year, the team in AlUla launched the third edition of the group mentoring program. The session supported around 40 participants in identifying the best strategies to market their businesses and/or products to the RCU.

Sarah Alanazi, a Saudi national from the AlUla region who was hired through the ArchTam graduate program, is now one of our colleagues facilitating the program. “ArchTam has given local women a great educational opportunity that has affected their businesses at a personal and professional level,” she says.

“The women have such an opportunity to learn from experienced professionals in their field who can guide them as mentors and help them to expand their business to contribute effectively to the local community. With ArchTam providing this opportunity, it has started to, and will continue to, benefit everyone and further enrich our community.”

AlUla Redevelopment Program 
Creating opportunities for women is one of the focus areas of the RCU’s AlUla Redevelopment Program, where we are serving as executive program manager. As this program transforms the area, international businesses are coming into the governate to provide goods, services and experiences from construction, to resorts and events. So that the program can fully succeed, it is essential that it also benefits the local communities. Our work with local women entrepreneurs enhances their role within the community, as well as their incomes. It also generates broader employment opportunities for local people.

An example of the program’s success
Annayat, the owner of a local bakery, participated in our first mCircles event in the Middle East. She joined the mentoring circle discussion in sales and marketing where female entrepreneurs shared their challenges and solutions.

Through the knowledge and best practices sharing process, she developed an understanding for the need to build a brand around her business, including the creation of a logo, packaging, and stationery. Prior to the event, she had no network in the marketing and branding field.

Because of mCircles, Annayat was able to connect with Arwa, a brand development specialist who developed a compelling brand identity for Annayat, encompassing all her business needs.

Annayat believes this networking and support has opened new opportunities for her business. She will be among the business owner speakers at the next mCircles event in the region.

“mCircles has really enhanced the local community with these opportunities for local women and women entrepreneurs,” says Leisa Vink, our logistics and administration manager who also leads the mCircles program. “The sessions so far have helped many women build confidence, connections and prospects. There is so much strength when people with similar interests and diverse backgrounds come together and work toward the same goals, kindness and kinship… it’s an incredible sense of community that we have fostered.”

The post Upskilling and empowering local women entrepreneurs in Saudi Arabia appeared first on Blog.

Follow this year’s conversations on LinkedIn and Twitter, as well as the ArchTam Blog. 

The east coast covers an approximately 50 percent of the land area of Peninsular Malaysia and is home to more than 5  million people. The region has been slower in terms of economic and infrastructure development compared to the western part of the peninsula. Hence, there is an imbalance in economic activities between the west and the east coasts. For instance, the eastern states contributed a combined total of approximately 8.0 percent to Malaysian economic growth in year 2021 In contrast, Kuala Lumpur in the west coast contributed to approximately 15 percent by itself. 

One of the key factors for the economic imbalance between the west and the east coasts is the geographical challenges with  extensive Titiwangsa mountain range running through the middle of the peninsula, preventing connectivity between the developed states in the west and the underdeveloped states in the east. Therefore, the economic vibrance of Kuala Lumpur and Selangor have historically been disconnected from the economically lagging areas of Kelantan, Pahang and Terengganu. 

We are working with China Communications Construction Company (the Engineering, Procurement, Construction and Commissioning contractor for the ECRL project) in the delivery of the East Coast Rail Link (ECRL) project, a game-changing transport infrastructure which will open up new opportunities for the people in the east coast states by facilitating the creation of new jobs, stimulating industries and enhancing mobility, in tandem with the growth that is being driven by the East Coast Economic Region. We are providing site supervision services for four of the nine sections of the project, which means we are covering approximately half of the entire 413.2 miles (665 kilometers). The works include providing supervising consultancy services for the civil and infrastructure elements including rail transit stations, viaducts, tunnels and depots. The services include the overall administration, checking and verification of technical compliance of construction works and assisting in technical matters on site. 

The ECRL project will drive many benefits, creating a positive social impact for the underserved communities living near the rail line, namely the three east coast states of Kelantan, Terengganu and Pahang, as well as Negeri Sembilan, Selangor, and the Federal Territory of Putrajaya. The project will provide efficient connectivity between the two regions by reducing the time and cost of travel significantly. 

ECRL will spur development in the east coast states and across the Titiwangsa mountain range, creating industrial hubs that will offer jobs to locals, promote business and trade as well as increase tourism. The participation of local contractors in the ECRL construction project would also stimulate growth in the small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), particularly those involved with the supply of building materials. Local contractors involved in ECRL employ many skilled and semi-skilled local workers, creating income and career opportunities especially for the younger generation. 

