Acessibilidade de pessoas portadoras de deficiência a edificações, espaço, ... básicos para a promoção da acessibilidade das pessoas portadoras de ...
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The municipal urban accessibility policy in a medium-sized city: the case of Bauru - Brazil Renata Cardoso Magagnin Ph.D. Professor, São Paulo State University, Brazi Mariana Delbonis do Prado Architect and Urban Planner, São Paulo State University, Brazil Caroline Bramigk Vanderlei Undergraduate at Architecture and Urbanism, São Paulo State University, Brazil
ABSTRACT Since 2000, the Brazilian Federal Government passed a law regulating the issue of urban accessibility. The Law 10.098 of December 19th, 2000, establishes general guidelines and basic criteria for the promotion of accessibility for disabled people or people with reduced mobility. This law defines standards and criteria for the elimination of barriers and obstacles on sidewalks and public areas, street furniture, construction and renovation of buildings and means of transportation and communication. However, many medium-sized cities in Brazil still have many public spaces which are inaccessible to the users of the city. These problems, although imperceptible to most people who do not have mobility limitations, may restrict the daily movements of one part of the population represented by: physically disabled (complete or partial), mentally disabled, visually disabled, hearing disabled, elderly, pregnant women and children. Faced with this reality, this paper aims to present a research conducted in Bauru - medium-sized city located in the midwest region of the State of São Paulo (Brazil), between the years 2008-2013, whose focus is to analyze the municipal politics of urban accessibility through the aspects regarding the legislation and the infrastructure of spaces for public use.
1. INTRODUCTION Currently, urban problems related to urban accessibility were detected in Brazilian cities, including the medium-sized cities. Some of these problems are caused by the presence of architectural barriers both in public and private spaces. These factors hamper, and in some cases prevent the movement of people with disabilities or restricted mobility. “The difficulties, limitations and impediments range from simple circulation of people to the most complex use of space. People are prevented from accessing public facilities, receiving information, entering vehicles and perform their displacement by public transport, walking through the squares, using a public phone.” (BRASIL, 2007a)
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The mobility restriction (temporary or permanent) may be associated with the following factors: age, physical condition, health status, height, among other aspects. These factors mean that these people have special needs in receiving information, getting to the bus stops, getting in/out of vehicles and performing their displacement (Brasil, 2007a; Magagnin, 2009; Magagnin, 2011; Tsalis et all, 2012). Urban barriers (or architectural barriers) are also frequently found in public spaces. These obstacles are the result of a process of spatial occupation, the historical moment where there was no concern about accessibility issues and / or, as in the most recently deployed areas, lack of involvement of developers and public managers in the implementation of spaces with universal accessibility (Gassaway, 1992). The promotion of accessibility is part of the process of social inclusion not only of people with disabilities, but for all who permanently or temporarily, have limited mobility, this category including children, the elderly, pregnant women and obese people. According to data from the United Nations, about 10% of the world population, or about 650 million people, have a disability, this total about 80% live in developing countries. Also according to data provided by the UN, the world is currently going through a demographic transition, due to population aging and decline in fertility rate (ONU, 2013). In Brazil, according to the data of the last census, published by the Brazilian Geography and Statistic Institute (in Portuguese IBGE), in the last 10 years, the population aged 60 or older increased 1,5%. The World Health Organization classifies chronologically as "elderly", people who are over 65 years of age in developed countries and over 60 in developing countries. Currently, elderly people represent 14.5 million people, or 8.6% of the total population of the country. According to this research, the number of people who claim to have some kind of disability accounted for 23.9% of the population, representing an increase of 12.4% compared to the data of the 2000 Census (IBGE, 2013). According to the Pan American Health Organization (2009), the Index of Aging in Brazil, in the next decades, will have a faster pace than in other countries. In 2025, this index will be five times greater than that shown in 1975. It is estimated that in 2050 the Brazilian population aged 65 and over represent 20% of the total population (50 million people). This value is higher than currently found in any European country. “Thus, Brazil should be faced with the difficult situation of taking care of an increasingly aging society, in a much shorter period than that experienced by developed countries” (Organização PanAmericana de Saúde, 2009). Given this reality, it is necessary that cities provide inclusive spaces for all users. The researches in the area have shown that the quality and design of spaces for public use interfere with the use, frequency, and the psychological, social and physical aspects of
