The Yaiza City Council is developing a technical recommendation guide for application to define objective criteria for the design, installation and use of playgrounds so that the play areas are much more inclusive since, in the words of the mayor Óscar Noda, “the current regulations are minimal and we want to impose greater universal accessibility criteria”, the mayor refers to the fact that now only one in five games in a park must meet these criteria and the objective of Yaiza is to increase the number of elements with motor, sensory, cognitive and social stimulations.
Rubén Arca, Councilor for Parks and Gardens of Yaiza, explains that “in the municipal plan for rehabilitation and implementation of parks we have already put inclusive parks into service, but our objective is to take a new leap in quality and well-being so that the play areas are fun and used by all boys and girls”.
Yaiza organized a conference this Thursday given by the expert in park design and accessibility, Eloy Bossom, aimed at informing about the inclusive park guide to entities that serve people with special educational needs, where representatives of the Special Education Center Nuestra Señora de los Volcanes and the Association of Deaf People of Arrecife and Lanzarote (APSAL) participated, expressing concerns and suggestions, to whom the City Council publicly expresses its interest.
Noda, recalls that “we administrations have the great responsibility in the playing conditions in public spaces and we must create parks where all boys and girls can play and integrate”.
In addition to the considerations of games and stimuli, the guide starts from safety criteria with a wide range of approved elements without excluding games that pose challenges to minors. One of the essential aspects of the guide is the mobility chain applied to inclusive parks that indicates the implicit itinerary of arriving, accessing, circulating, playing and resting.
"The City Council sets itself the challenge of continuing to improve with specialized technical advice and, of course, addressing the concerns of groups from Yaiza and Lanzarote. The purpose is to execute implementation projects so that the designs of the parks and their play elements can be enjoyed by children of different ages in the most comfortable, safe and autonomous way possible," concludes Noda.
