ANALYSIS
Figure 17:Street Design Principles
ease and personal experiences and reflections were offered on the city environment in the day and at night time. Discussing the city after dark raised concerns of personal safety and vulnerability, with members of the group talking about certain times when they have felt vulnerable, often when they are travelling late at night on public transport or walking home through residential streets. One participant revealed, “I think I’m fearless, but when I leave work at 11pm, I have to go through an industrial area … there’s no one about at night”. Similar comments arose during this conversation with another participant saying, “I’m not too bothered about the centre, because its light from all the shop fronts and streetlights, it’s the streets near my house that are darker, that’s what I don’t like”. Thoughts of bad lighting, empty streets and the “eeriness of residential streets” were echoed by the other participants. All agreed that cities, both at night and in the day, offered occurrences of feelings of vulnerability.
Focus Group 1 A welcoming exchange gave way to a settled and familiar atmosphere for the first focus group. To begin the discussion the participants were asked to consider reflections and experiences of everyday life in their city environment. The group dynamics, as a gathering of friends, enabled the conversation to start and continue with
Newcastle city centre was determined as an urban space familiar with all participants. As a result, when discussing ‘top priorities’ in designing a good city, specific spaces in Newcastle centre were discussed, including Northumberland Street and Bigg Market. Key themes such as ‘green spaces’, ‘safety’ and ‘good transport options’ were the predominant topics of conversa-
The comments collected from the focus group indicate that public urban spaces, from the perspective of a female, were used as a place for social life, performing errands and entertainment. Despite after dark arousing feelings of vulnerability and fear, the city landscape was an obligatory part of female life. The discussion stemmed from the imagery was able to further expand on these topics and acted as a tool for gaining depth into the understanding of each group members individual perspectives and aspirations for future city design.
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