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users. Although there is a significant number of laws and technical standards on this theme, the citizen has no guarantee of having fully accessible spaces. Brazilian cities still have numerous public and private spaces with total or partial restriction of users’ mobility, which prevent the right to come and go granted by law. The objective of this paper is to show a study conducted from 2008 to 2013, in Bauru, medium-sized city located in the state of São Paulo (Brazil), showing the duality that exists between accessibility legislation and its effective application in the city public spaces. After this brief introduction, it is presented in section 2 the Methodology that enables the analysis of the accessibility laws. Section 3 presented the Brazilian laws that address the accessibility issue. In section 4 the following issues are presented: municipal legislation on urban accessibility, spaces for public use in the city and a discussion of the problems of accessibility and its repercussion in current laws and, finally, in section 5, the final considerations are presented. 2. METODOLOGY The methodology used in this article consisted of documentary research and on-site observations and photographic record (Tsalis et all, 2012). The documentary research was based on the study of federal, state and municipal laws on accessibility and the Brazilian technical standards of accessibility. The stage of on-site observation and photographic record was to identify whether the public spaces in Bauru were built or adapted taking into account the laws and norms of accessibility techniques adopted in the country. For the identification of problems of accessibility, it was used as reference the research developed by Magagnin (2011), Magagnin (2012), Brasil (2007b) and Ferreira and Sanches (2007), who defined the accessibility indicators for evaluating the following aspects: Quality of Comfort, Quality Assurance and Environmental Quality. 3. ACCESSIBILITY IN BRAZILIAN LAW In recent decades, Brazil has experienced a growing discussion on the theme urban accessibility. In the mid-1980s, as a direct consequence of the discussions on this issue in the international scenario, it was published the first Brazilian technical standard for accessibility (elaborated by the Brazilian Association of Technical Standards - ABNT). It brought technical information on the adequacy of buildings and street furniture in relation to disabled people. Until the 1980s, the country had no laws that regulated and detailed this
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theme. In 1988, with the promulgation of the Brazilian Federal Constitution, the federal government instituted a law to regulate the construction of public spaces and buildings ensuring the people with disabilities the adequate access to these spaces. It is through this law that the country inserts this theme more effectively in the national scene (Brasil, 1998). The right to accessibility is incorporated in this law through the contents of Article 5 that guarantees the right to come and go to every Brazilian citizen. Article 227, paragraph 2 of this law provides reference about the standards for the construction of buildings and spaces of public use and manufacture of public transport vehicles, with the aim at ensuring adequate access to disabled people. Still on the accessibility theme, article 244 complements the previous article, bringing information about the adaptation of buildings and public spaces and adaptation of public transport vehicles (Brasil, 1998). In 2000, the Federal Government published two laws - 10.048/2000 and 10.098/2000 containing topics related to accessibility in the country. The Law 10048/2000 refers to the priority assistance for people with disabilities and elderly, and the accessibility in the transport vehicles. The Law 10.098/2000 establishes general rules and criteria for improving accessibility for people with disabilities or reduced mobility, in public or collective buildings, in buildings for private use, in communication and signaling systems. These laws were regulated only in 2004, through the publication of the Federal Decree 5.296/2004. This decree regulates and defines deadlines for implementation of accessibility to public buildings or of public use (until June 2007) and private use (until December 2008). This decree brings further reference to the following themes: the approval of architectural and urban planning projects; communication and information; public transport; execution of any kind of projects, whether they have public or collective destination; a concession, permission, authorization or qualification of any nature; approval of project financing with the use of public resources (covenant, agreement, arrangement, contract or similar) and granting approval of the Union in obtaining loans and international loans by public or private entities. It regulates the administrative, civil and criminal penalties which may be imposed in case of non-use of these standards within the period prescribed by law. Another issue to be emphasized in this Decree refers to the National Accessibility Program that brings definition of the actions to be performed by Brazilian states and municipalities in the drafting of studies and diagnosis about accessibility in the country. Regarding the issue of architectural and urban accessibility, the subject of in this paper, Article 10 mentions that these projects must comply references present in the technical
