Nowadays, there are many discussions about safety, reflecting attempts to respond to the growing sense of insecurity in the world around us. As an architect first of all and then a person deeply involved in student representation, as well as a co-organizer of two previous student conferences, I understand how important the issue of safety has become. Usually, measures such as social control systems and awareness teams are introduced, yet we rarely discuss how architecture itself influences human behavior and perceptions of safety.
When it became clear that I would attend the next student conference as a speaker, I spent a lot of time thinking about the topic. Then I heard a story about how dangerous even a student assembly can be for a young woman, and how insufficient the existing measures still are. At that moment, the topic of this workshop became obvious.
During the workshop, we will explore how different public spaces from the world-famous nightclub Berghain to futuristic spacecraft concepts designed to one day evacuate humankind from Earth address questions of safety. We will also examine which practices are already considered successful and how they are being implemented in gender-diverse urban development strategies in leading cities such as Vienna.
As participants, you will be divided into groups and asked to approach the same design task from different perspectives, demonstrating how culture, origin, gender, and personal experience influence the perception of public spaces