During the construction of the ECRL, the presence of thousands of workers at the construction site will generate the local economy that benefits food traders, homestay operators, rental car entrepreneurs and other small entrepreneurs. The cost of goods can also be lowered because the cost of freight transport by rail is cheaper compared to land transport. This new network trims the cost of traveling and gives rural east coast populations flexibility to move beyond their hometowns towards better economic opportunities nearer to the western centers.

The post Generating equitable economic growth in Malaysia appeared first on Blog.

Follow this year’s conversations on LinkedIn and Twitter, as well as the ArchTam Blog.

Located on Chicago’s west side between the underserved neighborhoods of Austin and West Garfield Park, the Joint Public Safety Training Center serves as a state-of-the-art scenario-based training facility for both new recruits and in-service members of the City’s Fire and Police Departments.

The project increases the City’s ability to prepare for new and emerging threats through joint-training exercises and addresses the inadequacies of the City’s existing training facilities. This new capacity will allow first responders to receive high-quality, specialized, scenario-based training that emphasizes hands-on tactical practice in real-world situations and improve interagency collaboration in emergency response. The design, completed by ArchTam Buildings+Places team, has become a catalyst for development along the Chicago Avenue corridor, including two adjacent restaurants and a Boys & Girls Club as well as efforts through INVEST South/West, a community development initiative created by Mayor Lori E. Lightfoot. INVEST in South/West focuses on 10 of the most underserved communities and 12 commercial corridors on the south and west sides of Chicago, bringing more than $2.2 billion in private and public investments to provide support for small businesses, restore historic buildings, create affordable housing, and foster equity and resilience in these communities. The design process engaged the local community and emphasized the concept of “transparency” – a word and idea held in high regard by the local community.

Our team worked tirelessly to ensure there was equity in the procurement and subcontracting process, resulting in nearly 50 percent of the subcontracting dollars being allocated to minority-owned and women-owned businesses. 66 people were hired locally for the project, including more than 50 percent minority community members who were hired during the construction phase.

I served as the project executive for the training center and oversaw all stages of the project including pre-construction, procurement, design-build process, project execution and close out. Early on, and throughout the construction process, our community relations manager Kendall Williamson and I worked in close collaboration with the community liaison, city officials, and the project team on efforts to maximize diverse subcontractor and workforce participation. I also attended weekly meetings with members of the community to help quell concerns and make sure every voice was heard. In the end, community members who started off as skeptics became some of the project’s biggest advocates. Additionally, the Joint Public Safety Training Center was named a finalist for the Community Impact Project of the Year for the Chicago Commercial Real Estate Awards which will be announced March 9th.

The post Creating development opportunities for underserved Chicago neighborhoods appeared first on Blog.

Follow this year’s conversations on LinkedIn and Twitter, as well as the ArchTam Blog.

We are celebrating International Women’s Day this year by recognizing the remarkable achievements of women in our industry and lending our voices to bring awareness to the challenges women continue to face around the world.

For us, #EmbracingEquity means leveling the playing field. Once we acknowledge that we don’t all start from the same place, we can create an equitable workplace through identifying the barriers that exist within our systems and processes, developing programs and policies that generate equal outcomes, and leading the change in our industry.  

The benefits that come from diverse and inclusive teams, both organisationally and culturally, are hard to ignore – when our teams reflect the communities they serve, our people are more engaged, innovation and collaboration flourishes and we deliver better solutions for our clients. However, the pace of change, particularly in increasing the number of women in our industry and STEM fields, is slower than we would like.  

Across our company, we’ve improved gender diversity of our workforce. Women comprise 19 percent of our leaders, which puts us close to achieving our near-term target of 20 percent. We are also making progress towards our goal of 35 percent of our overall workforce being women—we’re currently at 33 percent. Recognizing that diversity looks different everywhere in the world, we have also established KPIs and associated near- and long-term diversity targets in each region of our business.  

We are ensuring leaders and managers are accountable for our inclusive culture because it takes all of us to be more mindful of inclusion and unconscious bias. We encourage hiring managers to take training on inclusive practices in sourcing and interviewing candidates, and in making hiring decisions.  

What’s more, it’s not just about hiring more women. We need to support them throughout their career through job opportunities, learning and mentorship programs, and family-friendly policies. Globally, we offer a suite of development programs, four technical and business-related career paths, and flexible work arrangements that support work-life balance for all our employees. Additionally, in the U.S., we’ve doubled our parental leave this year, and it applies to birthing and non-birthing parents, foster placement, or adoption. 

When our employees thrive both personally and professionally, they deliver their best for our clients and better social outcomes in the communities we serve. We establish partnerships with small and minority-owned businesses in our projects and make strategic community investments that benefit society and generate opportunity. For example, our work on the Arthur Sheridan Expressway in the Bronx, New York is improving community access to waterfront recreation areas, and our Safe Places Initiative is helping counter inequities and create more inclusive public spaces in Sydney, Australia and beyond. 

