Publications:
Designing for Disabled People in Home Zones

1.0 Introduction and Background

Home Zones are a concept originally developed in the Netherlands in the 1970s in which the road space within a residential street is shared between drivers of motor vehicles and other road users. The overall aim is to change the way residential streets are used so that they become a valued public space rather than just a place for movement.

1.1 Aims and Objectives

The aim of this study was to identify guidelines for design that might be applied to Home Zone areas for disabled people without compromising the integrity of the concept.

This project also considered the safety of disabled people in Home Zones around Britain and how any problems identified may be resolved, whilst maintaining the concept's integrity. The assessment of safety of disabled people includes:

navigation
spatial awareness
crossing the street
conflict with motorists and other road users
conflict with other pedestrians
perception of safety

1.2 Why the Study was Needed

Many organisations of disabled people have argued for the basic right of independence and freedom of movement^[1] when using the external environment, and for the safety of disabled people to be paramount in the way such environments are designed, managed and used. For many disabled people, this right is not being achieved, or indeed being addressed appropriately, in the provision of the modern external environment.

One organisation, the Joint Committee on the Mobility of Blind and Partially Sighted People (JCMBPS), believes that safe and independent movement within external environments is currently not possible, and that blind, deafblind and partially sighted people experience a considerable number of barriers to freedom of movement, seriously limiting their opportunities and choice (JCMBPS, 2002).

Despite (the Disabled Persons Transport Advisory Committee (DPTAC) itself also promoting the view that everyone should be able to use the walking environment (DPTAC 2006), various research projects have illustrated concerns with the suitability of external environments in meeting the needs of disabled people.

In a MORI poll commissioned by DPTAC, disabled people identified problems in using the pedestrian environment as being of greater concern to them than those experienced when using public transport (DPTAC, 2002). Other research projects carried out by organisations representing blind and partially sighted people have identified that poor provision in the pedestrian environment is a major factor in limiting the mobility and independence of blind and partially sighted people (Guide Dogs, 1999).

Mobility within the street environment will present different experiences and issues across the disabled population as a whole. The term 'disability' is itself a very broad definition and for which any further detailed exploration was considered outside the scope of this project. Therefore, in this project, reference to disabled people relates to the current generally recognised inclusion of 'people with a physical, sensory or mental impairment'.

1.3 Overview of the Methodology

The research was undertaken utilising three main methods of information gathering, namely, a literature review, site tests and focus groups, supported by additional information gathered from a structured interview of site test participants.

a) Literature reviews were undertaken by both JMU Access Partnership (JMU) and the Transport Research Laboratory (TRL), with JMU focusing on publications relating to the needs of users, design and management issues related to the provision of Home Zones, and a review of current design guidance. TRL's review focused on publications relating to safety, design guidance and the provision and evaluation of Home Zones.

An overview of the Literature Review is given in Section 2.0 and the Reviews in full are contained in Appendix A and Appendix B.

b) Eleven sites were selected (see Section 3.0); this included sites from the Home Zones Challenge (see section 2.4) and others containing the types of features, facilities and issues that were to be studied to meet the objectives of the project described earlier in Section 1.1 and the potential access issues for disabled people identified in the literature review.

Structured site tests comprising a 'walk through' of each Home Zone were undertaken by disabled and non-disabled participants. In total, 73 people took part in the tests, and the age, gender and disability profiles are described in Section 3.4.

Analysis of the results was undertaken by TRL identifying the issues experienced by the participants based on:

the common issues experienced by people with similar impairments;
the common issues experienced with Home Zone design features;
the experiences identified by participants for individual Home Zones tested;
an analysis of the questionnaire of general issues and experiences of Home Zones gathered from all the participants in the site tests.

A résumé of the findings of the site tests are given in Section 3.3 and the full analysis is given in Appendix D.

c) Focus Groups were carried out at 7 locations in the UK, and 4 of the Focus Group sessions were preceded by a visit to one of the Home Zone sites selected for the tests.

In all, 79 people took part in the Focus Groups, comprising 29 disabled people, 21 access professionals (some of whom were also disabled people), and 27 design professionals. Two guide dog rehabilitation workers also took part.

The aim of the Focus Groups was to gather additional information to be used in the analysis of the site tests, and to enhance the usefulness and appropriateness of any solutions, recommendations and guidance emanating from the study. A résumé of the make-up of the Focus Groups and the findings are described in Section 4.0 and the full analysis is shown in Appendix C.

1.4 The Steering Group

The project enjoyed the support of a Steering Group throughout the project. In all, three meetings were held and the research team is very grateful for the contribution made by members of the Group.

Members of the Steering Group were:

John Barrell - Jacobs UK Ltd
Linda Beard - Transport 2000
Wayne Duerden - Department for Transport
Stephen Hardy - Dorset County Council
Jane Horsburgh - MACS
Pippa Jackson - Access Association
Phil Jones - Phil Jones Associates Ltd
Gary Kemp - DPTAC
Grahame Lawson - DPTAC
Carol Thomas - JCMBPS
Judith Walker - IHIE
Catherine Ward - Thompson Open Space Research Centre
Clint D'Souza - MIU

1: The term 'freedom of movement' has been used within this project to differentiate between an area with features that physically stop peoples movement (such as a long wall) and features that give some delineation but that people could pass through (such as a line of bollards, tonal contrast or a low kerb). Complete freedom of movement is being able to move almost anywhere in a space. It is likely that most streets will have a level of freedom of movement, but that this may be reduced by features including pedestrian guardrails, high kerbs, hedges, walls, the building line etc.