EVALUATION OF THE ACCESSIBILITY OF PUBLIC GREEN SPACES.

The paper focuses on the design and creation of public green spaces and the methodology of assessment of their accessibility. A barrier-free environment is such an environment which enables an independent and safe access, as well as a full use and an unassisted move for all individuals. Under the terms of the creation of a barrier-free environment, an evaluation methodology has been elaborated, which focuses mainly on the assessment of a barrier-free accessibility of green spaces, roads, site furniture and barrier-free playgrounds. The evaluation has been carried out in the housing estate Chrenová in Nitra (Slovakia), which was built in the 1970s, with a plenty of open space for greenery. Based on the evaluation results, we can conclude that the best parameter is the relief of the area since it is a mostly flat terrain. On the contrary, the largest deficiencies have been found in the amount of greenery and its accessibility, as well as in the quality of pavement surface. Weaknesses were identified especially in terms of sidewalk parameters and pavement surfaces. The results of park furniture assessment reflect especially a poor technical condition of benches and a lack of green space facilities. The most deficiencies were detected on children playgrounds that do not fulfil the criteria of barrier-free accessibility. Based on the results of evaluation, measures for quality improvement of barrier-free environments have been proposed. Within the measures, areas suitable for the location of objects for passive and active garden therapy have been proposed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]