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accessibility standard developed by ABNT (NBR 9050 - Accessibility to buildings, equipment and the urban environment). “This standard establishes criteria and technical parameters to be observed in the project, construction, installation and adaptation of edifications, furniture, spaces, and urban facilities on terms of accessibility.” (ABNT, 2004)
Article 13, of the Federal Decree 5.296/2004, provides for the guidance to the Municipal Master Plans and Transportation and Traffic Master Plans, the Building Code, Posture Code, the Land Use Law and Law of Land Occupation, and the Law of the Road System, elaborated or updated from the publication of this Decree so that they contemplate the rules present in NBR 9050 and specific legislation. About the planning and urbanization of pathways, squares, parks and other places of public use, Article 15 instructs that the government is responsible for: the regulation of construction of sidewalks for pedestrian circulation, by adapting consolidated cases, lowering the curb of sidewalks with accessible ramp or elevation of the route for pedestrian level crossing, and installing directional tactile and alert floor in accordance with the principles present in NBR 9050. In 2004, the Brazilian Federal Government through the Ministry of Cities, under the responsibility of the National Transport and Urban Mobility Secretaries (SeMob - acronym in Portuguese) established the Brazilian Program of Urban Accessibility called Accessible Brazil. This program aims at the promotion of a new model of construction of the city, making it accessible to all, through the incorporation of people and their needs. This program aims to support and encourage municipal and state Brazilians governments to develop actions to ensure accessibility for people with mobility restrictions in public areas to urban infrastructure and transport systems (Brasil, 2007a). It aims to support and encourage Brazilian municipal governments to develop actions to ensure people with restricted mobility accessibility to public circulation areas, to urban infrastructure and transport systems (Brasil, 2007a). 3.1 The accessibility laws in Sao Paulo State At the state level, the government of São Paulo State, in 2002, published the Law 11.263/2002. This law establishes standards and criteria for the promotion of accessibility for disabled people or with reduced mobility, by removing barriers and obstacles in pathways and public areas, street furniture, construction and renovation of buildings and means of transportation and communication. This law has reference to the Federal Law 10.098/2000.
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In this law, the state government establishes a deadline of up to 4 years (i.e. until 2006) so that all agents under their jurisdiction suit the law, i.e., they make the implementation of the necessary adaptations and suppression or elimination of any architectural barriers. This law establishes a shorter deadline than the federal Decree 5.296/2004, for this reason the cities of São Paulo state shall adapt their buildings by the year 2006. This is a breakthrough for people with disabilities, who according to law shall have their right of free access in the city not only guaranteed by law but implemented in the city. In 2008, the Sao Paulo State government implemented the State Secretariat for the Rights of Persons with Disability, whose aim is to ensure people's access to all goods, products and services in the city. It is tasked to formulate policies and propose guidelines that are focused on the disabled and their families; it shall coordinate the implementation of government policies directed at people with disabilities or restricted mobility and raise awareness among various sectors of society about possible problems, needs and potential of those people with partial or total restriction of mobility. Until the year 2008, São Paulo State had 46 laws that concerned the different aspects of people with disabilities. To facilitate the implementation and consultation to these laws the State Government approved the Law 12.907/2008 which aimed at the consolidation of all laws relating to people with disabilities. This legislation incorporates all laws approved from 1981 to 2007. With the process of fiscal, administrative and political decentralization of the government, established in Brazil since the promulgation of the 1988 Federal Constitution, the Federal Government became the agency responsible for proposing and supporting policies to promote accessibility in the urban space. The municipalities are responsible for local decision making, i.e., the execution of the actions proposed by these policies. Given the above, it can be observed that the Federal and State Government (in this case Sao Paulo State) have adequate legislation for the municipalities to deploy action for the elimination of architectural barriers in buildings, public spaces, transport and communication. These laws set deadlines for adaptations of these spaces under penalty of fine. However, when we look at the spaces of public use in many municipalities we can see that many cities have not implemented actions to ensure the right to come and go for all citizens, as guaranteed by law. 4. THE ACCESSIBILITY LAWS IN BAURU AND THEIR IMPLEMENTATION IN PUBLIC SPACES The city of Bauru is located in the central west of the State of São Paulo (Figure 1). According to data from the last Brazilian census, in 2010, the city has an estimated population of 344,000 inhabitants (IBGE, 2013).
