nocturnal mobility, feeling of insecurity, public lighting, gender inequalities

Title
Perceived Insecurity as a Factor of Exclusion from Public Space

Supervision
Vincent Kaufmann; Sandra Mallet

Abstract
This dissertation pursues two objectives. First, it explores the diverse conditions under which perceived insecurity is activated, approaching it as a social phenomenon whose emergence unfolds along a private–public continuum. Second, it seeks to understand its effects on nighttime mobility practices. The research examines how this feeling of insecurity: 1) shapes access to nighttime public space, 2) is expressed through surveys and subsequently translated into public policy, and 3) is experienced differently depending on gender.

The activation, expression, and effects of perceived insecurity are examined through their spatial and temporal dimensions, with particular attention to the atmospheres associated with public spaces. To do so, the study focuses primarily on the nighttime context, while also analysing how public lighting reduction measures redefine nocturnal uses and reconfigure spatial accessibility. From an interpretive perspective, the dissertation also investigates the processes through which young women construct their relationship to public space, both during the day and at night, in order to identify the mechanisms of gendered spatial socialisation.

The dissertation is structured in three parts. The first analyses the ways individuals move through the city depending on temporal context (daytime versus nighttime), as well as the adaptations developed in response to nighttime insecurity. The second examines the context of nighttime lighting reduction, analysing first how insecurity is expressed and made visible in opinion surveys, and then how political decision-making frames certain forms of insecurity as public problems while leaving others unaddressed. The third offers an interpretive analysis of narratives of insecurity related to mobility, with particular attention to the experiences of young women during their period of socialisation to public space, both daytime and nighttime.

Funding
Doc.CH