Urban parks should be inclusive for all. Availability and accessibility of urban parks determine the quality of life in cities. The importance of access increases for residents with limited mobility who, facing obstacles due to inadequate adjustment of the surrounding physical space, are exposed to social exclusion. Five groups of respondents completed a survey questionnaire revealing their attitudes towards green areas and indicating barriers to parks’ accessibility. The groups were designed to include blind and vision impaired people, those who use a wheelchair, have a physical disability of any kind, their carers/assistants and parents pushing strollers. The results revealed more similarities than differences among the five groups (the differences included preferences towards the neighbourhood and destination parks, physical barriers in parks, as well as using assistive technology devices and mobile assistive applications). Overall, city residents with mobility difficulties find those green public spaces as an important element of their life quality.
Urban green spaces make an invaluable contribution to the health and well-being of all city residents. Therefore, urban park quality and accessibility are crucial factors in stimulating physical and mental health benefits. This study aimed to assess the quality of urban parks and their accessibility as reported by people with mobility difficulties (seniors, blind and partially sighted people). Four key features of a place (accessibility and linkages, comfort and image, uses and activities and sociability) were considered in an in-depth-interviews (IDI) and “walk-and-talk” interviews. Study results indicate a problem of accessibility of urban parks for people with mobility difficulties (uneven gravel surfaces). However, non-physical aspects of park visits (social activities, cultural events, place branding) were reported as essential factors in explaining the motivation for park visits. Despite individual preferences, experience or reported difficulties, all respondents’ attitudes towards park trips were positive. Therefore, we assume that accessibility is more than just physical comfort. Cultural and social activities play an important role in motivating people with a disability to visit a park.
We present the results of investigations into the application of robotics for deburring and chamfering to a predefined geometric quality. The robotic application was used for a part of the manufacturing process of an aircraft engine detail. Aircraft engine diffuser machining requires manual deburring of many edges. Finishing by hand results in several non-conforming quality details for each diffuser. This paper presents the concept of edge deburring with a controlled force progression pneumatic tool. A specific methodology was used to select and optimise the edge deburring process for robotic chamfering processing to a finer machining tolerance. The investigated machining process included a measurement system for the determination of the manufactured chamfer as a function of contact forces with feed force progression. The investigation work discussed in the paper helped to identify a specific interval of processing parameters, including the contact force and TCP motion velocity at which deburring is effective and a chamfer with specific geometric tolerance is produced. The experimental part of the investigation was conducted at a preset feed force of the high-speed machining file, tool ref. FDB150. The experimental machining sample was made from poorly machinable titanium alloy (Inconel 718), a material applied in the aerospace industry. The machining process optimisation included an approximation of the chamfer width definition points. The resulting function provided a derivative, defining the chamfer value change rate and corresponding to the actual machining tool infeed. The experimental measurement results were compared to the assumed quality indicators, by which a group of suboptimal parameters was defined.
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