Safe urban public space and gender issue: Assessment of safe public space for women in case of Ankara city

Nearly half of the world?s population lives in urban areas. In Turkey64,9% of the total population live in urban areas and 49 % of it is female.People?s everyday lives in urban public areas differ according to socialbackground, age and mostly to sex. These factors determine and shapewhich spaces in the city that can be used safely. This thesis deals withthe safe use of public space in everyday life of women in the case ofcapital city Ankara. The study uses a public life perspective and tries toshow how female use of urban space differentiates from males?. Also itis proposed in this study that urban space use patterns reflect theexisting male dominant space organization which is not safe to animportant extent for female. The most women are squeezed in privatespace to perform their productive and re productive activities and haveno opportunity to access and spend time in public spaces alone. A toolto analyze the safety issue is a questionnaire that is constructed toanalyze which activities could and couldn?t be carried out in urbanpublic space by women. The results of the thesis show that urbanpublic space, where access to it is seen as empowerment for women,need to be reorganized depending upon the needs and feelings of thewomen. Providing a safe living environment, especially in urban publicspaces, is a hard and difficult job all over the world. In order to supportan equitable use of space without sexual difference a new decisionshould be made about new physical planning approaches and urbanstructures.