Raising Awareness about Accessibility

Every citizen has to right to move throughout a city safely and independently. The term accessibility refers this right in built environment mostly for public uses. In the beginning of 20th century, accessibility started from a restricted application but nowadays it became more comprehensive due to a better understanding of physical barriers in the world. According to a recent research, designers are not aware of how architectural barriers restrict accessibility for different users. It should not be forgotten that accessibility for everyone will increase the whole citizens’ quality of life. Thus, the paper tries to show importance of raising awareness in design studios for better implementing accessibility for all people. In our urban design studio, a strong relationship has been found between accessible design solutions and students’ awareness about physical barriers. The paper concludes that there is an immediate need to elaborate design courses with universal design principles.