Researchers have developed a new geospatial dashboard and certified training course designed to create safer and more accessible parks for women and girls.
The free online resources, designed to help police, parks and planning professionals make public green spaces safer, have been developed by University of Leeds researchers.
Drawing on years of research into the experiences of women and girls in public spaces, the team has now developed two practical resources designed to help organisations improve park safety. A new geospatial dashboard brings together environmental data to support evidence-based decision making, while a Continuing Professional Development (CPD) certified training course equips professionals with the knowledge needed to design, manage and maintain parks that feel safer and more welcoming.
Geospatial technology
Dr Anna Barker, from the School of Law, and Dr Fran Pontin, from the School of Geography, have developed the new dashboard that provides information on 26,840 parks and green spaces across England and Wales.
While publicly accessible, The Safer Parks Dashboard is designed primarily to support Designing Out Crime Officers (DOCOs), planners and park managers by helping them identify opportunities to improve safety through design and management interventions.
This partnership demonstrates the vital role that research can play in helping us better understand the challenges women and girls face, informing innovative approaches that support safer, more welcoming public spaces across West Yorkshire.
This new way of using environmental data shows where people feel unsafe, not just where incidents are reported. That helps shape informed, intelligence-led policing.
Dr Pontin said: “There’s so much data out there that’s currently underutilised or not joined up. For example, using environmental data in a policing context isn’t necessarily someone’s first thought, but the dashboard brings the data together to create an overall picture of a space which multiple agencies can use to support decision making and make our parks safer for everyone.”
DOCOs work with local authorities, planners and community organisations to reduce opportunities for crime. Their recommendations can include improvements to lighting, sightlines, natural surveillance, access routes, landscaping, maintenance, and the level and distribution of activity within a space, helping create spaces that feel safer, more welcoming and better used.
The work builds on research led by Dr Barker which found women and girls are significantly more likely than men to feel unsafe in parks, particularly after dark.
This research highlighted that feelings of safety are influenced not only by crime levels, but also by environmental factors such as lighting, activity levels and the presence of other people - especially women – plus visibility, maintenance, landscaping and access routes.
The initial findings informed the development of the Safer Parks: Improving Access for Women and Girls guidance adopted by the UK Government’s Green Flag Award scheme in 2023.
Trialling the dashboard
The dashboard is being piloted with policing partners to support intelligence, decision-making and identify opportunities to improve park safety through design and management interventions. West Yorkshire Police is the first force to trial it.
Roundhay Park, Woodhouse Moor and Potternewton Park were the three parks identified, leading to Neighbourhood Policing Teams in Leeds working with Leeds City Council, West Yorkshire Combined Authority (WYCA), and groups who use the parks to work collaboratively to make the spaces safer.
The force used the dashboard to provide analysis of the most used routes through parks, overlaid with tree coverage, visibility metrics, features of each park such as parking and gardens, alongside data about the locations of CCTV cameras both inside the parks and along their peripheries. The insight was then shared with local Neighbourhood Policing Teams to inform possible patrol routes. Geo-tagging was also used to ensure messaging about Safer Parks, Bystander awareness and VAWG is shared on the social media of members of the public who live near or regularly use the parks.
Detective Inspector Walsh who led the operation with West Yorkshire Police said: “The data from the UoL dashboard was utilised to provide analytical support to operational work, shaping a focused plan to reduce VAWG offending in three specific parks in Leeds. Activity under the operation included an increased policing presence, bystander training, identification and mapping of social groups, a targeted social media campaign and collaboration engagement with the local council.”
CPD accredited course
The Dashboard is a resource that is also included in the Safer Parks: Improving Access for Women and Girls training course.
The course, launched at WYCA’s headquarters in Leeds, was developed with the University's Digital Education Service. It is self-paced, CPD-accredited and takes 60 to 90 minutes to complete. Designed to help professionals apply the Safer Parks principles in practice, it includes interactive learning modules, real-world case studies and resources to support the assessment and evaluation of park improvements.
On successful completion of an end-of-course knowledge check, participants can download an e-certificate.
The course has been quality assured by the CPD Certification Service and meets the highest standard of continuing professional development (CPD). It has also been endorsed by the Green Flag Award Academy, Police Crime Prevention Academy, Make Space for Girls and the Urban Design Group.
The research has been translated into guidance, training and practical tools through collaboration with partners across policing, local government, the parks sector and urban design. Partners include WYCA, Police Crime Prevention Initiatives, Green Flag Award, Make Space for Girls, West Yorkshire Police and Leeds City Council.
Lead researcher Dr Barker said: “Parks are vital public spaces, but our research shows that many women and girls continue to experience barriers to using them confidently and freely.
“The Safer Parks: Improving Access for Women and Girls online training course brings the Safer Parks Principles to life in a way that is practical, accessible and relevant for everyone who has a role in shaping, managing and caring for our parks. For me, the real value lies in seeing the voices of women and girls from our research translated into action.”
Providing solutions
The work comes at a time when tackling violence against women and girls has become a major policy priority, both regionally and nationally. In West Yorkshire, improving the safety of women and girls is a central commitment of Mayor Tracy Brabin's Police and Crime Plan and underpins the region’s Safety of Women and Girls Strategy, which aims to tackle violence, harassment and abuse through a long-term, partnership-based approach. The strategy specifically highlights the role of education, prevention and evidence-led action in delivering lasting societal change.
Mayor Brabin said: “Every woman and girl deserves to feel safe when using our parks and green spaces. Tackling violence against women and girls is one of my top priorities, and that means combining practical action with the best available evidence. This partnership demonstrates the vital role that research can play in helping us better understand the challenges women and girls face, informing innovative approaches that support safer, more welcoming public spaces across West Yorkshire.”
Nationally, the Government has committed to halving violence against women and girls within a decade. Parliamentary scrutiny has highlighted the scale of the challenge, with more than one million violence against women and girls-related crimes recorded in England and Wales in 2022/23.
Against this backdrop, the University is demonstrating how research can help address some of society's most pressing issues, working with partners to translate academic evidence into practical guidance and tools that practitioners can use.
The dashboard was funded through the UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) Safer Streets Mission, part of UKRI's R&D Missions Accelerator Programme.
The course was funded through RISE (Research into Intervention, Safety and Empowerment), led by SPRITE+, and supported through the same UKRI R&D Missions Accelerator Programme.
Further information
For media enquiries please contact Morgan Buswell at pressoffice@adm.leeds.ac.uk
Image credit: West Yorkshire Police