Design Problems of Tourism Infrastructure for People with Disabilities in Protected Landscape Areas in Poland

Abstract

The article presents problems of designing the tourist infrastructure for disabled people in protected landscape areas. At the introduction, there is an analysis of current regulations and implementation practice from the designer’s point of view. Design problems were discussed on the example of a project realised in the Stołowe Mountains National Park in Poland and a vision of its implementation in the future, in terms of changing regulations and under the influence of increasing the social sensitivity to the problem of accessibility for the people with disabilities and also, which is the essence of the design in an area of unique natural values, responsibility for the quality of natural open spaces, protected landscapes. There are many studies discussing the problems of disabled people in the apartments, public spaces and buildings. Now, this issue is expanding into open landscape areas, tourist routes and areas of legal nature protection. However, the implementation of full accessibility, as well as making the protected landscape available for tourism, is conditioned by many limitations. Since 2012, the Stołowe Mountains National Park has been implementing a project of making its natural resources available to the tourists as well as in terms of accessibility for the disabled. It is being realised, on the basis of a design concept for the small architecture elements and the buildings of the ticket offices created by architects Alicja Maciejko and Mirosław Strzelecki, stylistically coherent for the whole area of the National Park. This project was awarded in the architectural competition for the best friendly public space in the Lower Silesian Voivodship in 2014. The article also presents an analysis of what actions can be taken and what areas can be designated for full and partial accessibility.