Research of inclusiveness of public buildings in Lutsk

Abstract

Modern society is moving in the direction of creating a barrier-free environment. Accessibility is the design of products, devices, services, vehicles, or environments to be usable by people with disabilities. The concept of accessible design and practice of accessible development ensures both "direct access" and "indirect access" meaning compatibility with a person's assistive technology. Social exclusion is the process in which individuals are blocked from (or denied full access to) various rights, opportunities, and resources normally available to members of a different group. These are fundamental to social integration and observance of human rights within that particular group. Accessibility modifications may be required to enable persons with disabilities to gain access to education, employment, transportation, housing, recreation, or even to exercise their right to vote.

In construction, accessibility involves the installation of such structural elements as ramps, doors with a width of more than 0,9 m, steps of the appropriate height and width, the installation of handrails on stairwells, information plates in Braille, tactile strips, etc. Several regulatory documents were developed to regulate accessibility in Ukraine.

The city of Lutsk, as a regional center, must provide all its residents with access to all types of services. During the war, the need to provide an accessible environment is very urgent. To ensure comfortable movement in the city, it is necessary to prepare the arrangement of buildings, pedestrian zones, and streets with special means and structures.

This article includes an inspection of the entrances of public buildings for accessibility and a check of their cladding for compliance with current regulatory documents. During the execution of the works, we measured the building structures and made drawings using the received data. Then we analyzed the results of the inspection and compared them with the requirements of the current norms. As a result, recommendations were made for the reconstruction of the structures, which were erected with a violation.