Pavement with business signage for the blind
Today, we start with a question… Do you know what a tactile pavement is? To be clear, they are those tiles on the streets with a pattern of dots or stripes. They help blind people know where they are and move safely.
They are a great idea of signage, but they only mark where to walk or danger zones. Imagine you are blind and walking down the street with your cane, without an audio guide… How do you know there’s a pharmacy next to you? You simply don’t notice.
This issue is a “huge wall” for a blind person. The solution comes from the cement company Cemento Sol and Circus Grey, tiles designed to indicate businesses to visually impaired people a brilliant proposal!
The companies together with the National Union of the Blind of Peru and the NGO Yo Soy Sus Ojos. They had the great idea of rethinking the sidewalks we are used to walking on to make them more inclusive Equipping tactile tiles with more information!
The tiles have been redesigned to display distinctive signs that identify essential services and businesses; they are located in front of a pharmacy, a supermarket, a hospital, a bank, and many other types of establishments.
With these tiles, the SightWalks project was launched in the Miraflores district of Lima (Peru) where more than 75,000m² of special tiles were installed. They form an innovative signage system that improves autonomy for many visually impaired people.
This advancement represents a notable urban transformation in the experience of moving within one of the most relevant and tourist districts of Lima.
It provides greater independence and autonomy to visually impaired people, contributing to making the Peruvian capital a more welcoming and inclusive city.
These innovative tactile tiles are an advancement in promoting accessibility and independent urban mobility for visually impaired people
In parallel, and to ensure universal access, training sessions were held to teach how to recognize and use this new signage system in the premises of the main organizations for visually impaired people in Peru. An example of design and constructive detail of a piece…
With the aim of expanding to different districts of the city and to other cities around the world, the design and patent for its implementation are open and free to use, and are available on the Cemento Sol website from the following PDF.
Cities are not designed for everyone, and that is a reality we can see every day. But, if you also have some kind of disability, the problems multiply by a thousand, unfortunately!
Any initiative in this regard is a huge step for many people. As a note, we have an article on what a city designed by a blind person would be like.
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