Building accessibility requires creating spaces that are accessible to everyone, including people who use wheelchairs, canes, and mobility scooters, as well as people with vision and hearing impairments. Due to architectural and functional issues, commercial buildings in Ethiopia's capital, Addis Ababa, do not provide fair accessibility for peoples with physical difficulties. Stairs at the main entrances, the height and number of series of steps and stair risers, insufficient signage or color/texture identification, secured ramp access, and other activities that hinder disabled people's movement are all factors that contribute to their absence. This study was conducted to assess the accessibility of commercial buildings in Addis Ababa in order to make it easier for peoples with physical difficulties to move around, to identify challenges, and to propose architectural solutions to ameliorate the situation. The study covers everything from recognizing accessibility issues to assessing and forwarding theoretical recommendations. Finally, design recommendations for the selected commercial building were made in order to improve accessibility for people with physical difficulties. Key informants were selected by random sampling technique. Observation, questionnaire, case study and focus group discussions were implemented for data collection. Tables were used to explain the data for easy comprehension. To address the lack of fair accessibility, facilitative measures such as the use of new technologies, planning and building accessible systems in accordance with local and international standards, monitoring and supervising the construction of building accessibility systems, and collaboration of relevant stakeholders were suggested. To summarize, the research looked into how to deal with issues arising from current commercial building structures, as well as how to make buildings more accessible to peoples with physical difficulties giving particular attention to wheelchair users.
| Published in | Landscape Architecture and Regional Planning (Volume 7, Issue 3) |
| DOI | 10.11648/j.larp.20220703.11 |
| Page(s) | 34-42 |
| Creative Commons |
This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited. |
| Copyright |
Copyright © The Author(s), 2024. Published by Science Publishing Group |
Building Accissibility, Physical Difficulties, Commercial Buildings
| [1] | American National Standards Institute. American National Standard for Buildings and Facilities: Providing Accessibility and Usability for Physically Handicapped People. New York, 1986. 84 pages. |
| [2] | Burnett & Baker (2001). Hotel experience of people with disabilities Charles. M. (2013). |
| [3] | Center for Universal Design. 1997. "The Principles of Universal Design, Version 2.0." North Carolina State University. Available at: http://www.ncsu.edu/www/ncsu/design/sod5/cud/about_ud/udprinciplestext.htm. Accessed on: March 20, 2013. |
| [4] | Central Coordinating Committee for the Promotion of Accessibility for the Disabled (CCPT). Accessibility of Buildings and the Outdoor Environment. Delft, Dutch Standard Institute, 1988. 67 pages. |
| [5] | Christian Blind Mission (2008), Promoting Access to the Built Environment Guidelines. |
| [6] | Christian Blind Mission (2005), Promoting universal access to the built environment, Bensheim, Germany. |
| [7] | Department of Justice (1994), Excerpt from 28 CFR Part 36: ADA standards for accessible design, United States of America. |
| [8] | Disabled World. (2021, August 8). Disabilities: Definition, Types and Models of Disability. Disabled World. Retrieved February 19, 2022 from www.disabled-world.com/disability/types/ |
| [9] | Franck, K. A.; Lepori, R. B. Architecture Inside Out; Wiley: New York, NY, USA, 2000; ISBN 978-0-471-98466-5. |
| [10] | Handicap international Ethiopia (2012), Introduction to accessibility in a camp setting. |
| [11] | Igwe, J. M. (1998), Enabling environment for the disabled: a review of architectural design criteria, The Lagos Journal of Environmental Studies, 1 (1) 129-133. |
| [12] | The Canadian Paraplegic Association, Manitoba Division. Access: A Guide for Architects and Designers. Second Edition, Manitoba, Canada, the Canadian Paraplegic Association, Manitoba Division, 1989. |
| [13] | United Nations (2003-04), Accessibility for the Disabled - A Design Manual for a Barrier Free Environment, Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Division for Social Policy and Development, Retrieved May 12, 2006 from the world wide web: www.un.org/esa/socdev/enable/designm/AD4-01.htm, 1 – 133. |
| [14] | Varela, F. J.; Thompson, E.; Rosch, E. The Embodied Mind: Cognitive Science and Human Experience; MIT Press: Cambridge, MA, USA, 1991; ISBN 978-0-262-72021-2. |
| [15] | World Health Organization, International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF), available at: http://www.who.int/classifications/icf/en/ |
APA Style
Eyuel Ketema, Esayas Deribe. (2022). Accessibility of Commercial Buildings for Persons with Physical Difficulties in Addis Ababa. Landscape Architecture and Regional Planning, 7(3), 34-42. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.larp.20220703.11
ACS Style
