Skip to main content

Right to the Streets

Right to the Streets focuses on the creation of healthy, active places where everyone, including women and girls, feel safe and welcome.

The Right to the Streets initiative is founded on the belief that everyone has a role to play to make our streets, parks and public spaces safer, more joyful, welcoming places.

Healthy, active places are critical to happy, active lives for all.

In 2022, using Home Office funding, GM Moving worked alongside partners in Trafford to explore how to make our streets and public spaces more welcoming for women and girls.

The movement took a whole-system approach with streams of work intentionally designed into different layers of the system, from individuals, to organisations, policy, and cultural norms.

Watch the below video to find out more about Right to the Streets:

Our First Year

In September 2023, we published a full report on the first year of our movement, the activities we developed with partners, and what we had learned about creating better public spaces. Read the final report for more information on the different elements and the impact on the community.

750 people engaged in art

7 local arts organisations co-designed and delivered 64 different workshops and events, engaging with over 750 people ranging from ages 2 to 93 years old.

310 Active Bystanders

Freedom Personal Safety delivered 26 sessions on ‘How to be an Active Bystander’. These were delivered to 310 people in 14 different settings.

167 people mapping Trafford

Open Data Manchester engaged 167 people who joyfully mapped Trafford. Of these, 56 were women and girls from different age groups, ethnicities, disabilities and socio-economic backgrounds.

21 community grants

Through the Right to the Streets community grants, 21 community organisations were commissioned to deliver activities in the community reaching approximately 950 participants. Some projects were community gatherings while others were recurring workshop sessions.

8 commitments to action

The Legislative Theatre gave birth to 3 policy proposals and eight commitments to action. Policymakers now have one month to take the first actions which were publicly committed to in September 2023.

24 tools

Publica developed practical tools to plan and design gender inclusive public spaces. These are coupled with case studies that equip project partners and the wider community with existing examples of gender inclusive public spaces.

Tools you can use:

Right to the Streets Card Deck

Developed with Publica, our card deck collates the experiences of women and girls and offers tools and case studies that create more gender equity.

We have been using the cards for various workshops for around a year. Most workshops act as workforce development however some also act as engagement discussions.

We have also made the card deck available for free or £30 to over 20 organisations in GM and wider.

For more information, contact Kelly.

Place Review tool

Our Place Review Tool was developed by Open Data Manchester to support communities identify steps you can take to create streets and spaces that feel safer and more welcoming. It covers topics like safety and sense of belonging with the themes and language selected from conversations in walkabout workshops with women and girls in the North Trafford area.

Some of these topics might be difficult to dig into deeply as they could highlight issues in the area and bring up negative feelings. Co-creation of the place review was facilitated by Toyebat Adewale and Prisca Munzemba from Open Data Manchester.

Download the Place Review tool

#NoPlaceForIt campaign toolkit

The #NoPlaceForIt campaign shows there’s no place for sexual harassment or violence against women and girls in Trafford. It’s currently harder for women and girls to lead active lives because of fear of unwanted attention and harassment in public spaces.

We want to change that so that women and girls have the freedom to move around safely and lead the lives they want. We’re doing this by showing people of all genders simple, practical steps we can all take to stop harassment when we see it and make our communities safer and more welcoming for everyone.

Campaign toolkitFollow Right to the Streets on Instagram

Opportunities to learn:

The GM Moving Podcast

In the third and fourth series of the GM Moving Podcast, we speak to people and partners about how the Right to the Streets movement has grown and developed across the borough, the big difference it’s making locally, and everything that we have learned along the way.

We hear their experiences and gather ideas and solutions for improvement from council leaders, charities, community groups and others as they shift the dial from fear to freedom.

Catch up now.

Online sharing sessions

As part of Right to the Streets, Open Data Manchester hosted six online sessions with partners spotlighting different elements of the work, including the design of public space, movement and physical activity, bystander intervention, and the RttS podcast series.

All the sessions were recorded for anyone to watch back and hear more about the process, learnings, and impact.

Find them all the recorded sessions here

Scroll through our gallery to see what this looks like…

Policy Report

We also have a mini policy report created following a Legislative Theatre project which brought young people and adults together in North Trafford.

Download the policy report

Project Partners

  • GM Moving

    Coordinating and supporting the team of project partners to deliver the planned interventions, as well as building and maintaining partnerships locally and systematically.

  • Open Data Manchester

    Running workshops and walkabouts to map the area with a focus on feelings and experiences, and exploring how other data – such as policing and crime statistics – compares to the lived experiences of those in the community whilst exploring what is needed to make streets more inclusive and welcoming. Read more about their activities here.

  • Diva Creative

    Leading on the Marketing and Communications campaign element, which includes delivering creative workshops with local organisations and establishing the key messaging for the project

  • MIC Media

    Producing a podcast series focusing on raising awareness of local case stories, lived experience, and learnings

  • Publica

    An urban design and public realm practice, bringing research and expertise on how the physical environment informs perceptions of safety and belonging

  • Trafford Council

    Maximising impact to local residents through helping connect the project with local activity and partners, as well as informing wider policy and planning

in collaboration with…