Lavery, I., S. Davey, A. Woodside & K. Ewart, 1996, The vital role of street design and management in reducing barriers to older peoples’ mobility, in: Landscape and Urban Planning, 35,
- Author : Lavery, I., S. Davey, A. Woodside & K. Ewart
- Year : 1996
- Journal/Series : Landscape and Urban Planning
- Volume Number (CONSECUTIVE: Counting all Volumes of this Journal ever published) : 35
- Pages : 181-192
- Abstract in English : A street can have an unfriendly environment for a wide range of mobility-impaired people, many of whom are elderly. Within a few decades retired people will comprise 25% of the population of the United Kingdom, many of whom will have considerable spending power. Thus, both from the ‘social quality of life’ perspective and the economic perspective, public transport services and local and city centre streets will increasingly be required to be retired people friendly to ensure that older people will be able to maximize mobility and their access to shops and other opportunities. Travel is very complex but it can be subdivided into three broad components: the person; the vehicle; and the built environment. Travel can only be carried out if the three components are linked by means of a travel chain, and a journey cannot be made effectively if all the links are not efficiently joined. For many mobility-impaired people the travel chain is negated by built environment barriers. The main barriers have been identified. This article offers design parameters to overcome the major problems and it is suggested that an increasing of travel for elderly can be encouraged by an interdisciplinary approach which links ‘friendly buses’ with ‘friendly streets’.
- Comments/Notes : KEYWORDS: elderly, elderly people, disabled people, mobility, streets, accessibility, barriers. UTILITY: lecturers/teachers, academic research, students of universities of professional education.