City centre accessibility for wheelchair users: The consumer perspective and the planning implications

In the context of recent ‘disability’ initiatives, evidence is drawn from 150 detailed interviews with wheelchair users, to investigate and reassess current city centre accessibility 10 years after the introduction of the Disability Discrimination Act, 1995 in the UK. Aspects of the built environment, public transport, and current levels of shopper activity continue to present a range of difficulties for wheelchair users, which restrict their physical mobility in the city centre. A majority of wheelchair users (61%), for example, feel that they are disabled by the way in which places are planned or designed. While 80% find the purpose-built modern covered shopping centre easy to negotiate, more peripheral shopping streets with vehicular traffic, and traditional market areas, are considered problematic by a third or more. Based on considerable empirical evidence, the findings can be generalised to suggest six issues relevant to the creation of ‘enabling’ or more accessible city centre environments for all, as urban planners across the world become more concerned about inclusion.