Project title
Seeing (Un)Safety: East and Southeast Asian Women’s Everyday Navigation of Urban Scotland
Project abstract
This PhD explores how East and Southeast Asian (ESEA) women living in Scotland experience and navigate urban environments in relation to safety, visibility, and belonging. Drawing on feminist urban studies, intersectionality, and critical realist thinking, the project examines how everyday urban safety is shaped not only by overt incidents, but also by anticipation, racialised visibility, and the ongoing labour of navigating public space. The research uses a mixed methods design, combining an online survey with participatory photovoice, to investigate how women interpret, manage, and respond to everyday urban conditions. The study contributes to debates on gender, race, and urban life by showing how safety is relational, processual, and unevenly distributed. It also highlights the limitations of existing urban policy and equality frameworks in recognising the everyday experiences of ESEA women in Scotland.