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Figure 1 - Localization of Bauru in São Paulo, Brazil Source: Wikipédia. Access on: 09 / February / 2012. According to the number of inhabitants, Bauru is classified as a medium-sized city. In Brazil, the Ministry of Cities classifies as medium sized cities those lying in the range from 100,000 to 500,000 inhabitants. The principal characteristics related to urban mobility in these cities are: organization model of urban traffic facing the individual motorized transport, traffic congestion, environmental degradation, especially related to air and noise pollution, high number of deaths as a result of traffic accidents , public transport networks that do not meet the entire urbanized area with quality in the provision of service, low investment in infrastructure related to public transport or non-motorized modes (walking and cycling, i.e. sidewalks and bicycle lanes), among others problems (Brasil, 2007b). According to IBGE (2013), in relation to the number of the people with disabilities in Bauru, the data show that 10.3% of the population has some type of disability that restricts somehow their mobility. This perceptual, 2.7% are visually impaired, 1.1% are hearing impaired and 2.4% are disabled, and added to these there are 4.1% of people who have some type of restricted mobility. Regarding the elderly, those aged over 60 years, the 2010 Census shows that the percentage in the county is 13.1%. If we consider only these two segments - the elderly and people with disabilities, the city has approximately 80,496 inhabitants (according to the 2010 Census), or 84,722 inhabitants, if we consider the estimate for the year 2013. The significant percentage of people who may have accessibility problem in their daily commutes in the city was one of the factors that triggered the development of this research. 4.1 Bauru accessibility laws According to Brasil (2007a), it is the responsibility of the cities the inclusion of the accessibility in their instruments of planning and laws of regulation of the use and occupation of land. These local laws shall ensure accessibility in new interventions and ensure, through legal mechanisms, supervision, guidance and awareness of society, so that the principles and criteria for implementation of urban accessibility are fulfilled in the city. The theme of accessibility should be present in the following documents: Municipal Master Plans, the Mobility Master Plan, Building Code, Postures Code, Law of Land Use
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and Occupation, Law of the highway system, previous studies of the impact of neighborhood, activities of supervision and sanctions, including health and environmental surveillance and budget forecasting, tax and financial mechanisms used in compensatory nature or inducement (Brasil, 2007a). For the city to be considered "affordable" it is necessary to include the concept of accessibility in these instruments. In Bauru, the first legislation that addressed the topic accessibility was the Construction Code - Law 2371/1982. In force since 1982, it only regulates the construction of sidewalks in the city, brings no reference to all themes that are associated with accessibility because it is prior to the accessibility standards in Brazil (ABNT NBR 9050/1985, NBR9050/1994 and NBR9050/2004). This law provides information about minimum width, gradient and maintenance of sidewalks in the city. Article 57 mentions that the construction of the sidewalk must accompany the longitudinal slope of the guides and have a cross slope of 2% for water drainage. Although the text does not bring clearly accessibility reference, the slope mentioned in this article incorporates principles of accessibility. Another article that brings the construction of infrastructure for vehicle access along the sidewalks, and that interferes with the accessibility of these places, is Article 59. It establishes standards related to the maximum portion of the sidewalk to be occupied by the ramp in the horizontal and transverse direction alignment. Although the content of this law is very limited when it comes to accessibility issue, for the time of these settings it was considered a breakthrough. Over the past three decades other laws were approved in the city to meet current accessibility standards. The law 4.798/2002 provides rules of accessibility for disabled people in public or private buildings. This law states that all buildings, public or private, shall ensure adequate access to disabled people. It determines that for project approval of subdivision of the urban land, construction and renovation of any buildings in the city, it is necessary to meet the Brazilian technical standard about accessibility - NBR 9050, the Building Code of the city (Municipal Law No. 2.371/1982) and the Federal Constitution. In 2003 the government approved the Law 4979/2003 which provides accessibility for people with visual impairment in elevators. Both laws are not specifically addressed to the use of public spaces in Bauru. Only in 2009, with the approval of Law 5.825/2009, the city regulated the construction and use of walkways and public places. This law brings standardization to the following elements: construction and maintenance of public sidewalk and public spaces, preservation of urban trees, curb lowering, penalties, and assessments.
