InnoNews interview with Rama Gheerawo on mobility and design for all

InnoNews had an interview with Rama Gheerawo, one of the speaker of international conference ‘Cities For All – Tallinn For All’ coming up this May. For more information on a conference, click here

The topics we talked with Rama were the following:

1.     You are one of the speakers in international conference ‘Cities For All – Tallinn For All’, where the participants will be discussing mobility related issues. What do you consider the most important aspect related to mobility, which should be tackeled by public sector.

RG: Mobility is not just about physical accessibility, but is also about enabling quality of life, access to services and allow people to engage with the community. Step-free access can be important, but it is also important for the system to be usable - bus drivers should understand how to help people of different abilities, station staff should be briefed to give passengers more consideration. If the people who run the mobility system can be more helpful and welcoming, then people of all ages and abilities will find it more enjoyable to use.

2.     Your talk in a conference will look at the importance of mobility in creating community, enabling social connection and creating personal independence. Can you state shortly, which are the first steps in terms of mobility to take to create the community.

RG: Communities are based on connections - connections between people, services, and the environment around them. If a person feels connected to those around them, this can become the first step t creating community.

3.     Can you name some cities/local municipalities in Europe where mobility is well tackled and different groups of citizens have the same opportunities to move around easily?

RG: Drammen in Norway, Some parts of Oslo, Copenhagen, potential schemes for the Olympics in East London.

4.    What do you think, while speaking of mobility and equal opportunities to all citizens, why many public sector organizations still prefer not to come across with a topic or just does not care?

RG: They perceive the cost of engaging to be high. There is also a lack of understanding as to what accessible mobility might actually be!

5.     What’s your opinion, what will be the trends in mobility in 5 years perspective?

RG: More older people on our streets, more people with different abilities. There is a current debate as to the validity of shared space schemes where all the road markings are removed - this is potentially dangerous for visually impaired people. The biggest trend will be the impact of technology - in booking, travelling, wayfinding etc. Near field technologies such as RFID that are becoming more common on mobile phones will see the rise of handheld devices replace tickets. It will also be interesting to see how local communities might interact or even own sections of a transport system...