Thanks for all the responses so far...... some of them are very helpful, some useless! (you know who you are!)
to answer a few questions...
Yes, this is for my third year uni work. i am studying product design, and am entering into a national competition by the RSA. I have been given this project to do, and it will hopefully help in getting me a job in the design industry when I graduate next year.
So far i have developed a slash proof bag that can cover a bike and secure itself to a rail or alike. it is very light weight, and can packed quickly into a cylindrical tube 25cm long and 10 cm in diameter. this can be fixed to a bike frame or carried in a backpack.
other ideas are developed on the same idea of the bag. instead of being folded up into a cylinder, it could fold into a backpack, or possibly into some sort of jacket (possibly incorperated into a jacket - i.e. it could be zipped to the back of a waterproof or alike).
I am also looking into areas of security that don't involve locks - i.e. safer areas to store bikes in city centres etc. i am working from ideas such as the bike tree (bellow) and other ideas.
any help would be great!
thanks