I developed this project for my thesis in 2019 (UX Design certification from Gobelins).
It was so engaging that I’m still working on it in 2025. The complete thesis is available here.
Exploratory wallk with residents
Montigny-le-Bretonneux is a seemingly quiet suburban town in Yvelines. However, women report :
Feeling unsafe, especially at night in certain areas (city center : train station and shopping mall entrance)
Adjusting their behaviors and routes based on the time of day, surroundings, urban design, or the presence of other pedestrians
How can we make public spaces feel safer for young women ?
Approach
Documentary research
Interviews with public and private stakeholders
7 semi-structured interviews with residents
Exploratory walk with 5 residents and 2 observers (city officials)
Ideation workshop : Image-ination
Solution 1 :
Poster
Evaluation :
UX scale
Solution 2 :
Mobile App
Evaluation :
User testing
Hypotheses
I found it interesting to involve young women in my approach.
Seeking their viewpoints through interviews and an exploratory walk provided one of the best sources of information and helped confirm my hypotheses.
Focus on : ideation workshop
Generate solutions to reduce women's fear of insecurity in public space
Expand the thinking and explore beyond existing knowledge
Lighting
Street art
Meeting spaces
Empowerment of women
Community ownership
Mobile app
Mobile app solution
The Safe Girls in the City app offers a 'safe' walking path, including :
Brigh lighting
Active, frequented areas
Shops that are open
Residential buildings
Clear signage
Get a route
View open shops along the way
Alert the police
Notify the community in real time about an unsafe areas
Share your route to a friend or family member
Confirm your safe arrival
The results of the project were presented to the Community of Agglomeration (SQY), the city council and SNCF.
Since 2023, the city center has been in the process of transformation, with a new public space design
To go further, I would recommend
Deepening the research phase by studying a larger sample of user groups
Conducting user tests on the app’s usage in real-life situations
Use mind maps alongside the interviews, asking the residents to draw the city as they perceive it
Test the proposed solutions generated during the ideation workshop and assess them using predefined metrics