A new article co-authored by UQ|UP’s Dorina Pojani explores the dynamics shaping women’s sense of safety in public transport systems in the Middle East. The study focuses on the Shiraz subway in Iran, drawing on GIS And survey data from 680 female passengers. Using advanced modelling techniques (PLS-SEM), the research identifies the factors that most strongly influence perceived safety. Among these, surveillance measures—such as CCTV cameras, lighting, and police presence—emerged as the most significant, explaining nearly half of the variance in women’s safety perceptions. The authors stress, however, that excessive surveillance can be counterproductive or ethically troubling. Long-term improvements require cultural change: fostering collective responsibility for women’s and girls’ safety and empowering women to report and confront perpetrators. This publication adds to Dorina’s internationally recognised body of work on feminist planning.

Read the full article open access in the Journal of Transport Geography: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jtrangeo.2025.104413