Women’s mobilities and perceived safety: urban form matters. Evidence from three peripheral districts in the city of Bogotá

Abstract

The paper aims at investigating the interplay of urban form and women’s mobilities in three peripheral districts in the city of Bogotá. Integrating a morpho-functional analysis of the built environment with an ethnographic analysis focused on the walking practices of a sample of women, the paper highlights the main gendered spatial experiences and how the perceived safety acts as a mediator between built environment attributes and walking behaviours. The conclusion introduces two challenges: first, the need for new interpretative lenses, different from those of a man-centred perspective and able to interpret the women’s territoriality–considered as the spaces produced through their mobility practices; second, the possibility to use women’s mobilities experiences and their tactics of adaptation as a tool for more effective urban and mobility policies.