SAFE CITIES FOR WOMEN: HUMAN RIGHTS AND URBAN PLANNING IN VIOLENCE PREVENTION

Abstract

This article analyzes the conditions under which urban planning and public policies can contribute to the realization of women’s human rights, considering the tension between formal equality guaranteed by the Brazilian Constitution and the concrete restrictions on mobility, accessibility, safety, and access to services experienced in cities marked by territorial inequalities. The study is applied in nature and adopts a qualitative, documentary, and comparative approach, with the descriptive use of secondary indicators. Legal documents, data from the 2022 Population Census, the 2025 National Survey on Violence against Women, and the 2026 Brazilian Public Security Yearbook were examined, along with municipal policies implemented in São Paulo and Campinas. The results show that gender-based violence remains widespread, with 1,571 femicides recorded in 2025. At the same time, the formal provision of urban infrastructure does not ensure the quality, functionality, or continuity of travel routes: although 97.5% of residents in urban areas have access to public street lighting, only 18.8% live on streets with unobstructed sidewalks, while 68.8% live on streets without curb ramps. Lighting, sidewalks, ramps, reliable public transportation, the active use of public spaces, and connections to protection networks should be treated as components of primary prevention, without replacing measures aimed at addressing domestic violence. The municipal comparison identifies relevant initiatives that are nevertheless fragmented and rarely evaluated in terms of territorial outcomes and equity. As its main contribution, the article proposes the Matrix for the Realization of Women’s Right to the City (MEDCM, from its Portuguese acronym), analytically derived from the theoretical dimensions and empirical evidence examined and structured around legal safeguards, urban conditions, intersectoral responses, social participation, and monitoring. It concludes that safe cities depend less on isolated solutions than on the state’s capacity to integrate rights, budgets, infrastructure, services, and evidence produced together with women.