Outdoor environments PDF Print E-mail
We encounter the pedestrian environment every day of our lives in order to move from place to place. The streets, pavements and areas of open space like parks all make up the ‘pedestrian environment’, and their design has an impact on our mobility.

The creation of an accessible pedestrian environment will increase the potential independence of many disabled people. Access groups often get involved in negotiations regarding the pedestrian environment. Groups may get involved with small-scale provisions, such as a car parking bay for a disabled resident, or large-scale initiatives such as consulting on large shopping developments, car parks or new pedestrian-crossing facilities.

If the provisions mentioned in this section are implemented, but the buildings in the area are inaccessible, then the environment is far from ‘fully accessible’ and ‘inclusive’.

Attention must be paid to both buildings and the surrounding environment, as there is little point in being able to get to a building only to find when you arrive the building you want to go into is inaccessible in some way. The problem could occur vice versa, too: if an accessible building is situated in a cluttered and poorly designed pedestrian environment, it will be difficult to get to.