Recent advances in sensing, information and communication technologies combined with well-defined guidelines and regulations have paved various ways for accessible designs for people with disabilities. However, although millions of people require one type of special assistance or another, accessibility is often only a secondary consideration in the design process of buildings and cities. United Nations Sustainable Development Goals 10 (reduce inequality within and among countries) and 11 (make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable) plan to make the built environments accessible to all the users irrespective of their physical abilities. So, accessibility should already be considered in the design and planning of urban environments in order to avoid time-consuming and costly modifications.
In this workshop, we plan to bring together researchers and practitioners from the domains of accessibility, urban development, smart cities, and assistive technology. We believe that it is the combination of expertise in the design, construction, and maintenance of critical urban infrastructures on the one hand and the ability to make use of technological advances from the domains of smart cities, Internet of Things, machine learning, and data analytics on the other hand, that generates a great potential for the development of accessible and sustainable cities.
The focus is defined as, but not limited to, issues of assistive technologies and inclusive design in relation to the needs of older adults as well as people with disabilities including vision or hearing impairments, impairments of other senses, motor skills, memory, learning or cognition, speech, language, or reading. Therefore, AccessBuilt solicits papers addressing relevant topics, including - but not limited to - the following:
Smart City Systems and Platforms
Requirements Engineering for Accessible Cities
Smart Healthcare for Urban Environments
Urban Assistive Technology
Safety and Security in Urban Assistive Technology
Accessible Mobility and Transportation
IoT for Accessible Cities
Digital Twins for Accessible Infrastructures in the Built Environment
Inclusive Urban Design
Inclusive Design of Smart Cities, Smart Buildings and Smart Environments
Inclusive Design Approaches Techniques, and Tools
Adaptive Technology for Accessible Environments
Social Accessibility Services
Personal Sensing of Accessibility Maps
Technology for Independent Living
Smart and Inclusive Workspaces
Multimodality and Accessibility
Design Guidelines for Accessible Environments
Big Data for Accessible Smart Cities
Participatory Sensing and Processing of Accessibility Information
Accessible Indoor Navigation
Access to the Real and Built Environment
Management, Configuration, and Deployment of Accessible Smart City Infrastructure
Practical Experiences in the Design, Implementation, and Evaluation of Accessible Services or Infrastructures in Urban Environments
We also welcome papers on novel applications or environments that have strong smart city and accessibility components, especially if those novel applications and environments challenge existing ideas and design techniques.