Eyuel Ketema; Esayas Deribe. Accessibility of Commercial Buildings for Persons with Physical Difficulties in Addis Ababa. Landsc. Archit. Reg. Plan. 2022, 7(3), 34-42. doi: 10.11648/j.larp.20220703.11
Share This Article
Twitter
Linked In
Facebook
Copy
Download@article{10.11648/j.larp.20220703.11,
author = {Eyuel Ketema and Esayas Deribe},
title = {Accessibility of Commercial Buildings for Persons with Physical Difficulties in Addis Ababa},
journal = {Landscape Architecture and Regional Planning},
volume = {7},
number = {3},
pages = {34-42},
doi = {10.11648/j.larp.20220703.11},
url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.larp.20220703.11},
eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.larp.20220703.11},
abstract = {Building accessibility requires creating spaces that are accessible to everyone, including people who use wheelchairs, canes, and mobility scooters, as well as people with vision and hearing impairments. Due to architectural and functional issues, commercial buildings in Ethiopia's capital, Addis Ababa, do not provide fair accessibility for peoples with physical difficulties. Stairs at the main entrances, the height and number of series of steps and stair risers, insufficient signage or color/texture identification, secured ramp access, and other activities that hinder disabled people's movement are all factors that contribute to their absence. This study was conducted to assess the accessibility of commercial buildings in Addis Ababa in order to make it easier for peoples with physical difficulties to move around, to identify challenges, and to propose architectural solutions to ameliorate the situation. The study covers everything from recognizing accessibility issues to assessing and forwarding theoretical recommendations. Finally, design recommendations for the selected commercial building were made in order to improve accessibility for people with physical difficulties. Key informants were selected by random sampling technique. Observation, questionnaire, case study and focus group discussions were implemented for data collection. Tables were used to explain the data for easy comprehension. To address the lack of fair accessibility, facilitative measures such as the use of new technologies, planning and building accessible systems in accordance with local and international standards, monitoring and supervising the construction of building accessibility systems, and collaboration of relevant stakeholders were suggested. To summarize, the research looked into how to deal with issues arising from current commercial building structures, as well as how to make buildings more accessible to peoples with physical difficulties giving particular attention to wheelchair users.},
year = {2022}
}
TY - JOUR T1 - Accessibility of Commercial Buildings for Persons with Physical Difficulties in Addis Ababa AU - Eyuel Ketema AU - Esayas Deribe Y1 - 2022/08/04 PY - 2022 N1 - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.larp.20220703.11 DO - 10.11648/j.larp.20220703.11 T2 - Landscape Architecture and Regional Planning JF - Landscape Architecture and Regional Planning JO - Landscape Architecture and Regional Planning SP - 34 EP - 42 PB - Science Publishing Group SN - 2637-4374 UR - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.larp.20220703.11 AB - Building accessibility requires creating spaces that are accessible to everyone, including people who use wheelchairs, canes, and mobility scooters, as well as people with vision and hearing impairments. Due to architectural and functional issues, commercial buildings in Ethiopia's capital, Addis Ababa, do not provide fair accessibility for peoples with physical difficulties. Stairs at the main entrances, the height and number of series of steps and stair risers, insufficient signage or color/texture identification, secured ramp access, and other activities that hinder disabled people's movement are all factors that contribute to their absence. This study was conducted to assess the accessibility of commercial buildings in Addis Ababa in order to make it easier for peoples with physical difficulties to move around, to identify challenges, and to propose architectural solutions to ameliorate the situation. The study covers everything from recognizing accessibility issues to assessing and forwarding theoretical recommendations. Finally, design recommendations for the selected commercial building were made in order to improve accessibility for people with physical difficulties. Key informants were selected by random sampling technique. Observation, questionnaire, case study and focus group discussions were implemented for data collection. Tables were used to explain the data for easy comprehension. To address the lack of fair accessibility, facilitative measures such as the use of new technologies, planning and building accessible systems in accordance with local and international standards, monitoring and supervising the construction of building accessibility systems, and collaboration of relevant stakeholders were suggested. To summarize, the research looked into how to deal with issues arising from current commercial building structures, as well as how to make buildings more accessible to peoples with physical difficulties giving particular attention to wheelchair users. VL - 7 IS - 3 ER -
Information
Email: