3RD INTERNATIONAL CONGRESS ON TECHNOLOGY - ENGINEERING & SCIENCE - Kuala Lumpur - Malaysia (2017-02-09)

Satisfaction Of People With Disability On Comfort Level In Urban Public Spaces: Case Study Of Tehran

Public spaces take a large part in the definition of a life quality offered to all citizens. This is akin to the social target of sustainable development, which aim is reaching a greater social equity. According to the United Nations convention on the rights of persons with disabilities, around ten percent of the world’s population- 650 million people live with a type of disability; and in effect, they can be considered as the World’s largest minority. While, around eighty percent of these populations live in developing countries, Iran -as one of them- faces a more serious problem due to the eight-year war with Iraq (1980-1988). The war left many people injured and sharply increased the disability rate. In 2006 the number of disabled people in Iran was estimated to be over a million (1,012,222) individuals; and even twenty five years after the war, despite many laws aimed at helping the disabled, they still face tremendous difficulties. As the most outstanding instance it has been claimed that urban spaces in Tehran which is capital of Iran do not have the potential to serve people of all levels of ability – and disability. All the disabled in developing country especially Iran suffer of poverty prevalence and inaccessibility to social and economic equal opportunities and consequently from poor urban areas. The main problems of people with disabilities in Tehran, Iran are about traveling in the city, uncomfortable urban spaces, lack of public facilities and accessibility to particular facilities for them. Therefore they could not use social services such as other citizens. This article first sought a definition of comfortable public spaces and then pointed out some of the most important needs of blind and wheelchair users in Tehran. The research method of this article is quantitative and the satisfaction level has been assessed with questionnaire survey. One of the city districts in Tehran was chosen for a case study, and some simple urban design methods and solutions were suggested to increase the satisfaction of blind and wheelchair user is in terms of comfort level in urban public spaces.
Elnaz Esfandfard, Mohammad Hussaini Wahab, Wan Nurul Mardiah, Syuhaida Ismail