Barriers and Wayfinding -UTM campus

Barriers and wayfinding are two important aspects to consider when designing and managing a campus such as the University of Toronto Mississauga (UTM) campus. Design plays a crucial role in shaping how we experience public spaces, as it significantly impacts our perceptions, emotions, and behavior in these spaces. For example, design elements such as color, texture, and light can create different moods and emotions in public spaces, making them more inviting or unwelcoming. The arrangement of furniture and other physical elements, such as trees and plants, can affect how we navigate and interact with public spaces and impact our sense of safety, comfort, and privacy. Barriers refer to physical or perceived obstacles that hinder accessibility and movement within the campus, such as stairs, uneven pavement, or unclear signage (CCT384-Lecture 3 Notes., n.d.). These barriers can limit the accessibility of the campus for individuals with disabilities, elderly individuals, and those with mobility challenges. Wayfinding refers to the process of directing and guiding people through a physical environment, such as a campus (Yokabi. 2013). This includes providing clear and visible signage, mapping, and directional information, which helps people to navigate the campus efficiently and reach their destination. However, this paper addresses the common accessibility barriers and wayfinding elements at the University of Toronto Mississauga (UTM) campus.
Accessibility Barriers
Communication Barriers
As evidenced in the map, the road linking the CCT Building and the library lacks ramps and elevators. That has the impact of limiting the accessibility of the building and other structures in the library, such as the direction leading to the toilet (CCT384-Lecture 3 Notes., n.d.). Besides, the lack of ramps and elevators can hinder mobility for people with sight problems or even challenges in movement (Yokabi. 2013). As a result, there needs to have a renovation to ensure every part is lit for every individual to find a way out to the library and toilets.
Moreover, the structure lacks assistive technologies such as audio descriptions for the visually impaired groups. For instance, the IB building to the mini building, which is linked to the DH building, should have assistive technology to ensure effectiveness and order in accessing the inner side of the structures (CCT384-Lecture 3 Notes., n.d.). Moreover, the doors linking to the mini building and the DH building lack assistive technologies, thus the challenge of understanding the way out to open the doors (Yokabi. 2013). For instance, an audio description can help visually impaired individuals understand how to open the doors. The designers could have included assistive audio technology such as ‘push’ or ‘pull’ to let individuals open the doors for themselves.
Architectural Barrier
The path linking the library, CCT building, and IB building is clear and well-structured. However, there is inadequate signage between the DH building and the parking lot (Iftikhar, Shah & Luximon, 2021). Besides, the parking lot has been made small such that it limits the playground from being assessable by a large group of individual teams (Yokabi. 2013). As such, the playground can be assumed to be made for campus students only. That could also limit diversity in talent exploitation among students.
Moreover, the parking facility is not well structured to favor individuals with disabilities. Therefore, it is important for the designers to include in all buildings suitable paths for people with disabilities for them to be in a position to venture through the routes and capture the detailed information and surfaces for people in wheelchairs (Arenghi et al., 2018). Further, there are no distinct routes for vehicles and pedestrians (Iftikhar, Shah & Luximon, 2021). Besides, the vehicle routes are not differentiated from the wheelchair routes from one building to the other and to the parking lot (Yokabi. 2013). Therefore, it is unclear which route a person should use when shifting from one building to the other. That has the impact of limiting physically challenged people from the movement (Fogli, Arenghi & Gentilin, 2020.). It can also result in different forms of stereotypes evident in many institutions. That also calls for recommendations for the improvement of the existing routes by either creating sidewalks or adjusting flow patterns to enhance the accessibility and efficiency of the routes from the parking lots leading to the toilets.
The design team should also implement the recording improvements and monitor results to ensure that the changes are effective and meet the needs of the university community (Arenghi et al., 2018). That is because the university should be a resource to the community as well as a liability to them. By (Nsissbaumer, 2012) ensuring that it meets the needs of the community, the university is likely to receive full support from the community and thus its growth. In this regard, the design team is accused of failing in their effectiveness (Fogli, Arenghi & Gentilin, 2020.). Also, the design team failed to identify any other obstacles along the routes. As such, it becomes difficult for people with locomotion problems and the physically challenged to walk around the compound. That then limits many students from finding their way out of life at the university. Further, it hinders many events from being hosted at the university (Nsissbaumer, 2012). Such leads to consequential losses in the university.
Attitudinal Barriers
The design team made very narrow routes limiting people with disabilities from using them. The team assumed that all individuals visiting the institution were healthy and physically fit (Arenghi et al., 2018). Such can be related to the belief that a person with a disability is inferior because they are rarely born (Nsissbaumer, 2012). Therefore, advocating for people with disability is like encouraging disabilities in society. The path leading to the toilet could have been structured to favor people with disability, for they must ever visit the institution.
Wayfinding Elements
As evident in the map, there are various wayfinding elements that can be derived. Although the buildings are well named from the outside, there is no technological assistant to guide the people while inside the buildings (CCT384-Lecture 2 Notes., n.d.). For example, the toilets lack directive manuals (Arenghi et al., 2018). Sexually challenged individuals can find it difficult for them to help themselves from the washrooms. Such has the impact of reflecting the highest degree of discrimination in the institution. Inclusivity accessibility is therefore limited (Nsissbaumer, 2012). Moreover, the arrows directing people from one building to another are well presented. However, they are made narrow to eliminate physically challenged individuals.
In conclusion, designing is a field that requires great attention in every institution. Lack of inclusivity accessibility has been widely practiced in UTM universities. There are no signposts to direct people from one point to another. Therefore, nonresident members are likely to find challenges when using the facility. The narrow routes limit physically challenged people from using the routes. The small parking lot limits the number of people holding events in the institution. Therefore, the facility lacks disability inclusivity.
References
CCT384-Lecture 3 Notes. (n.d.). Wayfinding in the Built Environment.
CCT384- Lecture 2 Notes. (n.d.). Barriers to Inclusion.
Yokabi. H. (2013). Understanding Barriers to Accessibility. Council of Ontario Universities.
Nsissbaumer, L. L. (2012). Inclusive design: A universal need. New York. Fairchulder.
Arenghi, A., Belometti, S., Brignoli, F., Fogli, D., Gentilin, F., & Plebani, N. (2018, November). Unibs4all: a mobile application for accessible wayfinding and navigation in an urban university campus. In Proceedings of the 4th EAI International Conference on Smart Objects and Technologies for Social Good (pp. 124-129).
Fogli, D., Arenghi, A., & Gentilin, F. (2020). A universal design approach to wayfinding and navigation. Multimedia Tools and Applications, 79, 33577-33601.
Iftikhar, H., Shah, P., & Luximon, Y. (2021). Human wayfinding behavior and metrics in complex environments: a systematic literature review. Architectural Science Review, 64(5), 452-463.