PUBLIC SPACES FOR MOBILITY FOR ALL
The introduction to the workshop will shortly present the methodology for accessibility assessment of public buildings and public spaces in terms of accessibility for all that was developed by the Urban Planning Institute of the Republic of Slovenia (UIRS). This methodology is useful to provide an overview of the state of the art of the accessibility for all, at the same time, it has an educational goal by rising the accessibility questions among the decision makers to prevent architectural and communication barriers in the future.
We will then go for an organized walk together with the representatives of people with disabilities and other stakeholders. We will be acquainted with good and bad practices in the particular spaces in the city centre, where we will experience ourselves the limitations that the physical environment can cause to people with disabilities – by walking with a white stick and moving with a wheelchair in a public area. We will hear the first-hand experiences of usage of public spaces in Ljubljana and other Slovenian cities from individuals with disabilities (e.g. the person with impaired mobility, the blind person).
A president of the Council for the Elimination of Architectural and Communicational Barriers (SOAKO - municipal advisory board for accessibility issues) will join us too to present how SOAKO's activities have contributed to many novel approaches in accessibility for all and how these endeavours have been recognised within a wider audience and earned Ljubljana the silver EU Access City Award in 2018.
The workshop will be led by Nina Goršič (UIRS) and Sašo Rink (President of SOAKO MOL).