MAYOR OF LONDON UNVEILS NEW STRATEGY TO IMPROVE WOMEN'S SAFETY

September 2026

The Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, has published a new, wide-ranging London strategy to respond to the evolving threat of violence against women and girls (VAWG), designed to support victims and stop perpetrators.

At the heart of the strategy is a first-of-its-kind fund: £15.6 million to work directly with women and girls on improving safety in public spaces. The fund will use their experiences and voices to transform the design of parks, streets and other public areas across London.

The new strategy builds on pioneering guidance developed by Publica for the Mayor’s Good Growth by Design programme with the GLA: Safety in Public Space, Women, Girls and Gender Diverse People. Published in 2025, the guidance reflected London’s commitment to advancing gender equity and set out practical actions for built environment practitioners – becoming the first report to prioritise women and girls in growth and spatial planning.

Publica’s Founding Director, Lucy Musgrave, joined Sadiq Khan at the launch to share research from Publica’s gender inclusion work, marking a bold step forward in creating safer public spaces for all women and girls in London.

“London’s civic leadership has pioneered new policy and practice linking the issues of gender inclusion, safety and the built environment. We are very proud to have delivered the guidance for the GLA led by Publica’s Dr Ellie Cosgrave. Publica’s London work has then led an international agenda delivered with CHANGE to mayoral offices in Louisville, Bogotà, Stockholm, Manchester and Melbourne. Young people are helping us build this body of work in ambitious, creative and high impact transformative ways as we change the built environment sector’s skills, knowledge, data and evidence base. At its core is learning from and believing women, girls and gender diverse people’s experience of the public realm and making practical and policy changes for the benefit of all citizens.”

—Lucy Musgrave

“By giving a voice to women and girls who know their local areas best, we can work with local authorities to make these spaces safer and more welcoming at all times of day.

Despite the challenges, VAWG truly is preventable and I am committed to working with the government, the Met, charities, as well as local, national and global partners, to ensure that every woman and girl can participate fully in the life of our great city, without experiencing or fearing harassment, abuse or violence.”

—Sadiq Khan, Mayor of London

News ⋅ September 2026

“London’s civic leadership has pioneered new policy and practice linking the issues of gender inclusion, safety and the built environment. We are very proud to have delivered the guidance for the GLA led by Publica’s Dr Ellie Cosgrave. Publica’s London work has then led an international agenda delivered with CHANGE to mayoral offices in Louisville, Bogotà, Stockholm, Manchester and Melbourne. Young people are helping us build this body of work in ambitious, creative and high impact transformative ways as we change the built environment sector’s skills, knowledge, data and evidence base. At its core is learning from and believing women, girls and gender diverse people’s experience of the public realm and making practical and policy changes for the benefit of all citizens.”

—Lucy Musgrave