Developing accessibility in urban areas : case: Tikkurila
Öispuu, Egne (2023)
2023
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Julkaisun pysyvä osoite on
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:amk-2023052313090
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:amk-2023052313090
Tiivistelmä
This thesis is part of the SAFE (Sustainable Accessible Future Environments) project that builds new ways to study, design, and create innovative sustainable solutions to make services and spaces more accessible and inclusive in collaboration with stakeholder groups and cities. The development objective of this thesis is to create a range of user personas and a checklist to assess accessibility in urban environments. This development thesis included the Tikkurila central area as the primary area of study.
The theoretical framework for this thesis is based on the laws and legislation regarding accessibility. These legislations included European directives on accessibility, Finnish laws, and the SuRaKu accessibility report, which state the importance of accessibility for all. Furthermore, the understanding of the accessibility laws stated clearly the importance of people’s equality and that it is vital to ensure people with different disabilities and circumstances accessibility and give them more independence in their everyday life.
This thesis includes a qualitative method, as four user personas were created to observe the chosen urban area. Moreover, this includes a checklist that was created based on the theoretical framework and the user persona needs. Once, the checklist and user personas were created, semi-structured observations were conducted to learn more about the chosen area. Lastly, after the observations were created, the data gathered were analyzed based on the theoretical framework and listed in the findings from the observations chapter.
The data analyzed gave a good understanding that the Tikkurila central area does comply with laws and regulations set by the European Union and Finland. Furthermore, the area does take into consideration people with different backgrounds and their need for accessibility. Therefore, in the future, the SAFE project can use the user personas and the checklist in any urban area to assess accessibility.
The theoretical framework for this thesis is based on the laws and legislation regarding accessibility. These legislations included European directives on accessibility, Finnish laws, and the SuRaKu accessibility report, which state the importance of accessibility for all. Furthermore, the understanding of the accessibility laws stated clearly the importance of people’s equality and that it is vital to ensure people with different disabilities and circumstances accessibility and give them more independence in their everyday life.
This thesis includes a qualitative method, as four user personas were created to observe the chosen urban area. Moreover, this includes a checklist that was created based on the theoretical framework and the user persona needs. Once, the checklist and user personas were created, semi-structured observations were conducted to learn more about the chosen area. Lastly, after the observations were created, the data gathered were analyzed based on the theoretical framework and listed in the findings from the observations chapter.
The data analyzed gave a good understanding that the Tikkurila central area does comply with laws and regulations set by the European Union and Finland. Furthermore, the area does take into consideration people with different backgrounds and their need for accessibility. Therefore, in the future, the SAFE project can use the user personas and the checklist in any urban area to assess accessibility.