. Article 1o of this law includes regulations for construction of the public sidewalk in front of the buildings. It states that the owner has both the obligation to build the public sidewalk in front of his property and the responsibility for maintaining the lining of the sidewalk with no cracks, bumps or steps, adjusting it to the Law 2371/82 (which regulates implementation project, renovations and building extensions) and to the accessibility standards present in ABNT. In addition to the city laws, the site of the Department of Planning in Bauru provides citizens with online material about accessibility. This document is entitled Accessibility Manual for Municipalities. It was drafted by Mayor Faria Lima Foundation, and aims to interpret the Federal Decree No. 5296/04 (which establishes the basic criteria to promote accessibility for people with physical, hearing, visual, mental or multiple disabilities or reduced mobility, as well as the elderly, pregnant women, obese people and lactating accompanied by lap child) and provides the Brazilian municipalities with explanation of any questions about its application (Prefeitura Municipal de Bauru, 2012). 4.1.1 The accessibility in the Bauru Master Plan The Bauru Master Plan was promulgated by Law 5.631/2008. Its content covers topics related to spatial planning, urban policy instruments - proposed by the Federal Government; as well as sanitation policies, water supply policies and mobility system policies, the paper also addresses issues related to the road system, transportation and land use. Other themes focus on: economic, social and rural development policies, and guidelines for health, education, social care, sport, leisure, and tourism and culture policies. Regarding the issue of accessibility, the subject of this paper, this plan brings an exclusive chapter to present the objectives and guidelines relating to municipal urban mobility policy. Another issue present in this plan is the policy for the road physical infrastructure and its correlation with the means of transport existing in the city. According to Article 171 of the Master Plan, the urban mobility policy for Bauru is grounded in ensuring the right to full access to the city, in this sense the planning, the organization of the municipal urban mobility system and the regulation of transport services should offer the guarantee of the right to come and go in the city (Bauru, 2008). The text also mentions that urban mobility policy should ensure universal access to the city through urban planning and transport. The Municipal Master Plan provides the establishment of a Municipal Mobility Council in order to ensure popular participation in the preparation of the guidelines for city mobility policy. The Law 5.631/2008 establishes a deadline for the city to develop the Transport and Mobility Master Plan. This deadline predicted that this plan was to be carried out by the year 2010. However, this plan began to be drawn in 2011 and up to this date has not been finalized.
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The document also reports that the Transport and Mobility Master Plan shall ensure the right of urban mobility through the following guidelines: integration of the use of the land and ground control with mobility policies, supply of diversity of urban transport modes (currently the city offers only bus transportation), prioritization of public transport and non-motorized modes, stimulation of the use of public transportation, implementation of local public transportation stops that ensure comfort and safety for users in a way that they do not impede the flow of vehicles on expressways and avenues, maintenance of sidewalks in perfect condition, use of accessibility criteria in ABNT standards and relevant laws. The document states that this item must be heeded by both the government and property owners. Article 176 of this law brings information about the minimum content of the Transport and Mobility Master Plan. It must include the following items: urban transportation, road traffic and traffic guidance, prioritization of public transport and non-motorized modes; movement of pedestrians and cyclists; development of an accessibility plan (this plan must include guidelines for the elimination of architectural barriers in the city); integration of the infrastructure of two or more transport modes; distribution of benefits and burdens arising from the use of different urban transport modes, deployment of equitable use of public space circulation, roads and public parks (Bauru, 2008). 