Commissioned policy research, qualitative research design, public safety
Northumbria Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner, 2021–2022
Context
Following a series of high-profile cases of gendered violence in the UK, the Home Office launched the Safer Streets programme in 2020. Northumbria OPCC commissioned Newcastle University to investigate women and girls’ safety in the region’s public parks, and to produce design guidance that local authorities could adopt. The brief was unusual; it asked for recommendations that would actually shift how parks are managed, rather than another literature review recommending more lighting.
Approach
I joined the research team as a researcher on a mixed-methods study across Northumberland and Tyne and Wear, which combined an online survey of 428 respondents, structured observation in two parks with documented high rates of reported sexual violence, 65 street interviews with park users, six focus groups with the violence-against-women-and-girls sector and park volunteer groups, and interviews with Friends of Parks organisations. A young women’s steering group advised on interpretation throughout.
My work sat across fieldwork, qualitative analysis, and translation of findings into a design standard intended for non-academic readers; park managers, local authority officers, community groups.
Output
- Safer Parks Standard (PDF): design principles for managing parks with women and girls’ safety at the centre.
- Rethinking women’s public safety as care in spaces of hyperunsafety (Pain, Meziant): under review at The Geographical Journal, 2026.
- Policy briefing to the Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner, informing regional strategy.
Impact
The Standard was adopted by Northumbria OPCC and has informed programme decisions within the Safer Streets funding envelope. The methodology, which centred lived experience and refused the default to CCTV-and-lighting interventions, is now the foundation of the forthcoming Geographical Journal paper, which reframes public safety through an ethics of care.
Collaborators
Professor Rachel Pain (PI, Newcastle University), Sarah Ackland, Dr Clare Vaughan, Dr Georgiana Varna, Rape Crisis Tyneside and Northumberland, Northumbria Police.
Interested in commissioned research on public safety, gender, or urban policy? Get in touch.
Kahina Meziant 