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The Murcia Tram and the Adapted Public Transportation at Senda Viva Natural Park, Navarra (Spain)

The purpose of this paper is to present the progress on accessible and sustainable public transportation in Spain based on two different experiences: one developed with high-tech elements (The Murcia Tram), and the second one with basic, hand-made tools (Senda Viva Natural Park, Navarra Community). This paper focuses on three major subjects: Accessibility, Mobility and Transport for Elderly and Disabled Persons within the city and its natural urban surroundings such as: parks, avenues, boulevards. For the objective of understanding such complex interrelation as a whole, the author has also attempted to unify the innovative efforts provided by contributions from Architecture and Urbanism, Transportation and Social Science during recent decades. Therefore, he has looked for an approach to the contemporary debate on Mobility and Transport for the elderly and disabled persons and their historical evolution within society in order to provide a reference point that will allow us to understand the nexus between accessibility and the transportation system in a unified and rigorous manner. The first example, a high-technology experience, is an award–winning project, from a public competition on design, where thousands of Murcians have given their vote, choosing from different proposals. This project deals with an adaptive design to make a Tram System accessible for all, silent and environmentally-friendly, e.g. an ecological green carpet across Murcia City. The process is as important as the result: between September 2006 and April 2007, the winning project, the construction and the first 2,2 kilometres of tramway were carried out. Two years later, the authorities of the Murcian Town Hall continued the work by extending the tramway in another 16 kilometres. This extension will be completed in 2011. The second example is another award-winning project in Architecture for All, inside an existing natural park, close to Pamplona City, Navarra. This park is about 110 hectares next to the Bardenas Reales, a biosphere reserve from UNESCO. This park consists of many enjoyment areas: an amusement park, gardens, a lake or a shelter lodging. This natural park introduces new trends and perspectives for accessible transportation, with small trucks and lorries, without high technology. In the beginning, this natural park was not adapted at all. Then, the work consisted in introducing the Universal Design Principles in this complex including Mobility and Transport for elderly, disabled persons, pushchair users, as well as visual-impaired persons. These two examples show that, regardless of the technology available, there are solutions that successfully tackle the problem of accessible transportation. The benefit provided by these approaches are already tangible. In a short period of time, the adapted public transportation system, has in both cases become the true protagonist in the urban and in the natural scene as a new way of viewing the contemporary public space, where people with reduced mobility, the elderly, the young, the visually-impaired can all enjoy these places.

Language

  • English

Media Info

  • Media Type: Digital/other
  • Features: Bibliography; Figures;
  • Pagination: 9p
  • Monograph Title: TRANSED 2010: 12th International Conference on Mobility and Transport for Elderly and Disabled Persons, June 1-4, 2010

Subject/Index Terms

Filing Info

  • Accession Number: 01361461
  • Record Type: Publication
  • Files: TRIS
  • Created Date: Jan 26 2012 7:51AM