On Monday, 8 July, repair work will begin on the arrangement of accessibility paths on the north side of the Town Hall – from Drukarska Street to Shevska Street.
These works will be carried out at the expense of entrepreneurs operating in establishments located on Rynok Square. Market on this side.
“We have already completed the accessibility works in front of the Town Hall. At the same time, we are currently working on the accessibility path to the ASC. On Monday, we will start similar works on the north side of the Town Hall, i.e. in the direction from Drukarska Street to Shevska Street. These works will be carried out at the expense of entrepreneurs who have establishments on Rynok Square. Rynok Square on the north side. That is, each establishment will finance the arrangement of accessibility paths in front of it.
It should be noted that the polished paving stones are comfortable for people in wheelchairs, parents with baby carriages, and tourists with suitcases,” the Galician District Administration said.
We would like to remind you that the arrangement of accessibility paths on Rynok Square is being carried out in accordance with the scheme. Market Square is being carried out in accordance with the scheme developed by the Architecture Department of the Lviv City Council. After all the work has been completed, the paths will be located without breaks throughout the square, including crossings over the tram tracks and the barrier-free entrance to the City Hall.
The accessibility paths are being installed at the expense of various partners. No funds are allocated from the city budget for these works.
The reformatting of Rynok Square for the needs of people with limited mobility is only part of a larger set of accessibility works being carried out in the city. It is about ensuring the inclusivity of various establishments: commercial, municipal and public. It is important that inclusivity should be not only outside, but also inside the establishments, including so that people in wheelchairs can use, for example, an accessible bathroom in a restaurant.
According to Iryna Maruniak, Lviv City Mayor’s Advisor on Accessibility, since September 2023, monitoring groups have been working in Lviv on a daily basis to inspect the city’s public utilities. They inspected all 628 municipal institutions for accessibility, and in their reports they noted what needed to be corrected. Each head of a municipal institution in Lviv has a special guide “How to check accessibility in the community”, which contains all the rules and excerpts from state building codes that should be followed in matters of inclusion.
Lviv’s tourism department has also created an online map called Accessible City, where you can see barrier-free facilities and locations. There are already more than a hundred facilities here: museums, theatres, restaurants, utilities, healthcare facilities, parks and shopping and entertainment centres that meet accessibility standards.
The city also has an inclusive taxi that can be used by people in wheelchairs.
Lviv has also recently approved guidelines that detail the requirements for the arrangement of ramps, lifts, stairs leading to the building and the area around the building to meet all accessibility standards. Experts who already work with inclusivity were involved in the development. The recommendations developed should help various institutions that need to ensure that their buildings are accessible to people with limited mobility.
According to the Social Protection Department of the Lviv City Council, 5.6% of the residents of the Lviv community, i.e. 47,500, are officially disabled. In addition, the city treats many military personnel who need a barrier-free environment and are not included in these official statistics. Due to the war started by Russia, the number of people for whom it is important to have an accessible environment is increasing every day.