GENERAL: To transform the relationship between the local community and drivers.
SPECIFIC: to make the mobility of people with disabilities in urban centres more inclusive by experimenting with a network of fixed and mobile smart devices, and to reduce the environmental impact and the risk of road accidents too.
Beneficiaries
DIRECT: Managers of venues, events and public car parks.
INDIRECT: users with disabilities and special needs and drivers in general.
National
Italy
The Italian regions involved are: Campania, Friuli Venezia Giulia, Liguria, Lombardia, Veneto and Sardegna.
Mainly urban
It refers to other types of transformations (soft investment)
No
No
Yes
As a representative of an organisation
Name of the organisation(s): Mobility Access Pass (MAP) Type of organisation: Non-profit organisation First name of representative: Giovanna Last name of representative: Barbaro Gender: Female Nationality: Italy Function: President Address (country of permanent residence for individuals or address of the organisation)<br/>Street and number: Via Altan, 37 Town: San Vito al Tagliamento Postal code: 33078 Country: Italy Direct Tel:+39 345 830 5757 E-mail:g.barbaro@mobility-access-pass.org Website:https://mobility-access-pass.org/
Go 4 Mobility is a project based on a didactic and rewarding approach, created to solve the age-old problem of illegal parking in parking spaces reserved for people with disabilities and other categories with special needs, by achieving the following goals:
-general: making society aware of respecting the traffic laws;
-specific: inform, monitor and reward righteous examples of inclusive mobility in park places located in sites of social interest, both public and private.
Direct beneficiaries: managers of shopping malls and public bodies that wish to allocate resources to improve the offer of parking spaces for disabled people.
Indirect beneficiaries: disabled car drivers who visit Italian cities for work, study, tourism or medical treatment and who need real-time and reliable information to move independently, safely and comfortably. Our association proposed as a candidate for the Bauhaus Prize with the scope of applying our evaluation protocol to improve inclusive mobility in the car parks of at least two municipalities and shop malls and then bringing them online within a year.
Mobility
Disabled people
Accessibility
Safety
Geolocation
Compared to the current system of sanctions foreseen in the Italian traffic laws, the proposed initiative is more environmentally sustainable because it saves emissions (from empty runs) and psychophysical discomfort due to delays in reaching the place of interest.
Furthermore, the initiative is also an example of the:
1) savings because it requires a reduced use of human resources to check compliance with the traffic laws in urban parking areas and uses a more effective control system: controls are automated, therefore no longer random but constant over time;
2) accessibility because it allows people with disabilities to more easily find adequate and available parking spaces near urban places of interest;
3) independent mobility for the disabled driver because by parking in larger spaces, he/she does not always need the help of third parties to access his/her vehicle;
4) road safety because it allows people with disabilities to organize their journeys to places or events of interest based on the offer of adequate parking spaces, avoiding blocking traffic in urban areas that are not equipped or with traffic limited to frontagers.
The initiative intends to install luminaires conceived as urban furnishings, designed to attract the attention of car drivers from afar, not only during the day but also at night, thanks to energy-saving lighting signs. Aesthetics can connote car parks as innovative information points on ecological, inclusive and safe mobility. Thanks to information technology, the information provided can be easily updated and in different languages to improve the experience of motorists, especially non-resident or passing ones. Furthermore, the devices can be powered by the mains, photovoltaic panels, or both.
The initiative is exemplary because it allows users with special needs, once they have the licenses (universal disabled pass valid in all EU countries, vehicle number plate, medical certification for temporary disability) to reserve parking space on the day, in the time slot and for the desired duration and obtain the answer in real-time. The device can reward the user who respects the reserved parking times to encourage the reservations of other parking attendants.
The initiative promotes social inclusion not only of people with disabilities but also of other categories with special needs (related to age and pregnancy). The app facilitates the search for parking spaces reserved for disabled people near places of interest. Currently, in various Italian urban centres, we are witnessing the replacement of parking spaces intended for disabled people with those intended for recharging electric vehicles. The devices thoroughly and constantly monitor the use of the park places along the time and process the recorded data, allowing for continuous improvement in the management and supply of park places for people with special needs. The ad hoc application for mobile devices allows communication of the opening times of the access gates reserved for residents of restricted traffic centres in given time slots, avoiding area congestion and preventing punishable offences.
