2023 Award "Best Practice in Citizen Participation"

Nomination submitted by UN-Habitat

The methodologies of the Design Workshops for Public Spaces and the Women's City Workshops arise within the scope of the project “Pernambuco Cooperation: Prevention, Citizenship and Security”, in which UN-Habitat aims to produce qualified information to support the formulation and adequacy of public policies in the Government of the State of Pernambuco, Brazil, and decision-making in the area of social prevention of crime and violence, based on evidence. Among the studies and methodologies developed, the main theme addressed is the use of public spaces by young people and women in the selected territories, resulting in participatory diagnoses.

In this context, between November 2021 and June 2022, UN-Habitat implemented two participatory methodologies in the state as part of the project: the Public Spaces Design Workshops, with young people, and the Cidade Mulher Workshops, focused on women. . Each of these methodologies was implemented in ten territories divided among eight municipalities in the state of Pernambuco: Pina, Várzea and Ibura (Recife); Peixinhos (Olinda); Maranguape I (Paulista); Dry Cashew Tree (Jaboatão dos Guararapes); Cohab (Cape of Santo Agostinho); Center (Vitória de Santo Antão); Saint John of Scotland (Caruaru) and John of God (Petrolina). The selected territories had social vulnerability and violence rates as their main criteria, in addition to being places that concentrate State Government actions.

Public Spaces Design Workshops

The Public Spaces Design Workshops in Pernambuco were held in public schools in the state with the total participation of 210 young people aged 14 to 29 years, with the aim of including the perspective of Pernambuco youth in the evaluation and proposition of quality public spaces in territories vulnerable and with high rates of state violence.

The activities culminated in the elaboration of requalification proposals for a public space selected by territory and in the voting of the equipment and most desired uses for this place. Other important results were also obtained throughout the process, such as: their impressions of the public spaces in their community and their desires for actions to transform these spaces in order to make them safer, more inclusive, sustainable and healthier.

Women's City Workshops

The methodology of the Cidade Mulher Workshops is a local adaptation of the Women's Safety Audits, UN-Habitat's international methodology. The target audience was young, adult and elderly women. The workshops were aimed at recognizing and mapping the perception of factors that cause (in)security in the territory from the perspective of women, in order to contribute to a diagnosis of urban security in the territories and suggestions that inform public policies to make public spaces more inclusive and insurance for women.

Each dynamic carried out resulted in a series of data that were collected and systematized in graphs, spoken maps, heat maps, word clouds and reports about what and how women perceive and experience urban violence in their territories. Capturing the perspective of women based on participatory tools can be an important step in formulating and adapting public policies, in addition to supporting decision-making in the area of social violence prevention.

Website of the experience or institution: https://unhabitat.org/ (External link) 

Public Space Design Workshops: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLEPMFsTJVwZnKk8lFEFinWB3rPtr4X5yA (External link) 

Cidade Mulher workshops: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLEPMFsTJVwZn80OBL1JmCeez1EAHPdOQF (External link)