Part of the ‘Safer Cities: Her Way’ initiative by Transport for NSW, this demonstration project tested how to improve the perception of safety in public spaces, with a particular focus on women, girls and gender diverse people.
Belmore Park, adjacent the Central Station transport hub, was identified by City of Sydney as a pilot site. The heavily treed space is an important arrival point to the city, and acts as a key thoroughfare between the station and the southern CBD; but has limited recreational use, particularly after dark.
Aileen Sage Collective led a series of stakeholder, community representative, & design team workshops to understand safety issues and perceptions of safety across the park, for a range of users, and at different times of day. A series of design solutions were developed as temporary activations, to test and measure effectiveness of the safety improvement strategies.
MAAT worked with Aileen Sage on a visual strategy that drew on the native boobook owl, to overlay a unifying sense of place across the park. The friendly night owl supergraphics animated the edges, the preferred paths, and the central activation zone; encouraging longer stays and creating a sense of watchful observation with their large eyes.
The Belmore Park perception and usage data will be compiled with 9 other pilot projects across NSW, in order to inform public space improvements in the future.
