Accessibility of the Open Public Space in Cities

Abstract

Urban space of the contemporary cities undergo metamorphosis. Monofunctional public squares and parks change into multifunctional space, additionally filled with advanced technology. Public space means not only open parks and squares, but also generally accessible public buildings interiors: hotels, office buildings, shopping malls, religious institutions. Because of the broad topic, it has been limited to the open urban areas, which is the space among buildings. Public space, as the name suggests, should be accessible for all the citizens, also the disabled ones. The paper is an attempt to look at the changes in a critical way through the prism of their accessibility for the disabled. A few of the recent accomplishments, both European and Polish, has been analysed. The presented examples may be acknowledged as the representative ones for the conducted research, because they are suitable for the general trend of shaping public space of the contemporary cities.