ASSESSING PHYSICAL ACCESSIBILITY OF PUBLIC SPACES IN THE CITY OF ALMATY, KAZAKHSTAN

• Author / Creator

  Dinara Yespolova

• This thesis aims to develop a grounded understanding of the everyday experiences of disabled people in Almaty, Kazakhstan. The voices and needs of disabled people have been a long-ignored by state authorities as well as academics. This thesis intends to address this gap. I ask -- what are experiences of disabled people with regards to access in the built environment? I ask this question to raise awareness among key actors such as the state of Kazakhstan and policy planners to the real problems of disabled people. Additionally, I ask what the actions of the state municipality have taken to improve access provision for disabled people in Almaty. Using the grounded theory approach, I show that disabled people’s voices and needs have not been considered during the planning and development processes. The significance of this study is that it provides a theoretical understanding of disability within the Kazakhstani urban context.

• Subjects / Keywords

  • urban policies
  • Almaty
  • disability
  • accessibility

• Graduation date

  Fall 2020

• Type of Item

  Thesis

• Degree

  Master of Arts

• DOI

  https://doi.org/10.7939/r3-m3nj-as63

• License

  Permission is hereby granted to the University of Alberta Libraries to reproduce single copies of this thesis and to lend or sell such copies for private, scholarly or scientific research purposes only. Where the thesis is converted to, or otherwise made available in digital form, the University of Alberta will advise potential users of the thesis of these terms. The author reserves all other publication and other rights in association with the copyright in the thesis and, except as herein before provided, neither the thesis nor any substantial portion thereof may be printed or otherwise reproduced in any material form whatsoever without the author's prior written permission.