The devices are used to book and indicate parking spaces. It respects the principles of Universal Design or Design for All, and the circular economy. The shapes and sizes are ergonomic and can communicate in the language of your mobile device. The materials employed in the manufacture must contain high percentages of recycled matter to be easily reusable, recyclable, replaced or disposed of in appropriate structures. The initiative is exemplary because it solves the problem of removing the illegal parking lot from the vehicle: it prevents or discourages the offence thanks to a more effective control system that records the vehicle's plate and to dynamic physical barriers that hinder the access. Finally, it increases the availability of parking spaces for people with special needs, on demand. The system makes the travel experience more comfortable even for those who do not usually live in the area and, therefore, need more information.
The initiative involved members and sympathizers of the association through the following communication channels:
MAP association website: article published on the association's website on 11/05/2022 (https://mobility-access-pass.org/2022/05/11/lapp-che-geolocalizza-il-parcheggio -park-solution-in-case-of-disabilities/)
Bologna Expo Sanità Fair within the Cohousing Space on 11-13/05/2022; https://mobility-access-pass.org/2022/05/03/lo-spazio-cohousing-a-exposanita-2022-11-13-maggio-a-bologna/
Publication of articles on social networks (LinkedIn, Facebook and Youtube)
Thanks to the presentation on the internet, requests for information have arrived from various regions of Italy (Puglia, Friuli VG, Emilia Romagna) on the possibility of installing a Park Solution device.
The estimated impact in the short-medium term: our association wishes to facilitate the installation of the smart device, starting from parking lots in urban areas without spaces suitable for people with disabilities. By improving the supply of parking spaces, it is possible to encourage the mobility of people with disabilities who often give up moving to avoid deep discomfort. The collection of funds will serve to facilitate the Municipalities to equip themselves with the devices, enhancing the transformation effect of the places activated with the National Recovery and Resilience Plan (PNRR).
Depending on the study's progress and the information gathered, we involved various stakeholders in the initiative.
In the initial phase, we involved the association's volunteers to collect information on personal experience in finding suitable parking spaces for people with disabilities in the following regions of Italy: Friuli Venezia Giulia, Veneto, Liguria, Lombardy, Sardinia and Puglia. From the comparison between various experiences and contexts, the main result we obtained was the identification of the best and worst situations. In the second phase, we examined the problem at the municipal level in the following provinces: Udine, Venice, Genoa, Milan, Cagliari and Bari. The main result obtained from the comparison between the various situations was the identification of suitable areas for the installation of the devices for their experimental use by our associates with disabilities. In the third phase, we opened a working table on inclusive mobility to facilitate dialogue between people with disabilities and problem solvers with the following roles: traffic policemen, councillors, urban planners, journalists, computer scientists and company planners in the IT, electronic, home automation and mechanic industries. The main result obtained was the identification of companies endeavouring to transform the idea into reality by signing expressions of interest and drawing up each one a bill of quantities, video animations, and multimedia applications.
The initiative was born thanks to a multidisciplinary team to extend the approach of participatory planning, primarily in areas where there is significant room for continuously improving the offer of services and products to meet the demands of people with special needs. The fields of knowledge encompass assistance to disabled people (especially those with motorial disabilities), architectural, urban and mechanical design, information and communication technologies (ICT), project management, public relations, political and social sciences and advertising graphics design.
The representatives of these different fields interacted thanks to the activation of working tables on the theme of inclusive mobility. The added value of the process is having expanded the Technical and Scientific Committee of the association with new professional profiles.
Our multidisciplinary team developed a device that works as an acoustic deterrent. It emits an annoying sound similar to an audible anti-theft alarm when an unauthorized vehicle occupies the parking place for disabled people. Only those equipped with a special remote control similar to a remote door control can deactivate it. The device has not been approved by the Italian Civil Motorization yet because it emits a sound that exceeds the legal threshold for urban centres.
The device strongly discourages the illegal use of reserved parking places by automatically issuing fines (in the same way as speed cameras). The goal of the project is to enable the Municipalities interested in acquiring an avant-garde tool in the Smart City world which, in addition to being technologically advanced and totally independent of the network structure, guarantees a high level of scalability to allow large and future expansions and, above all, does not require wiring.
