In planning contexts, safety is often discussed from a women’s perspective. An ideal site forexploring some of the key issues is Umea°, a medium-sized town in northern Sweden. Here, attentionto women’s fear of violence greatly increased at the turn of the century, when a single repeatoffender known as the ‘Haga Man’ assaulted several women in the city. People’s (especiallywomen’s) fear of violence came to be seriously recognised, discussed and taken into considerationin the city’s planning. The present research is based on an analysis of empirical data collectedin 2008, through interviews with people who in various ways work to increase safety inUmea°. The paper addresses how the informants define the problem of fear of violence in publicspace and the strategies they employ to address it, what could be described as the analyticalpracticeparadox, as the results show the difficulties of integrating gender-aware planning intoplanning practice.