Equal access to the city: gender balance and security issues

This paper - within the framework from European project on urban security - tempts to address the complex issues related to the gender vulnerability in the contemporary city. The EU funded project (7FP) Best practice Enhancers for Security in Urban Environments is oriented to deal with the different issues related to urban security. Through a risk assessment model, experimented in different European cities (Belfast, Poznan, Naples, Reggio Calabria, London, The Hague, Freiburg), Besecure aims at building an Inspirational Platform to be implemented in a decision-making process. In this framework, the project develops a specific focus on gender violence in order to identify the way this issue affects urban security and the possible strategies for enhancing the awareness and the reactions against this tragic issue. The research unit of Naples has developed a specific focus, challenged by societal transformations and cultural gaps, at the urban scale, about the vulnerable subjects, addressing the complex system of relationships among organized crime, human trafficking, gender violence and illegal immigration for exploitation purposes. According to these specific issues, the researchers have been developing a listening campaign (focus group, charrettes, interviews, active observations) in order to engage communities and to interact with activists and associations focusing on critical nodes such as domestic violence, bullying online and "feminicide". The expected results are the gathering of a data framework based on the evidences from the cases studies, combined with statistics and perception diagnosis. The final topic is to develop an integrated approach to safety and security management based on facts and perceptions and oriented to promote social inclusion, cultural awareness, and gender balance.