António FERREIRA, CITTA: Centre for Research on Territory, Transports and Environment, University of Porto., Portugal
Accessibility planning is becoming increasingly dominated by the same exclusionary and autistic technocratic principles that have reduced transport planning to a major source of environmental and social problems. There is a growing consensus that accessibility planning constitutes a suitable replacement for transport planning only when it relies on sophisticated planning support tools informed by advanced accessibility metrics – basically, when it surrenders itself to the same transport planning paradigm that it aimed to criticise and transcend in the first place due to its overwhelming shortcomings. Through empirical research conducted with children in Matosinhos (Portugal) and Gothenburg (Sweden), this research offers insights on how to develop accessibility planning as an alternative to a technocratic approach both in substantive and processual terms. This will for example involve reflecting on traditional measure of time and distance in the context of childrens experiences and ideas. Restoring accessibility planning so that it becomes a practice partially informed by children-stakeholders is considered key not only to promote child-friendly cities, but also to open adult-stakeholders and academic researchers to alternative ways of understanding the world.
Keywords: Accessibility|Mobility|Planning|Children
A103993AL