Elaborating metrics for the accessibility of buildings

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dc.contributor.authorSakkas, Nikos
dc.contributor.authorPérez, Juan
dc.contributor.institutionSG
dc.date.accessioned2024-07-24T11:58:51Z
dc.date.available2024-07-24T11:58:51Z
dc.date.issued2006-09
dc.description.abstractThis paper presents a methodological approach for measuring building accessibility. Buildings are seen as service providers, and their accessibility is evaluated by defining a set of representative service paths, and measuring their quality. We will depart from existing methodologies, developed to measure location accessibility, and transpose them for use in the building domain, in an effort to propose a concrete way to audit building accessibility and lay down some analytical metrics for its measurement. Such methods may be instrumental in better and deeper understanding accessibility. They may enable tools to be developed, to help support decisions on embedding accessibility in new building design or in the course of a refurbishment process. We argue that it is not adequate to pursue a black or white approach to accessibility. In this sense, compliance to standards that, if observed, secure accessible paths in buildings is a very useful approach but does not fully unveil the essence of accessibility. Put simply, there can be large differences in accessibility even if standards are equally well or not well observed. We wish to elaborate on the subtle nature of these differences and to propose a framework to start measuring them.en
dc.description.sponsorshipThe research on which this paper is based forms part of the POLIS (Decision Support Tools and Policy Initiatives in Support of an Universal Design of Buildings) project, which is funded by the EU Sixth Framework Program (Policy Oriented Research—Contract No. SP24-CT-2003-500862). The research partnership comprises Business and Project Management SA (Greece), ASM Market Research and Analysis Centre sp. z o. o (Poland), EMTTU (Greece), Belgian Building Research Institute (Belgium), Building Research Establishment (UK), Cooperative Integrate Onlus (Italy), Interdisciplinary Centre for Technological Analysis and Forecasting (Israel), Co-operative Institute for Innovation (Italy), Fundacion LABEIN (Spain), Construction Technologies Institute (Italy) and Info-Handicap—Conseil National des Personnes Handicapées (Luxemburg). The above analysis provides a conceptual framework for dealing with and evaluating building accessibility in a structured and detailed way. As such, it has been used as a theoretical foundation for the design and implementation of a decision support system (DSS), capable to perform analyses of building accessibility and to provide suggestions as to specific interventions that could be undertaken in order to enhance it. This work is currently carried out in the framework of an EU funded project ( POLIS , Decision support tools and policy initiatives in support of a universal design of buildings, Sixth Framework Program for R&D).
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dc.identifier.citationSakkas , N & Pérez , J 2006 , ' Elaborating metrics for the accessibility of buildings ' Computers, Environment and Urban Systems , vol. 30 , no. 5 , pp. 661-685 . https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compenvurbsys.2005.06.002
dc.identifier.doi10.1016/j.compenvurbsys.2005.06.002
dc.identifier.issn0198-9715
dc.identifier.urihttps://hdl.handle.net/11556/2881
dc.identifier.urlhttp://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=33748146074&partnerID=8YFLogxK
dc.language.isoeng
dc.relation.ispartofComputers, Environment and Urban Systems
dc.relation.projectIDEU Sixth Framework Program
dc.relation.projectIDSixth Framework Program for R&D
dc.relation.projectIDUniversal Design of Buildings
dc.relation.projectIDEuropean Commission, EC
dc.relation.projectIDuniversal design of buildings
dc.rightsinfo:eu-repo/semantics/restrictedAccess
dc.subject.keywordsAccessibility audit
dc.subject.keywordsBuilding and urban space accessibility
dc.subject.keywordsBuilding design
dc.subject.keywordsDesign for all
dc.subject.keywordsMetrics
dc.subject.keywordsGeography, Planning and Development
dc.subject.keywordsEcological Modeling
dc.subject.keywordsGeneral Environmental Science
dc.subject.keywordsUrban Studies
dc.subject.keywordsSDG 11 - Sustainable Cities and Communities
dc.titleElaborating metrics for the accessibility of buildingsen
dc.type
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