Womens Safety Experiences in the James Street Precinct
Alexandra Rooney
with support from my supervisors Stephanie Wyeth and Jonathan Corcoran.
Studies consistently show women feel less safe than men, with 78% of Australian women feeling unsafe walking or running at night compared to only 47% of men said that they felt unsafe undertaking the same activities (Demos Au, 2025). This disparity is powerful evidence revealing how women navigate, live, and experience a city (Tilleman & Chowdhury, 2024). There is a growing scholarship that suggests there is a direct correlation with the time of day, the built environment, and women's perceptions of safety (Basu et al., 2021).
Built form regulation to support or enable a precincts’ purpose and continued evolution often develop in stages over time with little to no cohesion needed between built form typologies or consideration of access (Newton et al., 2019; Gamble et al., 2020). One such precinct is James Street, which will act as the case study context for this project. Located in Brisbane’s Fortitude Valley, James Street has developed over the past two decades from a cluster of light industrial activities into a premier lifestyle and retail precinct with approximately 109 businesses spanning fashion, dining, and hospitality, yet is situated nearly 1 kilometre from the nearest major public transport hub.
This thesis argues that the patchwork development of urban precincts like James Street in Brisbane creates significant safety concerns for women, particularly those working in the nighttime economy, due to poor public transport connections, inadequate lighting, and built environment factors that fail to consider gendered experiences of safety.
This research will annalyse public and private space, land use miX, hour of operation data, public transport data, and observations from within the precinct to answer the research questions:
Research Question 1: What factors of the built form (that include for example, lighting, visibility, building design) contribute to gendered perspectives of safety in James Street? This question addresses gaps in understanding how specific urban design elements affect women's safety perceptions in precinct contexts.
Research Question 2: How does time of day (daytime versus nighttime) impact safety perceptions and how this might influence commuting patterns? This explores the temporal dimension of safety that existing literature talks to as being important but currently understudied in precinct settings.
Research Question 3: What are some practical recommendations for urban planners, precinct managers, and policymakers to enhance safety and inclusivity in James Street and similar precincts? Answering this final question talks to the need for practical planning solutions to the identified problems from research
The high volumes of private or hybrid space within the precinct allows for greater control over the interface with the street, which from the observations found that built form features such as windows, permanent outdoor furniture and alleyways which are open, well-lit and activated throughout the day become closed, dark, blank walls at the conclusion of business.
It was found that the grouping of land use mixes in James Street leads to reduced perceptions of safety often due to an uneven mix of tenancies being activated at any one time. This lack of activation is linked back to the high amounts of private space in the precinct which does not manage the activation within the precinct adequately.
Public transport usage was consistently low, and is linked to infrequent services, poor lighting, poor signage, and poor maintenance of bus stops and public transport infrastructure which do not offer any opportunities for casual surveillance.
This research highlights a gap in safety measurements and encourages Urban Planners, Precinct Managers and Policy Makers to implement regular measuring and monitoring of perceptions of safety in precincts for all users to ensure the City is safe and accessible for all users.
Placemaking techniques such as busking and street performances have been found to increase activity and amenity in areas and have been found to increase perceptions of safety where implemented (Treskon et al., 2018; Doumpa & Broad, 2014). It is recommended that public transport infrastructure within the precinct be upgraded and moved to the western end of the precinct to ensure there are greater opportunities for lighting and casual surveillance at the more underused hours. It is also advised that there are a greater number of services operating within the precinct to allow workers and visitors easier access to the precinct via public transport.
For future precincts, policy makers can make positive changes by ensuring that there is some publicly available community space to allow for a greater public versus private land mix. It is also imperative that policy makers incorporate Gender Sensitive Design Guidelines into the CPTED framework or create a new design guide that enforces stronger built form regulation that ensures spaces within the city reflect a built form, land use mix, and transportation that provides around the clock activation, safe spaces, and a gender sensitive design response.
References
Basu, N., Haque, M. M., King, M., Kamruzzaman, M., & Oviedo-Trespalacios, O. (2021, 12). The unequal gender effects of the suburban built environment on perceptions of security. Journal of Transport and Health, 23, 2-6
Desmos Au. (2025, 05 12). 84% of Queensland women feel unsafe to walk or run at night. Desmos AU. https://demosau.com/news/84-of-queensland-women-feel-unsafe-to-walk-or-run-at-night/
Doumpa, V., & Broad, N. (2014, 09 03). BUSKERS AS AN INGREDIENT OF SUCCESSFUL URBAN PLACES. https://d1wqtxts1xzle7.cloudfront.net/40843870/Doumpa_Broad-Buskers_as_a_ingredient_of_successful_urban_placesEDITED_ACCEPTED-libre.pdf?1450797579=&response-content-disposition=inline%3B+filename%3DBuskers_as_an_ingredient_of_successful_u.pdf&Expires=17629.
Gamble, H., Crossman, S., & Spoehr, J. (2020). Economic Activation of Precincts. Flinders University of South Australia. https://edwardstown.com.au/wp-content/uploads/MARION_-_Economic_Activation_of_Precincts_-_Flinders_Uni_-_FINAL_May2020.pdf
Newton, P., Prasad, D., Sproul, A., & White, S. (Eds.). (2019). Decarbonising the Built Environment: Charting the Transition. Springer Nature Singapore. Retrieved November 11, 2025, from https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-981-13-7940-6_19
Treskon, M., Esthappan, S., Okele, C., & Carla Vásquez-Noriega, C. (2018, 09). Creative Placemaking and Community Safety. https://www.urban.org/sites/default/files/publication/99037/synthesis_-_creative_placemaking.pd
Tilleman, K. J., & Chowdhury, S. (2024). Role of Bystanders on Women’s Perception of Personal Security When Using Public Transport. Journal of the Transport Research Board, 2679(1), 1723-1739.