4.2 The accessibility in the public spaces When analyzing the pedestrian public space in Bauru, it is easy to find various situations that may impair the accessibility of all potential users to these places. Some of these problems may not be apparent to most people, especially those with no limitation of mobility, but compromise the mobility of a significant portion of the population that has limited mobility (Magagnin, 2009). The problems of mobility and accessibility found in Bauru can be divided into: i) Elements that affect pedestrians’ safety by exposing them to vehicular traffic and ii) Factors that decrease the quality of the movement of pedestrians along the urban walkways (Brasil, 2007b; Ferreira and Sanches, 2007; Magagnin, 2011). The elements that affect pedestrians’ safety by exposing them to vehicular traffic are represented by the following problems: inadequacy of walkways to suit the flow of pedestrians; shelters at stops of embarking and disembarking of passengers over sizing the width of the sidewalk, inadequacy and poor condition of the pavement; inadequate traffic light cycles; abrupt height differences between the sidewalk and garage ramps, absence of specific tactile signage, vehicles improperly parked on sidewalks; construction material occupying the space of the sidewalk. Among the factors that decrease the quality of the displacement on the sidewalks we can mention the following problems: sidewalks with insufficient width; improper installation
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of urban facilities, presence of street vendors on the sidewalks; newspaper stalls installed improperly obstructing the passage of people; inappropriate street furniture obstructing the sidewalks, water droplets dripping from air conditioners; storm water runoff from awnings, gutters, etc.; animal waste in watercourses; trash in pathways. Some of these elements are shown in Table 1. Table 1 – Main problems which affect the accessibility in Bauru
Figure 2 – Differences in level of sidewalk in neighborhood
Figure 3 - Differences in level of sidewalk in neighborhood
Figure 4 – Differences in level of sidewalk in neighborhood
Figure 5 – Lack of maintenance in central area
Figure 6 – Lack of ramps in central area
Figure 7 – Lack of ramps in central area
Figure 8 – Lack of maintenance in central area
Figure 9 – Lack of maintenance in central area
Figure 10 – Lack of maintenance in central area
Figure 11 – Problem of street furniture location
Figure 12 - Problem of street furniture location
Figure 13 – Problem of street furniture location
Street furniture
Floor maintenance
Ramps
height levels differences
Accessibility problems
Source: Prado (2011), Vanderlei (2011), Google Street View (2012). The images presented in Table 1 show that there is a mismatch between the standards and their application in the city. The law 5.825/2009 regulates the construction and use of sidewalks and public places in the city; however, it has not been applied in practice.
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In the case of construction of a few sidewalks, the citizens have given priority to the adequacy of the sidewalk to the topography of the terrain and car access in their residential or commercial establishments rather than ensuring accessibility. This problem has harmed accessibility to both the central area and the suburbs. Regarding the construction of sidewalks in the city, the law establishes that the level quota for the pathways in relation to the access to the property must comply with the standards included in the Municipal Law 2371/82. At the state level, Article 17 of the Law 12.907/2008 says that the pedestrian walkways, paths of entry and exit of vehicles, stairs and ramps, shall comply with the standards established by the technical standards accessibility in the NBR 9050 the Brazilian Association of Technical Standards - ABNT. With regard to issues related to the deployment of ramps on corner lots, both the city’s and the State of São Paulo’s laws establish standards and criteria for their implementation. The maintenance of this infrastructure is also regulated in the body of the laws. Another common problem found in the city refers to obstruction of the sidewalk by street furniture. The public authority responsible for the implementation of road signs and shelters at points of embark and disembark of public transport does not respect the accessibility rules. In some cases, the boards of traffic signs are positioned at the end of the pedestrian crosswalk, compromising the accessibility, especially those users who have some mobility restrictions. In the same case, another element that interrupts the pedestrian passage on the sidewalk is the presence of debris on the pavement when the property is under construction. Article 22 of Law 12.907/2008 of São Paulo State brings reference concerning the implementation of urban furniture (traffic signs, traffic lights, lampposts or other vertical signaling elements). It advises these equipments may not obstruct or impede the users’ movement. In the cases presented above, it is necessary that the government apply the penalties provided by law; however, they shall be applied not only to citizens, but also to the government that does not contributed to improving accessibility in the city. Among the penalties provided are: the notification, notice of infraction and fine, confiscation of material, forfeiture of the license to use the sidewalk, interdiction and forfeiture of the main license. It is important to note that often the obstacles encountered in public spaces, such as sidewalks, are the result of projects that ignored the issue of accessibility, sometimes this happens by mistake or failure in its execution. There are also situations where the attempted hit is not consistent with the technical knowledge. Another problem refers to lack of maintenance and surveillance of these areas, making them inaccessible.