This year’s theme, #EmbraceEquity, is particularly meaningful to us as we remain steadfast in our commitment to ensuring workplace equity, diversity and inclusion. 

Happy International Women’s Day!

The post Embracing equity in our workplace and communities appeared first on Blog.

Follow this year’s conversations on LinkedIn and Twitter, as well as the ArchTam Blog.

Built to speed travelers from one point to the other, highways in the United States historically were planned and constructed with little concern for the communities they displaced or divided. Now — with a renewed focus on equity — cities and states are working to mitigate the resulting impacts.

While removing a roadway from the national highway system might seem cause for concern, for an underserved community in the Bronx, New York, it was cause for celebration.

Since its completion in 1963, the 1.3-mile Arthur Sheridan Expressway greatly restricted the community’s access to its neighboring river waterfront, and the few routes available for pedestrian access were confusing, congested and circuitous, presenting an additional barrier to the waterfront recreation areas.

Residents were outspoken about the need for improved connectivity to the waterfront and parks, and our team, as part of a joint venture and in an effort to address the voiced concerns, collaborated with various city, state and federal agencies to convert the expressway from an urban principal arterial/interstate to serve as an urban principal arterial — making it essentially a boulevard— bridging the gaps in the community’s accessibility to their neighboring natural recreational spaces.

While coordinating public information sessions and meetings with local community boards helped us engage the residents, developing this unique project required extensive traffic analysis, engineering and landscape design innovations. Working as a team, we removed the historic barriers to the parklands and waterfront, enabling residents to finally take advantage of the recreational space the neighborhood offers. This included adding transportation and recreation options by establishing a two-lane bike path in the median of one of the local avenues.

In addition to advancing accessibility, the pedestrian safety was also our top priority. To achieve this, we installed high-visibility pavement markings and 16-foot-wide refuge islands with bollards. We also added three signalized crosswalks and shortened crossing distances by using a protected signal phase. As a result, pedestrians — including students from neighboring schools — are now able to cross the boulevard to visit the park without concern about conflicting traffic. We also added buffers and plantings in the median, providing street trees and a vertical-faced decorative barrier on each side of the boulevard.

Through this project, we were not only able to improve the community’s quality of life and establish a safe, equitable, more pleasurable driving and walking experience, we also provided a blueprint for other impacted, underserved communities across New York State and the country to make similar transformations.

The post An underserved New York City community gets equitable access to recreation appeared first on Blog.

Follow this year’s conversations on LinkedIn and Twitter, as well as the ArchTam Blog.

As we design and deliver urban spaces around the world, we are committed to making those spaces inclusive and safe, meeting the needs of all users. That’s a mission we share with the Greater Sydney Commission, which seeks to remove significant safety barriers women and gender-diverse people face when accessing public spaces.

These safety barriers are stark—and widely quantified. The Australian Bureau of Statistics estimates one in four women did not walk in their local area alone after dark in the last 12 months because they felt unsafe. Only one in 24 men, though, reported the same.

In 2020, the Greater Sydney Commission launched the Women’s Safety Charter to improve the safety of women and girls in Greater Sydney. As a founding member of the Charter, we undertook research in the State of New South Wales to assess perceptions of safety in public spaces across the state. This expanded to become our Safe Places Initiative, which now has a national scope.

Safe Places uses interactive mapping to crowd-source geolocated data, identifying where people travel and whether they feel safe or unsafe. The survey also captures optional questions on personal identity so perceived safety can also be correlated to identity factors, such as age, gender identity or disability. We are engaging our national 4500-strong team and the broader community to pin the location of perceived safe and unsafe places, and input supporting information through PlanEngage^TM, our digital community engagement tool.

Users of Plan Engage can search for their location and drop a pin to log their feedback on their surroundings. Anyone can comment on community posts, informing dialogue for a safer, more informed community. Since its launch, users have placed hundreds of pins in Greater Sydney, and many more across Australia and New Zealand. You can view those pins here.

Data collection is just the first step of the initiative. Our urban design and transport planning specialists would then analyse this crowd-sourced data, including lighting, line of sight, foot traffic, maintenance, and passive surveillance information. We would use the findings to get a perception of how Safety is perceived by informing recommendations and developing best practices to improve how spaces are designed or retrofitted to improve public safety.

Women and gender-diverse people face real and measurable inequities in our cities. But for too long, those inequities have been sidelined. The solution, then, is to listen. Our Safe Places initiative is one way we’re giving these community members a voice through our work. By amplifying perspectives for all to see, it’s helping counter inequities and create more inclusive spaces in Sydney and beyond.

Learn more about Safe Places: https://www.archtam.com/au/safe-places-designing-a-safer-australia/

The post Digital engagement enables equitable and safe experiences in public space appeared first on Blog.