Dr. Sarah Rock:

Ms Fox said almost everything I wanted to say, so I will try not to reiterate much. With regard to the design of our urban roads and streets, the most important aspect is what is called the user hierarchy. That puts pedestrians first, and more women walk than men. Thereafter, there are cyclists, then public sector users, and more women also use public transport than men. The other users of transport follow after that. That user hierarchy is critical, but it has not translated down comprehensively to the local authority level because it involves difficult choices. Even something like giving additional time at the traffic lights, as I mentioned, might sound as though it is not a big deal but it involves reshifting priorities and saying it is okay for those who drive to have to wait a little longer to allow pedestrians to cross the street. That resistance is where this issue is coming to a head, so it is about standing up to that resistance and ensuring those difficult choices will be made.

The point about multidisciplinarity is critical and we have seen that issue in our recent advertisement campaign regarding active travel posts at a local authority level. Many of the advertisements have focused on one profession and, in some ways, we are putting ourselves back in that position of forgetting we need to have diversity of voices. There are very few urban designers in Ireland - I trained abroad - but it also involves landscape architects, community engagement and communications. When it comes to urban design, that multidisciplinarity is critical to understanding how to design an environment, a street and a public realm that feels safe. There are many elements to safety and security but one of them relates to how to design a space in order that it will feel welcoming to people, and an understanding of behavioural science comes into that. One of the most important steps we can take is to ensure that every local authority that advertises for these active travel posts will be open to a multidisciplinary approach to the people it employs. Local authorities have to get more women in these posts and that can be from other------