Second evening walk through Zuidas: where do women feel safe or unsafe?

The underpasses and station area are important routes through Zuidas, used by thousands of people every day. But how do people experience these places? Do you feel comfortable and safe on these routes, including after dark? And are there places you would rather avoid? To find out and to give you an opportunity to share your experiences with us and with each other, we are organising an evening walk on Thursday, 15 October. Everyone is welcome to attend the walk, but it will focus particularly on the experiences of women and LGBTIQA+ people.

On Thursday evening, 24 September, we held our first exploratory walk through Zuidas. Following an opening address by Thomas Hermans, member of the Zuid district executive, and a short presentation by Luka Meijer, we split into four groups. Each group followed its own route past a number of what are known as ‘temporary situations’ – places in the public space where work is still very much in progress, such as around construction sites. At each location, we stopped and participants completed a questionnaire.

We then discussed our experiences together. One of the topics was additional lighting in the evening: participants preferred warm lighting rather than sterile white light, ideally combining lighting at ground level with lighting along the street. ‘Not everyone experiences public space in the same way’, says Meijer. ‘A place that feels perfectly normal to one person may feel very uncomfortable or unsafe to someone else. This is particularly true in an area like Zuidas, which is constantly changing.’