Urban mobility and inclusiveness: what's wrong with Ukrainian streets

Photo: Dostupno.UA

Viktoriia Hubareva

Ukrainian cities are completely unsuitable for moving on wheels if the wheels aren't automobile ones. We've talked earlier about the owners of electric scooters and unicycles, and now we'll talk about others: mothers with baby carriages, cyclists, and people in wheelchairs. Access to parks, entrances, underpasses is problematic not only for them but also for the elderly. Sometimes steps are too high for low mobility groups to pass. Pharmacies, that should be inclusive by default, are being built in violation of the state construction regulations: for example, only 20% of Vinnytsia pharmacies are accessible to low-mobility groups, and it's the best indicator in Ukraine. But why are some individuals forced to feel like their life is an obstacle track in cities where we need to adapt everything for comfortable living?

According to the inclusivity rating of Ukrainian cities, "Toster," published on the Dostupno.UA Facebook page, the most inclusive one is Chernihiv. The rating determines the compliance of infrastructure facilities, public transport, private and public locations of the city with state building codes. However, although the indicators are the best in Chernihiv, its indicator is only 19.46% accessibility. Other cities have the following results:

• 2nd place — Vinnytsia, 16.15%
• 3rd place — Cherkasy, 16.02%
• 4th place — Rivne, 15.79%
• 5th place — Zhytomyr, 15.38%
• 6th place — Sumy, 14.75%
• 7th place — Poltava, 14.48%
• 8th place — Chernivtsi, 10.32%
• 9th place — Ivano-Frankivsk, 9.7%
• 10th place — Kamianets-Podilskyi, 6.44%
• 11th place  — Ternopil, 6.38%
• 12th place — Mykolaiv, 6.17%
• 13th place — Kherson, 5.59%

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