Urban Solutions in the Universal Planning of Residential Spaces for the Elderly and the Disabled

Abstract

The article concerns the creation, in accordance with the EU idea of integrated accessibility, more and more favorable legal and design conditions for shaping the space of the residential development environment with equalized physical and social accessibility among elderly, disabled and non-disabled people. The research results presented in the article indicate the existing limitations and new possibilities in improving the general principles of creating urban assumptions for universal design. For this purpose, sixteen elements and their functional and spatial features were identified, which, in all people with various disabilities, as research has shown, directly increase the surrogate and corrective effectiveness of perception and communing with the residential development environment. From among those identified, those elements were distinguished which, in the residential development space, most equalize its accessibility for people in the characterized categories of visual, auditory, motor and intellectual disabilities. These are the elements of the spatial layouts of residential development, which also that have the strongest impact on increasing the safety, independence and freedom of movement of each inhabitant in their housing estate.