On January 25, all sections of the Album of Barrier-Free Solutions, developed at the initiative of the First Lady of Ukraine, Olena Zelenska, were presented in Ukraine. The Album was developed by the the Big City Lab urban bureau team.  

This is a practical guide for architects and public space designers that recommends and illustrates how the urban environment can be friendly to different users: parents with young children, senior citizens, people with disabilities, and other low-mobility groups. It models the best solutions for building new projects and adapting existing buildings and streets.

The guide is divided into four sections: accessible porches and yards, street infrastructure, public space, and public buildings and facilities. All of them have recommendations based on the realities of wartime and security needs.

“By barrier-free accessibility we mean the absence of obstacles for people of any gender, age, or state — obstacles to development, education, work, and a comfortable life,” Olena Zelenska noted.

The Album considers the current situation in cities and the prospects for new construction. Thus, it contains the following points:

• solutions for new construction
• solutions to be used in cases of adaptation of existing space
• barrier solutions — examples of unsafe solutions from the surrounding space.

In addition, sections of the Guide have been expanded to include recommendations that consider security needs: advice on evacuation doors, wartime blackout and equipment for hospitals and headquarters, installation of emergency equipment, places for community gathering during power or gas outages, sensory relief rooms for those with sensitivity to light and sound, and arrangement of shelters for IDPs.

For certain scenarios that make people more vulnerable during the war, experts have provided additional recommendations: wartime blackout for volunteer stations or temporary hospitals during power outages. There are also instructions for the placement of Czech hedgehogs, recommendations for corridors, vestibules, and elevators for the optimal evacuation of people on stretchers, and some tips for shelters that take into account the needs of various low-mobility groups.

The Album of Barrier-Free Solutions is available here.

The Transparent Cities program continues to work to help cities be able capable and withstand the challenges caused by the war efficiently. We are convinced that a comfortable and safe living environment for all people should be at the core of the construction, restoration, and design of cities.