Where are we up to? Safer Cities: Her Way project

Image: Fairy lighting installed in MacCabe Park gives the space a magical glow.

With the last of the fairy lights installed in MacCabe Park Wollongong, we’re starting to wrap up Wollongong’s Safer Cities: Her Way project.

Safer Cities: Her Way is a collaborative partnership program between Transport for NSW and Council. Its aim was to improve perceptions of safety for women, girls and gender diverse people when travelling to, through and within public spaces and transport hub precincts.

While most of the trial interventions have been installed and activations have finished, Council is continuing on plans to install the last of the lighting and other upgrades in Port Kembla and Dapto town centres. Now that we’ve reached this milestone, the next step is to seek community feedback on a range of trial interventions that have taken place.

Wollongong City Council Community Development + Engagement Manager, Alison Bradford said that the program targeted three locations: Wollongong CBD, Port Kembla Town Centre, and Dapto Town Centre.

“Last year we conducted extensive engagement with our community to better understand what made people feel unsafe. As part of this research, we invited women and gender diverse people to accompany Council staff and police on day and night walks through the three locations,” Ms Bradford said.

“We then combined this feedback with survey results to co-design a number of trial interventions and activations that could help make our public spaces and transport hub precincts feel safer and more welcoming.”

Since December 2023, Council has rolled out several trial interventions including exercise classes, picnic events, outdoor movie nights, and live music. At the same time, Council has upgraded the amenities of the three pilot locations with interventions such as new seating, improved street lighting and gender sensitive lighting, CCTV in appropriate locations, and other general maintenance works.

Don’t know what gender-sensitive lighting means? Read more in our media release: ‘Why is good lighting so important?’.

Time to review

Now that the last of the Safer Cities: Her Way trial interventions are being installed, Council is calling for community feedback.

“We want to hear from the people who know and use these spaces. Now that the project is wrapping up, we want to know if the interventions we tested were effective. Do you like the new lighting? Did you attend an activity? How do you feel in each location?’ Ms Bradford said.

“All of this feedback will then be collated and shared with Transport for NSW who will use it to help guide future planning decisions across NSW.”

In the meantime, the new lighting in the three locations will remain in place for a trial period of time.

Community members have from Saturday 1 June to Friday 5 July to provide feedback. Visit the Our Wollongong website for the online survey.

Safer Cities: Her Way is proudly funded by the NSW Government through the Safer Cities Program led by Transport for NSW.