Redefining Access: Embracing multimodality, memorability and shared experience in Museums

Disability access to museums, both physical and intellectual, is generally considered a minority issue. Whilst museums and cultural institutions acknowledge the moral and legal importance of equal access to their establishments, there is generally a conflict between the perceived number of potential visitors that will benefit and the cost implications. Set in the context of research on multisensory learning, this article discusses why disability access is, in fact, a majority issue. It discusses two case studies where an “access for all” museological approach has been applied to access to the collections, with differing success. The article considers how an “access for all” approach would potentially enhance learning, long-term memorability and the ‘cultural value’ of a museum experience for all visitors.

Marginal Activity Access Cost (MAAC): a new indicator for sustainable Land Use/Transport (LUT) planning

The paper presents the ‘Marginal Activity Access Cost’, an accessibility indicator providing estimation in monetary terms of the impacts on mobility and on the environment of locating a single new activity in a specific zone of the urban area. In the first part of this paper, the new indicator is presented and compared to other accessibility indicators proposed in literature. In the second part, the MAAC is validated through an application to the urban area of Rome. The paper concludes with brief remarks on using the proposed accessibility indicator as index of performance for sustainable spatial planning.