PEOPLE WITH DISABILITIES IN A BIG CITY ENVIRONMENT: ANALYSIS OF PHYSICAL BARRIER ACCESSIBILITY OF THE GALAGANY NEIGHBORHOOD OF KYIV
Authors:   Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv, Kyiv, Ukraine, DRONOVA Olena , STEFANSKA Valeriia ,   Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv, Kyiv, Ukraine
Published: December 2024

A significant number of people with disabilities experience obvious manifestations of discrimination in modern Ukrainian cities. The urban space often complicates their lives, does not allow them to be an active part of society. Having limited financial resources due to the lack of inclusive workplaces, people with disabilities usually cannot afford housing in new buildings, which have a higher level of physical accessibility, in contrast to the old Soviet buildings. During a full-scale invasion, the issue of the presence of artificial barriers in cities became much more acute due to the rapid increase in the number of people with disabilities as a result of military operations. In our research, people with disabilities are selected as an example of a vulnerable group for whom a certain material obstacle is not only uncomfortable. The physical bariers can also completely deprive them of the ability to move around the city. The purpose of the publication is to analyze the physical accessibility of the environment of Ukrainian cities using the capital of Ukraine as an example. Based on our own field research, in cooperation with the NGO “LUN Misto”, a checklist “City without Borders” was filled out for the Galagany neighborhood with information on residential buildings and adjacent territories by structural elements: entrance group, staircase or hall, courtyard, parking and transport, recreation areas, shelters. 30 questionnaires were filled out for the analysis. The results of the field study were visualized using a map of the types of residential multi-story building development by years in Kyiv. In case of inaccessibility of individual objects, the method of semi-structured interviews was used. A comparison of the provision of various types of development with barrier-free elements was carried out using a point assessment and calculation of the barrier-free level index. It was revealed that the Galagany territory includes five types of development formed since the 20s of XX century and today is quite attractive for developers because it has a convenient location, which increases its potential. The neighborhood requires a complete rethinking, which in turn will include the introduction of barrier-free elements. There are abandoned industrial zones on the territory that are interesting to investors; developing them, it makes sense to immediately apply universal design approaches. In some courtyards, a certain level of barrier-free access has been formed, but residents who use a wheelchair to move around, or are blind, will not be able to fully live in the conditions of Galagany, despite the choice between new or old housing. The need for a comprehensive approach to improving the situation with physical barrier-free access in areas of mass Soviet development in Kyiv is substantiated, in particular, in the peripheral part of the city, where the problem of accessibility arises more acutely than in the center.