Since 2000, an aging society in Korea has been regarded as a social problem with rapid increase of the elderly population. The population of the disadvantage for the elderly and the disabled are increasing and the various policies have accordingly bee...
Since 2000, an aging society in Korea has been regarded as a social problem with rapid increase of the elderly population. The population of the disadvantage for the elderly and the disabled are increasing and the various policies have accordingly been implemented. One of the representative laws to protect the disadvantaged is 'ACT ON GUARANTEE OF PROMOTION OF CONVENIENCE OF PERSONS WITH DISABILITIES, THE AGED, PREGNANT WOMAN, ETC'. The Ministry of Land and The Ministry of Health and Welfare prepared 'Barrier-Free Certification' to guarantee the basic human rights of the disadvantaged.
However, Barrier-Free Certification which is mainly concentrated on visually disabled people and physically disabled people can cause discrimination problem. Universal Design is designed for everyone and it is used without distinction between the disadvantaged and the general public. Not only the disabled but also the pregnant women, the elderly, and the foreigner can conveniently access facilities regardless of age, gender and language.
This study re-analyzes barrier-free certified buildings based on Universal Design and provides improvement directions of the future evaluation guidelines.
The scope of the study designated five office buildings certified by Barrier-Free in Busan and Gyeongsangnam-do Province. Based on the ACT ON GUARANTEE OF PROMOTION OF CONVENIENCE, GYEONGGGI-DO UNIVERSAL DESIGN GUIDELINE, DAEJEON UNIVERSAL DESIGN MANUAL, the evaluation criteria were established and it utilized five point scale.
As a result of analyzing, the buildings currently certified by Barrier-Free Certification were composed of convenient door types and doorways rather than general buildings and excellent facilities such as convenience facilities for people. On the other hand, sanitary facilities and rest facilities were inadequate by comparison with other facilities. Moreover, the results of Universal Design Evaluation Criteria showed that there were many cases which were less than average three points. Especially in the evaluation elements of Universal Design, the necessity of provision and space planning of convenience were emerged.
For these reasons, the necessity and applicability of Universal Design Evaluation Criteria was verified and it could be used as the baseline data to establish Universal Design Evaluation Criteria.
According to the results of the study, the problems of Barrier-Free Certification system are revealed and the contents are as follow;
1) Because Barrier-Free Certification is graded on the total scores of six categories, the final score can be lopsided and minimum design or minimum construction could be implemented to obtain the corresponding grade. Therefore it is measured that additional black marks and strict rules should be applied to complement it.
2) In the enforcement of the certificate system, recognition is low and the number of activation of certification is few because current benefits are not being realized. Therefore, the city governments or local governments need to come up with and effective counterplan to encourage applicants to participate in certification such as proposing supporting policies.
3) Even though Barrier-Free Certification is enforced nationally, Universal Design is restrictively enforced by municipal governments, and most of municipal governments do not enforce it in practice. It is expected to be more inclusive society if specific case studies and continuous researches of U.D are reflected in the system and policies as similar design elements of different concepts.