Universal Design in Urban Public Spaces: The Case of Zafer Pedestrian Zone / Konya-Turkey

Abstract

Individuals in society who have different requirements and needs(disabled people, elders, children, prengnant women, parents withstrollers etc.) go through many difficulties while accessing urban indoorand outdoor services due to the constraints originating from builtenvironment. Universal design is the design of the environment and theproduct that can be used by all the people. With it's inclusive andunifying characteristics, universal design has become a design approachthat have been adopted by the academia during the recent years.Planning and organizing the urban spaces with regard to the universaldesign principles will contribute to an increase in the life quality of allthe people who use the city. This article aims to evaluate the usage ofurban spaces in Zafer Pedestrian Zone, located in Konya city centre,within the scope of universal design principles. The concept of universaldesign in the historical process, universal design's emergence processand it's principles and significances has been discussed in the theoreticalinfrastructure section of the article.In the fieldwork section of the article, the suitability analysis of a chosensample place's space usage have been carried out scrutinisingly underfour chosen headlines, with regards to the universal design principlesand standards.