On 9.4. a virtual conference was held on the topic of the developed tool for measuring and evaluating safety in public spaces (primarily cities) within the framework of the European Union program – The Urban Agenda for the EU. The meeting was attended by representatives of the research team and over 30 experts from across Europe. During the conference, the tool itself and its principles were introduced. After the introduction, a discussion took place, where these experts were given the opportunity to comment on individual parts of the instrument, or to propose changes. Although the tool is currently being prepared for evaluation in larger cities, according to the authors, the tool will be easy to use for larger (regions) and smaller areas (small cities).
The discussion was very fruitful and gave the team responsible for developing the tool a few ideas to think about and modify the tool. A substantial part of the discussion handled the usability of the tool in practice, more precisely the administrative costs of using the tool. Many experts pointed to the fact that even a well-thought-out and elaborated tool can be unusable in practice if the complexity of its use will be beyond the capacity of municipal / regional authorities. The researchers confirmed that they are familiar with this problem and are trying to come up with a solution that would facilitate the deployment of the tool in practice.
Nevertheless, we hope that the developed tool will become a high-quality universal way to evaluate and measure safety of public spaces. We will continue to monitor developments and look forward to the potential use of the tool in our activities in the conditions of the Czech Republic.
More information HERE