Over 99% of Umeå's residents feel safe during the day. More impressively almost 90% of women feel safe walking alone at night. To compare, figures vary, but some surveys put this as low as 12% in the UK. But what Umeå tells us is that we can change this, so let's do it.

There is so much more - for example this statue sits directly outside the main town hall and represents the MeToo movement. It's called Listen. But what's really impressive is that it works.

They've even gone experimental - this bus stop gives shelter (v important in their cold winters) but also allows women to see who else is waiting. And everyone gets the choice about whether they want to be social or not. And, again, it looks amazing.

They've made women feel at home in other ways as well

But we should remember that safety - not being raped or murdered - is quite a low bar. Women also need a city where they feel they belong. So their bus station has great sightlines but also looks fantastic as well.

Like many cities, Umeå has a large hospital in the suburbs. As with many hospitals there are a large number of women staff, who often work anti-social shifts. So the city understood that the station which served that line needed to be very safe indeed.

But what I admire most is their thinking. Because it's not just about small changes, but understanding where they have the most impact. Take the Ostra station for example, this has been designed to be the safest one on the network. But why?

Which is great, but that's just a small part of what they've done around the city. The main underpass in front of the station got a massive upgrade for safety, with better sightlines, extra exits and an artwork which lights up at night

As ever, whenever I have done a complaining thread, I try to post something positive. This time, it's all about Umeå, a city in the N of Sweden which has made incredible strides in terms of safety for women and girls. In the last thread, I posted their co-designed space for teenage girls.

And this matters. Girls see what this means. One of the other pieces of feedback from that engagement just said "Boys get what they want but girls don't get what they want". Are we going to let that happen all over again?

You may have seen a campaign recently about taking down "no ball games" signs in housing estates. Which sounds great, but we need to have a think about who benefits - and so a thread. This comes from girls in a school where boys used football to take over the playground. 🧵

Also, the joy of great suppliers: Whiterow farm shop who knew how to cut a joint exactly right for porchetta without me even explaining (tell me you live in a poncy place, etc...) and Lievito Bakery who provided the bread

This weekend's achievement unlocked: porchetta. Via a very hot wood fired oven. Am not posting the before pictures because it looks unsettlingly as though I have stuffed two human legs. But they fed thirty with leftovers.

Because I have just sent this to someone, you can have it too. Barbara Jones, being right. We all need to look at things properly.

Wiveliscombe showing itself off delightfully in the sun at lunchtime. A lot of England really deserves looking at. Be more John Piper (and a bit more John Betjeman, but only parts of him...)

Yet another app for women's safety. But is this what women want? Short answer no, unless it's "a tracking app ‘that sees where predatory men are’. Instead it's just another way of making women take responsibility for safety, instead of men... Full rant here: www.inherplace.co.uk/post/it-ll-m...

Here it is

The only thing to be said for today's weather is that a feather duvet dries in an hour and a half...

Ah yes, the heatwave. Somerset under an amber warning

And now the story of Antony Hippisley Coxe and his performing cats... He was a general man about town in the 1930s, then worked on the Festival of Britain and in PR as well as writing books about ghosts, the circus and sausages, but we are here for his feline sideline. 🧵

Also, check the National Cycle Network. I can cycle right past the front of Longleat for free. Was amazing in lockdown as cars and pedestrians weren’t allowed in, just bikes. Most of the time I was the only person there

This is a cat check point. Relinquish your most recent cat picture on your phone

And here it is on the old 25 inch OS Map, named as Roddenbury. You can cycle nearby but not climb it so I don't know what the views are like, but it's quite close to the hillfort on Cley Hill. Anyone know anything more?

I did have another #HillfortsWednesday thought, because there is a stealth hillfort near me that never gets mentioned, because it is both in the grounds of Longleat and totally covered in trees. Here it is on Lidar, with a motte and bailey site above.

I talked to about 50 girls, and got several versions of this. Plus I went round the school during break and the girls were all squashed into the corners. Here is a diagram from a Barcelona school. Spot the football pitch

And I am saying this because I think you will give me a considered response (and am trying not to pick a fight with London Sport over this even though I am dying to). Have just been talking to girls in a school where this very much happens, and the boys 'own' most of the school grounds

Talking to local wildlife spotter by the river this morning and asked him if he’d seen any sign of the beavers. He pointed to what was right next to us… This is 250m from the centre of town.

But they were depressingly pessimistic about getting any change. This note was written by a girl who found it hard to cycle to school because it meant she got yelled at for a) being a girl and b) wearing headphones so she couldn't hear the harassment.

Yesterday I was talking to groups of fourteen year old girls. The starting point was about how they used spaces, inside school and outside, and what would help them be more active. But they quickly concluded that boys had most of the space and then it got unexpectedly dark 1/n

Click on this picture otherwise it won't make sense. This was the mural she had in her hallway. It was up for sale when we were renovating our house, and it was about the same price as the estimate for our kitchen. It was a close call, but in the end it was taller than our ceiling height.