IN-PERSON Manchester Livable Cities

Abstract

Creating public spaces that are not only objectively safe but also feel safe has become a central challenge for planners, designers and policymakers, as users’ experiential perceptions increasingly shape how places are used, valued and lived in. While perceived safety is a key condition for positive experiences of public space, little is known about how experiential qualities shape users’ sense of safety. Drawing on the Experience Compass developed by Pijls et al. (2024), this study examines how its experiential values influence perceived safety. Building on a review of theoretical work on both experience and perceived safety, an integrative analytical framework is developed that reframes perceived safety from crime-centred interpretations toward an experiential, user-centred understanding. Explorative research will be conducted for the Stedendriehoek region in the Netherlands using Lego Serious Play (LSP) as a research method. LSP provides access to tacit and emotionally difficult-to-verbalise perceptions, making it particularly suited for studying safety as an experiential and emotionally grounded construct. Through the creation of spatial models, participants can reveal associations and meanings that remain hidden in conventional research methods. The analysis will identify the experiential cues that, in interaction, shape users’ sense of safety. The study is expected to yield both theoretical contributions to experience-based safety research and actionable insights that help planners, designers and policymakers understand and create public spaces that are more attractive, comfortable and genuinely feel safe to their users.