Len in the city: Will you text me when you get home?

We are sitting at a high, square table by the window of Grand Café Living, in the middle of the Science Park. Outside, students cycle past hurriedly. Their shoulders hunched against the wind, as if it were pushing them towards their next lecture. Inside, it is quiet. We are almost the only ones here, which gives our conversation a confidential intimacy. Across from me sits Yeline Hoogmans (22). Not only is she graduating in Social Challenges and Policy Interventions, but she is also one of my colleagues at Utrecht University Library.

Reducing daily feelings of insecurity

As we sip our cappuccinos, Yeline tells us about ASAP: the app she is developing for the social safety of women in public spaces. With the app, you can send an emergency message to selected contacts with a single tap on the SOS button on your phone's home screen. They receive a notification that they should call immediately. You can also set up check-ins to let each other know that you have arrived safely. Yeline emphasizes that the app is not a miracle cure, but it can help reduce the daily feeling of insecurity. “It helps in the short term. But it does not solve transgressive behavior.” 

Yeline lives at the Science Park herself, and as she speaks, I see how natural a certain constant alertness is for her. “I don't dare run in the dark,” she says. "When I go home alone, I always share my location, or I call someone, or I cycle with a friend. And of course, texting to say you're home—we all do that, right?" I nod. Yes, we all do. At least, all the women I know. Few of my male friends send a message as soon as they get home.

The Science Park stands out sharply from the rest of Utrecht. Even now, as I look outside, it is striking how different this neighborhood feels. The buildings are large, sleek, and impersonal, with wide, empty spaces between them. The cyclists passing by are almost all students, young and completely dependent on their bikes to get back to the “civilized world.” The central main road, the Weg tot de Wetenschap (Road to Science), is remarkably poorly lit. The street lighting focuses on the motorway, while the cycle paths are left in the dark. It feels open and cold. Many of Yeline's friends say they feel unsafe in the neighborhood in the evening or at night.

It's done now!

That is precisely why she is working on creating a true ASAP community, with training courses, workshops, and collaboration with schools, the hospitality industry, municipalities, and others. Everything to bring about a cultural change. Among young people, this urgency is palpable; several videos that Yeline posted on TikTok about this topic went viral. “We need to talk about the connection between norms, values, and appropriate behavior,” she says with determination; she sounds older than her age.

I look at Yeline here in this deserted café at Science Park and realize: this is how change begins. Not with grand gestures, but with a 22-year-old who refuses to accept that fear is normal. ASAP. As soon as possible. But for Yeline, it means even more: it's over now. This is the last generation that has to feel or fear this way.