人人皆宜的无障碍城市
Meriem Sakrouhi 是AG平台的初级架构师. She recently led a team in the MobilizeNY Challenge, organized by Ford Motors and 100% Open. 与其他99支队伍竞争, 她的团队的提议, MAPALL, won 2nd 总奖及1名st 获颁“社区人民选择奖”. 在本文中，她描述了她的团队的条目. 恭喜Meriem!
体系结构 goes beyond designing buildings and spaces, it is about all kinds of problem-solving. For ALL New Yorkers, public transportation is a major concern. 快速安全地去上班, 社会活动, 体育赛事, airports 和更多的 is the desired outcome of a mass transit system. However, the reality is that many barriers can disrupt this goal. MAPALL handily meets all the criteria of local and long distance users as well as mobility challenged city residents.
轮椅使用者之间, 推着婴儿车的父母, travelers with huge suitcases or seniors who need an elevator or escalator, 和更多的, 200万纽约人面临出行不便的问题, 因为他们的交通系统让他们失望. 目前, there is no option to find out effectively which train or bus stations have accessible entrances. 纽约市75%的车站没有电梯. 那些有电梯的地方通常有不能用的电梯. 最重要的是, there is not yet a smartphone app that is offering these critical (user-friendly) services.
进行他们的日常生活, around 25% of NYC residents (more than 2 million people) need accessible transportation. Although many Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) stations are accessible, 其中有相当一部分不是. 想象一下，如果你是一个轮椅使用者. Wouldn’t you want an easy way to find out which stations have elevators before you leave home? Wouldn’t having up-to-date information about each station’s access save you a lot of time each day that you had previously spent looking for a practical way to use MTA? There are countless other examples that come to mind where one would need the use of an accessible station. 是坐在轮椅上的你, 一个带着孩子的父亲, 一对不能走楼梯的老夫妇, and the traveler with a large suitcase heading to the airport. 其核心是, 建筑是关于解决问题的, 创造满足所有人需求的解决方案.
To address this major accessibility challenge, we conceptualized MAPALL. MAPALL is a navigation tool that provides users with the fastest accessible route. 它可以覆盖现有的交通应用程序, combining both existing technology and existing infrastructure. 它也被设计成一个社区中心, where users can report if an elevator or escalator is out of service, updating the system for all the other users and sending a notification to New York’s MTA to fix it.
在开发这个工具的过程中, 其目标是增强现有的导航应用程序, 比如谷歌地图和Waze, which allows easy implementation while also targeting a wider audience, 包括有无障碍需求的人. In doing so, MAPALL will make existing infrastructure barriers identifiable to everyone. 它还将提供准确可靠的无障碍路线, 让纽约人的出行更智能、更高效.
在未来, 作为一个预测应用, MAPALL将减少乘坐出租车的自付费用, 当电梯意外停止服务时需要. The benefits go beyond the users themselves; businesses adjacent to these accessible stops will prosper from increased pedestrian traffic as more people have access to these stations. MAPALL will also protect the MTA from significant potential liability costs due to the lack of access.
MAPALL is designed to provide accurate and reliable accessible routes, 让纽约人的出行更智能、更高效. This is a first step towards enabling all people to enjoy the cities they live in or visit. 不仅仅是能够移动, MAPALL aims to ensure that everyone has access to the city without limitation, 不只是在纽约, 而是在世界各地的城市.
Congratulations to all of the winners of the MobilizeNY Challenge!
