The European Concept For Accessibility 2003

3.1 Open Spaces

3.1.3 Recreational Areas

Parks and gardens are spaces given over to leisure activities and meeting other people, as well as being the lungs of heavily built-up areas. The aspects to be taken into consideration when designing them will depend on their size, location and the number of services they offer. The measures to be taken into account when designing a small park or square situated at the heart of a district are as follows:

-Parks or squares whose surrounding streets are open to traffic have to be fitted with safety fences to prevent children from running into the road.

-There should be an area set aside for very small children in which they can play safely.

-Benches should be installed next to the play areas so that adults can sit down while watching their children.

In the case of larger spaces whose interior contains a variety of different service areas, safety, accessibility and signposting measures should all be taken into account:

-There should be a map at park entrances which indicates the location of the various services, activities or equipment, and provides information regarding opening times of the facilities and different guided activities.

-The paths which form the different routes should intersect, enabling users to easily change from one to another; avoid the use of steps to change from one level to another.

-As in small parks, the space for children's play facilities should be designed with the accompanying adults in mind. -Playgrounds should respect the diversity of children (age and mobility).

-The design of play facilities has to ensure the safety of the children using it, without forgetting that children need and want to experience new sensations.

-The materials used to build these facilities should not become dangerous in the event of breakage.

-The elements of furniture (benches, fountains, litter bins, etc.) should be placed in accessible locations, but not represent an obstacle for people who are out for a walk.

-The materials used in building the furniture should enable it to be used continuously without the need for constant maintenance. -In areas set aside for rest and play facilities, the vegetation should provide shade in summer and let the sun through in winter.

-Sanitary and hygiene aspects arising from the presence of animals (pets) should be taken into account.

-Indoor facilities (such as toilets, theatres and bars) have to be totally accessible.

-In parks that are not within a closed site, and which are therefore open at night, it is important to intensify cleaning measures so as to avoid children playing with syringes or broken glass left lying around.

Thus, when designing a park we have to remember that it is a space meant for leisure activities and, therefore, it requires more cleaning and maintenance than other urban areas which are less heavily used.

The use made of beaches has changed over the years, developing from a purely commercial relationship (fishing and maritime trade) to one based around leisure. Therefore, beaches have ceased to be natural spaces and have become urbanised ones; this is especially the case of those which form part of a town centre and where changing huts, bars, Red Cross huts and other services aimed at the safety and well-being of bathers have been installed.

Nowadays, beaches are thought of as places to be used by the general public. It is therefore essential that everybody may access them, bathe and take advantage of the different services on offer. As with any built space, the necessary interventions will depend on the specifics of each case, but there is a series of considerations which have be taken into account when designing Beaches for All:

-Natural agents: the effect of wind and rain have to be taken into account. However, when it comes to placing fixed elements or installing the boardwalks which provide access to the water, it is particularly important to bear in mind the tide, as changes in sea level may be very marked in certain areas.

-Sand: its texture and colour – lighter or darker – change from one beach to the next, but it is always a non-compact material that is difficult to walk on and can impede the unaccompanied access of wheelchair users. Therefore, boardwalks should be installed which stretch from the start of the beach to the different services on offer (toilets, bars, changing huts, etc.) and end at the sea.

-Boardwalks:

• The fact that people are usually carrying many things (bags, sunshades, etc.) and the possibility of two wheelchairs needing to pass each other should both be borne in mind.

• They should not be rigid because they have to adapt to an irregular surface; in addition, they have to enable people to step off them at any point along the way.

• It should be remembered that people walk on them barefoot, and therefore the elements joining the different sections should not be dangerous.

• The design should be studied in detail as using moveable elements to achieve adaptability creates risks (for example, jamming the fingers of a crawling baby or producing excessive irregularities in the path due to improper use).

• The boardwalk has to begin where the sand starts and end at the sea.

-Building materials: as in the case of public furniture, these have to be weather-resistant, but it should also be borne in mind that they will be in direct contact with salt water and that the people using the different elements will be wearing few clothes, thus increasing the risk factor associated with skin contact

-Information: given that the structure of one beach may be very different from that of another it is not possible for them all to offer the same degree of accessibility. Therefore, clear information should be provided regarding the state of each beach and the services it provides, and this should be posted both at the points of access to the beach itself and in other sources of public information (tourist offices, Internet, local council publications). In this way, people can choose in advance which beach they want – and are able – to visit.

Before bringing this section to a close, we would like to add that if the beach is genuinely to be a place for everybody, then people should be able to reach it from any point of the city (life journey). Therefore, the design should consider the possibility of arriving on foot, or by public or private transport, and has to make provision for parking. Clearly then, a good design for an accessible environment is one which takes into consideration the different urban projects being developed (transport, leisure, culture, housing, etc.) and aims to combine them within an overall vision that ensures the safety and integration of everybody.