Women's Safety A Consideration of the Role of Planning through the Capability Model

This paper examines the role of planning in addressing concerns about safety for women. The paper recognizes that safety has once again become a ma er of public interest in the UK. We examine the ways in which safety has been included within the UK Women and Planning Movement in the past, and the ways it is being articulated today. We argue that a narrow focus on safety is problematic and fails to engage with the breadth of the Women and Planning Movement. We use Sen's (1992) Capability Model to propose ways in which a focus on safety be improved through a more holistic engagement with the Women and Planning Movement's insights. We conclude that doing so will address many of the wicked (Ri el and Weber, 1973) issues planners seek to respond to.