The Piccadilly Centre in Crown Street, the bus stop near the corner of Burelli and Church streets, and the streets and car parks surrounding the hospital have emerged as some of the areas in Wollongong where women feel the least safe.
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They are among the locations flagged by women in the community under the first stage of the Safer Cities: Her Way project, a collaboration between Wollongong City Council and Transport for NSW which aims to improve the perception of safety for women and gender diverse people in public spaces and transport hubs.
"We know that nine in 10 women in Sydney feel unsafe in public spaces at night and over 60 per cent of girls in NSW who have experienced harassment will not walk or travel alone," a Transport for NSW spokesperson said, citing Plan International research.
The council is asking women and gender diverse people to mark on an online map the places they feel safe or unsafe, and why, in the Wollongong CBD, Dapto town centre and Port Kembla town centre.
Numerous pins are clustered around the Piccadilly Centre near the railway station, with people reporting its appearance, poor lighting, harassment and other issues as problems.
It is somewhere that local woman Danielle Chilcott mentioned to the Mercury, despite otherwise feeling safe in the city.
Concerns about lighting and bus stops around the hospital are also noted on the online map, especially given that female healthcare workers leave shifts late at night.
Residents have also expressed their discomfort around car parks like those near Globe Lane and on Stewart Street, with more than one saying the former is scary even during the day.
Wilhelmina Holdernesse and Crystal Atkinson told the Mercury they did not feel very safe around Wollongong, citing harassment - especially the free Gong Shuttle - and approaches from strangers as among their concerns.
Shellharbour resident Mary Villarino said she only visited Wollongong during the daytime, but would not feel safe in the city late at night, especially towards lower Crown Street.
Even when an area was safe, she said, a woman still needed to "have eyes in the back of your head".
Meanwhile, in Dapto women have noted concerns around Dapto Mall and the Ribbonwood Centre, while Port Kembla has only a few markers, at Wentworth Street, the railway station and Shellharbour Road.
Next month, after the community mapping exercise, council staff will conduct day and night walks with community members to identify issues.
This will be followed by a workshop in which members of the community will work with the council to design measures to make women and gender diverse people feel safer, which are expected to be put in place between November and next July.
"This could include interventions such as lighting, public events, or seating," a council spokesperson said.
"We'll monitor and evaluate the success of these interventions before, during and after the trial to get an idea of what worked and what can be improved."
Wollongong City Council is one of 10 councils in NSW piloting the program with Transport for NSW.
"We all have a right to feel safe on our journeys home, to work, or to school and this program seeks to empower those who feel unsafe and to co-design NSW's public spaces of the future," the Transport for NSW spokesperson said.
In 2018, Wollongong City Council launched the I Belong in the Gong project, which focused on working with businesses on creating a safe environment.
A survey that year found just over half the women who visited Wollongong's CBD felt safe, while two-thirds had experienced harassment.
The project also involved a lighting audit, which the council spokesperson said led to an integrated approach to lighting upgrades.
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