Capabilities and accessibility: a model for progress

Abstract

Accessibility is seen to be a core issue which relates directly to the quality of life: if a person cannot reach and use a facility then they cannot take advantage of the benefits that the facility is seeking to provide. In some cases this is about being able to take part in an activity for enjoyment, but in some it is a question of the exercise of human rights – access to healthcare, education, voting and other citizens’ rights. This paper argues that such an equitable accessibility approach requires understanding of the relationships between the capabilities that a person has and the capabilities required of them by society in order to achieve the accessibility they seek. The Capabilities Model, which has been developed at UCL is an attempt to understand this relationship and the paper sets out an approach to quantifying the capabilities in a way that allows designers and implementers of environmental construction and operation to have a more robust approach to their decisions about providing accessibility.