Accessibility compliance with the traffic laws in force and the new updates avoiding unlimited parking of authorized vehicles in parking lots intended for disabled people in public areas. Therefore, the system would avoid the problem of private use of public parking lots always occupied by disabled users lacking a private garage or parking space.
The initiative was designed to be easily replicable in all its components (devices and application for mobile devices) in other contexts at national and international level. The more it can be replicated, the greater its contribution to improving the mobility of people with special needs, reducing emissions for unnecessary travel.
The MAP association has been developing the working methodology underlying the proposed initiative since its origins in 2017 and successfully tested it to finance other projects. In 2022 the association awarded 60 donors to the project "Traveling with friends without barriers? Yes, thank your help." Thanks to crowdfunding it was possible to finance the experimentation of an ecological, inclusive and economic mobility service for the members. The latter project can find continuity in the proposed initiative since a person with disabilities can travel with a wheelchair and its propeller in a small vehicle with a high bottom, without the need for sophisticated and unaffordable aids. Thus, the opportunities for economic mobility, independence and self-esteem increase by meeting the 2006 UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities to live as independently as possible within their limits.
The methodology exploits information technology to organize round tables on specific problems related to disabilities. The pandemic has enhanced the opportunities for virtual meetings, through special online platforms, establishing our work tables as a meeting point between the various bearers of concrete problems and providers of solutions (people with disabilities and project managers in various sectors) promoting the continuous improvement of products and services. In this regard, our association has managed to involve people with disabilities in participatory planning in various areas with a view to continuous improvement. In summary: We listen to the problems, select the best problem solvers, seek funding, implement the project, test it with the participation of people with various disabilities, facilitate the dissemination of the project and monitor its use to improve its characteristics.
The initiative contributes to addressing the global challenges of the New Bauhaus by introducing local solutions that can be replicated on a large scale in the following areas observed and photographed:
Road safety: the installation of the devices in urban car parks, once connected to the network with mobile devices, minimizes accidents due to traffic congestion due to parking in unsuitable places for waiting for free parking.
Accessibility: the installation of the device favours the maintenance of the physical conditions of the parking place. It facilitates the collection from ascertained infringements which can be used for the redevelopment of parking lots, such as, for example, removing important bumps from the road surface due to the growth of the roots of neighbouring plants. Road surface irregularities higher than two centimetres prevent the usability of the parking reserved for wheelchair users.
Geolocation: the proposed system facilitates travel planning for people with special needs, allowing them to avoid inaccessible, hostile and discriminatory places thanks also to a system for collecting reports from users through special forms that can be updated in full respect of privacy.
Management: the proposed system allows public bodies to better manage and distribute parking spaces for people with disabilities, overcoming legislative gaps. The repeated occupation of a public car park intended for disabled people as a private car park for a resident in the adjacent building could be liable for a fine.
Mobility. The devices installed in public car parks are designed to communicate with mobile applications to guide users with special needs to park in the closest free areas to the place of interest. People who use manual wheelchairs have less resistance to travelling long distances independently.
In the current phase of the initiative, due to the limited economic resources available, it was only possible to carry out three phases out of five:
Study of the problem in the five different strategic areas in which it is possible to have a positive influence through the experimental installation of the proposed system: reduction of road accidents, increase in parking near the entrances to urban places of public interest (stations, hospitals, municipal offices, schools, theatres), improvement of the accessibility and usability of the most hostile urban areas due to the presence of architectural barriers, improvement of the unconditional mobility of people with disabilities who cannot and do not always want to depend on assistants for various reasons.
State of the art on the solutions of the considered problem.
Realization of a prototype to estimate costs and engineering.
The impact of the initiative after the realization of the last two phases can only be estimated as follows:
i) The creation and installation of fixed devices combined with the mobile application can encourage the mobility of disabled motorists and dissuade those who are not authorized to occupy reserved parking spaces.
ii) Testing the system in at least 3 regions makes it possible to evaluate the costs and benefits by punctually registering all users of the car park equipped with the device.
The initiative contributes to developing the following new skills in the context of the European Sustainability Competence Framework. 1) Management methodology for solving problems through new information technologies. 2) Participatory planning of services and products in areas that usually discriminate against people with disabilities. 3) Make motorists aware of planning their trips to minimize waste of time, polluting emissions, blockages and finally, infringements of the Highway Code to the detriment of people with disabilities.
