Stop Street Harassment: Making Public Places Safe and Welcoming for Women, LGBTQ-inclusive and Cisgender Individuals
Too often discussions in walking and walkability happen without the benefit of historical facts, community precedents and cultural awareness. This unfortunately results in a lack of knowledge and understanding in the systematic and socially-constructed creation of past and present inequalities in neighborhood walkability—particularly in low-income and communities of colors.
To provide an open platform for discussion and aid in identifying potential solutions to improve walkability for ALL, America Walks has launched a new social equity-inspired online discussion series titled: Walking Towards Justice. Walking Towards Justice is a webinar series that integrates literature into a discussion regarding the intersection of mobility, race, class, gender, and politics. The quarterly webinar will include an interactive panel of leading scholars, activists, practitioners, America Walks Board members, and policymakers, who will discuss and explore connections between walking and other key topics such as social equity, residential segregation, gentrification, police brutality, and etc. Participants will also be able to engage and ask questions of panelists via chat during the live webinar.
Each discussion will be facilitated by Charles T. Brown, MPA, an America Walks’ board member who created this series in partnership with America Walks.
Using the text Stop Street Harassment: Making Public Places Safe and Welcoming for Women by Holly Kearl, who will join in the discussion, as a framework for our third conversation, our panel will discuss some of the barriers, and opportunities facing women, LGBTQ-inclusive and cisgender individuals to engage safely and enjoyably with public spaces. This conversation will discuss the experiences of women, LGBTQ-inclusive and cisgender individuals, and examine some changes that can be made to create safe, accessible, and enjoyable places to walk.