This report seeks to support professionals working in parks and green spaces to make decisions about designing those spaces to help young women and gender-diverse young people feel safe and included. For many decades, organisations like Fields in Trust and Sports England have provided authoritative and practical guidance to local authorities, planners, park professionals, and others working in the built environment, to support them to create parks and green spaces that work well for their local communities. But despite this, research shows that many young people, particularly young women and gender diverse young people, do not feel welcome, comfortable, or safe in their local parks and green spaces. They often feel they do not have a say about or sense of belonging in parks and green spaces which stops them from benefiting from them. Drawing on extensive engagement over many months with young people in Essex, the intention of this report is to provide inspiration for what could be included by way of “informal play areas” as an alternative or additional to a MUGA or skatepark; and prove a constructive supplement to existing guidance, to support local authorities to address the current gender imbalance in park provision for teenagers. This report was prepared in partnership with our amazing colleagues at Social Place, www.social-place.org and Chelmsford City and Maldon District Council.

The Make Space for Girls report on what research and data can tell us about teenage girls and parks.

In May 2023, Make Space for Girls asked people to take part in a citizen science project, counting how many teenagers were using the facilities in their local park, and how many of these were girls. This report sets out the results. The data shows how much girls really are designed out of parks.

An introduction to designing better for teenage girls produced by us for Homes England.

Clear guidance on how to create parks in which women and girls feel safe and welcome

This is the first in a series of 3 reports on our award winning partnership project between MSFG, Social Place and Chelmsford City Council. Funded by the Council and Essex Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner, this project worked with girls, young women and gender diverse young people to explore how Central Park in Chelmsford could become a more inclusive space, and to give participants the opportunity to engage with the council and demonstrate that they can have an influence over the place in which they live. All three reports can be found on Social Place website. The project was the winner in the Long Term Youth Engagement Category in the 2024 Thornton Education Trust Awards.

Report on a series of workshops run by us, Countryside and LSE Cities, developing peer research methods for engaging with teenage girls and young women in order to find out more about how they experience the public realm.

A report on research with young women on play spaces and MUGAs focussing on safety.

Research by Women in Sport on the barriers girls face to enjoying parks.

Leeds University research on perceptions of safety and parks for women and girls.

A short film in which young women from Crewe discuss their experience of a public realm that hasn't been designed with their needs in mind.

A report on how girls in Oxford felt about their local parks and their access to nature, and how they would design these spaces to be more inclusive.

Peer research allows young women to create research that will shape their areas. We collaborated with Countryside Partnerships and the London School of Economics on a peer research project in the London borough of Brent, and this report summarises our findings.

As part of developing their local plan, Tower Hamlets produced this report on Gender Inclusive Design, which was produced through engagement with over 450 residents of the borough. It sets out the challenges that women and girls face, but also the benefits of seeing planning through the lens of gender - as well as practical next steps

Working with teenage girls as co-clients to shape the design brief.

Guidance written with law firm Weightmans on the Public Sector Equality Duty, and its importance for councils who want to make parks more welcoming for teenage girls.

Engagement work with year 9 girls in partnership with LSE Cities, Countryside Properties and Make Space for Girls.

A report on our engagement programme with young women in 2022 in Crewe and Trowbridge in partnership with the LSE.