Förbättring av tillgänglighet i tillgänglighetsanpassade naturreservat

More than half a million people in Sweden are affected by some sort of disability. During recreational activities in nature areas, these people might encounter difficulties such as inadequate accessibility. The Swedish society requires that all citizens should have the same possibilities. The purpose of this thesis is to improve the accessibility for people with disabilities. The aim is to examine occurring flaws in accessible nature reserves and suggest possible improvements.The questions that will be answered are as follows:• What flaws do accessible nature reserves have, and how do they affect the visitors?• What improvements can be made in nature reserves to increase accessibility?To answer the questions, a case study was done, where five different nature areas were visited. During the case study, various flaws in the accessibility were observed and analysed. Prior to the case study, requirements and scientific research regarding accessibility was studied. Using this, suggestions for improving the accessibility were made. . Most of the improvements that could be made in the studied nature reserves were presumed to be applicable in other nature reserves in Sweden.With the case study in mind, the accessibility was considered in need of various improvements. The accessibility was studied from three out of four of the Swedish disability association’s categories; physical, communicative, and informative accessibility. The flaws that were encountered in the studied areas were due to incorrect design, or insufficient maintenance. Most of the flaws could be corrected in simple ways, but the flaws that were due to incorrect design or planning would require more work. After the case study it was discovered that supposedly “accessible” trails, according to different websites, had varying levels of accessibility. An accessible recreational area will benefit all types of visitors, not only people with disabilities. It will be more convenient and enables visits with strollers. An area cannot be made accessible for all types of visitors, but can be made accessible for as many visitors as possible.

UTFORMNING AV GÅNG-, CYKEL- OCH MOPED-NÄT ANPASSAT FÖR ELCYKEL

Purpose: An increase in the number of pedelecs on Swedish roads is according to studies soon reality. This creates a need to adapt the bmp-grid (bike-, moped- and pedestrian-grid) to pedelecs for them to experience good security, accessibility and comfort while using it. The guidelines Swedish municipalities follow are VGU(Design of Roads and Streets) and the GCM-manual(Bike-, moped-, and pedestrian-manual) which currently do not take society’s future increase of pedelecs into account. VGU and the GCM-manual are tools that are commonly used during planning and design of roads and streets. The aim of the thesis is to use current advice and recommendations on how to adapt the bmp-grid to the pedelec and with this complete current guidelines for bmp-infrastructure. Method: The document-analysis is made on current federal documents that have an impact on bmp-design. Scetch-suggestions were then developed from the author’s personal improvement suggestions and from advice and recommendations gathered during the document-analysis and the theoretical framework. Findings: It was discovered that if the bmp-grid’s design allow bikes traveling up to 30km/h and has a good standard for bicycles according to VGU, then the infrastructure generally fulfil the needs of the pedelec. Altough there are still areas in VGU that needs complements. This need to be done on the design-guidelines so they can aid the adaption of the infrastructure to the pedelec during the planning- and design process. Necessary steps according to the result is to give clearer notifications on bmp-design, issue guidelines for choosing DTS, motivate minimal widths on roads, categories bikers and pedestrians into separate groups, give out more detailed descriptions of when separation of bikers and pedestrians should be done and also to specify different types of bike-users. When taking needs and claim of the pedelec into consideration the result shows that: adaption of the whole bmp-grid to the pedelec is not possible, to simplify priorities the bmp-grid needs to be divided into different sections, space should be taken from the car-traffic, solutions with mixed-traffic and bike-fields for pedelecs can be used in low-speed areas, larger opportunities to connect towns to increase commuting with bicycles appeared with the pedelec. Implications: After examining current guidelines regarding the design of the bmp-grid and gathering opinions on this from interviews the conclusion is that several areas in VGU needs completion. The following are recommendations on how to take the pedelec into consideration during the design-process:• Connect towns and urban-areas with bmp-grids to make use of pedelecs capacity.• Where there is not enough space for both cars and separated pedelec- and bike lanes the speed for car-traffic can be lowered to 30km/h. This creates opportunities with mixed-traffic or bike-lanes.• The width of existing roads and streets are often greater than what’s described in VGU. They can be made smaller to free space on roads for bicycle-infrastructure.• To prioritize which parts of the bmp-grid that needs design to allow pedelecs the bmp-grid can be divided into main- and local grid. The main grid should be design with consideration to the needs and claim of the pedelecs. Limitations: The limitation of the study lies in that none of the interviews where done with employees in any of the bigger municipalities in Sweden. This gives the study a general application in small- to middle-sized cities but not in bigger cities.Keywords: elcykel, ebike, pedelec, utformning, cykel, infrastruktur, infrastructure, society, planering, utformning, säkerhet, fordonstyp

Modern trafik – En studie kring cykelfrämjandet i Umeå kommun

Purpose: To determine the progress in Umeå concerning the furtherance of bicycle traffic in the city and to investigate the possibility of a similar progress in Jönköping. Method: Semi structured interviews with officials, politicians and enthusiasts in Umeå and Jönköping, document analysis of documents provided by the municipalities and observations of Umeå city center. Findings: Umeå’s mindset around a sustainable society have been identified and the vast difference between the two cities is the time that they’ve actively worked with the bike issue and how public officials prioritize while planning. Umeå’s large advantage in their decision making is that officials and politicians are working towards the same goal and are united in the bike issue. This makes decisions regarding bicycle promotion easier to make. Due to the difference in conditions between the cities, the writers states that Umeå’s way of planning their traffic not necessarily is the right way for Jönköping to plan theirs. Implications: In order to develop it’s bicycle network, Jönköping must dare to let go of their old way of thinking. Instead of thinking that car traffic is necessary in a city, they should have the courage to take difficult decisions that benefit bicycle promotion and thus develop a sustainable transport system. Limitations: The study does not address the economic aspects that are involved in the development of an attractive bicycle network. Also the environmental issues are only dealt with in a thorough level, as it’s necessary to fulfill the study’s objectives. The study’s purpose is considered to be achieved but the result could have been even more developed if more parties were interviewed. Keywords: Bicycle path, bicycle, sustainable transport planning, sustainable society, sustainability, Umeå, Jönköping