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The city has laws that define clear criteria for the accessibility issue; however, in order to have the city considered accessible, it is necessary that the government enforce the current legislation. 5. CONCLUSION The majority of Brazilian cities, including the small and medium sized ones, have currently been suffering with problems of urban mobility and accessibility (such as congestion, accidents, lack of maintenance of infrastructure, and other). These problems have interfered directly on the quality of life of citizens. Studies conducted by experts in the field indicate that the Brazilian cities present similar conditions concerning to pedestrians movement, i.e., there is a lot of similarity in the problems related to the pedestrian movement; however, some few cities have already adopted measures to improve urban infrastructure in public spaces for the pedestrians. Some studies have put forward as justification for people avoid walking in the cities, the issue of accessibility in urban spaces for public use. However, you cannot just consider this aspect to justify the increasing use of individual motorized modes; other issues must also be considered, such as: pedestrian safety, the comfort level, the volume of traffic, and other aspects (Park, 2008). The factors related to pedestrian safety and decreased quality of displacement in urban walks contribute significantly to the lack of urban accessibility and consequently to the greater use of individual motorized modes. Research conducted from 2008 to 2013 show that the public spaces in Bauru present many accessibility problems. They are related to pedestrian safety and decreased quality of their displacement in the sidewalks. These problems are associated with the wrong choice of flooring, the absence of pavement, the presence of holes and height differences in some places, the absence of curb lowering in road crossings of large flow of people, and the incorrect location of the urban furniture (for example: incorrect placement of elements of vertical signage) in disagreement with the Brazilian technical standards (NBR 9050). The sidewalks of the main axial roads of the city are not suitable and affordable for their users. We find the problems: lack of ramps, absence of audible traffic signals, lack of maintenance in pedestrian ramps, improperly signalized parking spaces for disabled, bus stops with no maintenance or no coverage, inadequate dimensions of sidewalks. When analyzing the accessibility laws in this country, it is clear that the city of Bauru has all legal and technical standardization tools available to ensure that all public areas in the city are accessible.
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The federal law (Law 10.048/2000, 10.098/2000 Law and Decree 5.296/2004), the State law (Law and Law 11.263/2002 12.907/2008) and municipal laws (Law 2.371/1982, 4.798/2002 Law, Law 4979 / 2003 and Law 5.825/2009) have means that regulate the accessibility in this country; however, the lack of inspection and lack of implementation of public policies that encourage walking make the infrastructure for the movement of people not a priority of local government when compared with other means of transportation. In addition to these laws, the Master Plan of Bauru, approved in 2008, offers objectives and guidelines about the urban mobility policy to be implemented in the city. However, these guidelines have not been effectively implemented. Given the above, it can be affirmed that the federal and state governments have been concerned with proposing public policies to implement accessibility in cities. However, municipalities have not adopted effective measures to promote mobility and accessibility in the city, especially those related to the public spaces or infrastructure for people circulation. Regarding Bauru, the facts lead to the following conclusions: i) although the municipality has a legislation to make the city accessible, these laws are not being applied, ii) there is an absence in the allocation of responsibility for both the citizens and the city hall to eliminate physical barriers found in the city, and iii) there is no municipal public policies that provide a better quality of life and movement of the elderly and disabled people in the city. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The authors would like to express their gratitude to the Brazilian Agency São Paulo Research Foundation (FAPESP) - grant nº: 2011/19450-0, grant nº: 2011/08580-0 and grant nº: 2011/10597-9 -, which have supported their efforts for the development of this work in different ways and periods.
REFERENCES ASSOCIAÇÃO BRASILEIRA DE NORMAS TÉCNICAS - ABNT. (2004) NBR 9050: Acessibilidade de pessoas portadoras de deficiência a edificações, espaço, mobiliário e equipamentos urbanos. Rio de Janeiro. ABNT. (in Portuguese). BAURU. (1982) Lei 2371, de 18 de agosto de 1982. Estabelece normas para edificações no Município de Bauru. Bauru: Câmara Municipal. (in Portuguese). BAURU. (2002) Lei N˚ 4798, de 19 de fevereiro de 2002. Dispõe sobre normas de acessibilidade às pessoas portadoras de deficiência a diversos locais que especifica e dá outras providências e revoga a Lei nº 4.334/98. Bauru: Câmara Municipal. (in Portuguese).
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