Umeå Central - where safety and accessibility set the agenda

Umeå Municipality and the Traffic Authority have been working with the station area Umeå Central while creating a new district link between Haga and the centre. The work will be completed by the end of 2012. The new Umeå Central means a better and safer station area. At the same time, it is also suitable for the new regional train traffic on the Bothnia Line.

The Umeå C Link is a ten-meter wide pedestrian and bicycle tunnel with a ceiling height of three meters. It is being prepared for a new travel centre, which is planned in the future for both bus and train services. A great care has been put into designing the tunnel so that it could be accessible, bright and secure.

The research shows that women feel insecure in public places to a greater extent than men. Both women and men experience anxiety of being robbed or assaulted, but women account in particular the risk of being exposed to sexual violence in the form of rape or sexual harassment. One effect of this is that more women than men, limit their life outside their own neighborhood at night staying at home. Insecurity is the factorthat limits the ability of women to move in the cities and urban environment at most.

The planning of the new station area and the link gives a valuable experience on issues of safe & secure planning. The working group has consisted of builders, project managers, engineers, traffic planners, bus-company, gender expert.

One reason why the municipality of Umeå has been focusing on security work for many years in the city, is building an accessible city for all people, both women and men,young children and the elderly. The work in the public spaces, light installations, tunnels & passages (lighting, maintenance, etc), public events in the centre for the citizens, for instance the Light Festival and the Cultural Night are the examples of security efforts. Many people of all ages meet and take part in these events. The city becomes alive and more people feel that it is okto move late at night.

The local safety and feeling secure in one's own town is an important part of the urban sustainable development and is closely connected with the quality of life in our cities around the region.