Sexual harassment and other forms of sexual violence in public spaces are everyday occurrences for women and girls around the world….It reduces their ability to participate in school, work and public life. Although violence in the private domain is now widely recognized as a human rights violation, violence against women and girls in public places still remains a largely neglected issue (UN Women, 2017).

This illustrates that fear and victimisation in public places are complex subjects that cannot be fully described through gender-neutral perspectives. Therefore, in this conference we examine victimisation and fear through an intersectional lens, considering issues of gender, age, physical and psychological abilities, socio-economic status, religion, and ethnic belonging. An individual’s right to safe public places is also highly dependent on society’s norms and structures that either promote or limit one’s freedom to move around without hinderance or fear.

The aim of this conference is first to promote a discussion on the need for more comprehensive and contextualized knowledge about violence in public places: its nature, trends and patterns. And secondly, to offer an opportunity for reflection about our current practices in promoting safety for different groups of society, by both academics and practitioners.

Therefore, in the first day the conference will focus on trends and patterns in country-specific structures and ‘infrastructures’ that deal with victimisation and lack of safety. On the second day, the debate turns to questions about what is needed to promote change. The focus will be on research and policies aimed at improving individual mobility and at promoting safe urban public places.

This interdisciplinary forum offers 2 days of discussions about the individual’s right to safe public places in national and international contexts. This event appeals to both academics and practitioners from a variety of disciplines and backgrounds. The conference offers examples of state-of-the-art research and crime prevention practices from Europe, the UK, the USA, Africa, South America and Australia.

Biography of keynote speakers

1. Liz Kelly, London Metropolitan University, UK
2. Juma Assiago, The Safer Cities Programme at UN-Habitat
3. Supreet Karanjit Singh, SafeCity Initiative, India
4. Anastasia Loukaitou-Sideris, University of California Los Angeles, USA
5. Katja Grillner, KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Sweden
6. Jenny Westerstrand, The National Organisation for Women’s Shelters, Sweden
7. Fiona Vera-Gray, Durham University, UK
8. Mahesh K. Nalla, Michigan State University, USA
9. Anna Möller, The Emergency Clinic for Rape Victims, SÖS, Sweden
10. Elisabeth Löfgren, The National Committee For UN Women, Sweden
11. Mahesh Nalla, Michigan State University, USA
12. Vania Ceccato, KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Sweden-Brazil

“Ida Johansson: Beyond the portrait of a victim” A teaser of the film “EFTER IDA / LIFE AFTER IDA” will be shown the 17th October 2018 with comments by Ida’s mother Karin Johansson and Johanna Aust, filmmaker (FlickFilm, Germany).