Free online training course helps make parks safer for women and girls

The Active Quarter partnership has always been about helping local people enjoy getting outdoors. Often, this includes making research-driven decisions and working alongside partner organisations to directly benefit the people of Northampton. But, beyond that, our hope is that this kind of work will spread across the county – and across the country!

This is why we’re delighted to share with you that several organisations in other regions have produced a brand-new, free online training course designed to make public parks safer and more inclusive for women and girls.

The course helps people learn and apply evidence-based research, turning this into practical ways to design green spaces that feel safe and welcoming. It brings existing Safer Parks Guidance to life and is a result of a collaboration between several organisations working across the UK:

• University of Leeds
• Police CPI (Secured by Design,)
• Suzy Lamplugh Trust
• West Yorkshire Combined Authority
• Make Space for Girls
• Green Flag Award.

Anybody can access and complete the training via the University of Leeds website – and it will be particularly useful if you’re involved in managing, maintaining, or designing public green spaces. Over 90-minutes, you’ll discover:

• What makes a park feel safe or unsafe
• What recommendations are made by the Safer Parks Guidance
• Practical 3D scenarios to help you identify real-world applications of this guidance
• Further resources.

The course ends with a knowledge test to help you take what you’ve learnt with you into the future, and you’ll receive an e-certificate endorsed by the University of Leeds, Green Flag Award, Police Crime Prevention Initiatives, and Urban Design Group.

So, whether you’re involved in park management, architecture design, crime prevention, a community/environmental group – or you’re just interested in making the outdoors more accessible – there’s lots to explore.

We’d love for as many people as possible to take the course. The more people thinking about how to make parks safer and more welcoming, the better! And, when you’re done, tell others about it too. We’d love to see landowners and councils across the country implement the Safer Parks Guidance.

Find out more

The Safer Parks online short course was funded by RISE (Research into Intervention, Safety and Empowerment) – an accelerated interdisciplinary programme led by SPRITE+ funded via UKRI’s R&D Missions Accelerator Programme and benefits from the support of the Network for Security Excellence & Collaboration (NSEC) and the SALIENT Hub.

Partner organisations

Safer Parks Guidance

Funders and other partners