Barrier-free Environment as an Indicator of Sustainable Development of the City. Priorities and Experience in Samara (Russia)

Abstract An attempt to systematize the experience of creating a barrier – free environment in Samara, one of the megacities in Russia, has made. In the course of work, field surveys carried out. The following priority areas for the implementation of universal design methods identified: housing, social infrastructure and a set of elements of urban utilities. In them, the consumer properties of buildings and territories have a decisive influence on the overall assessment of the quality of the urban environment. The examples are given and the difficulties of creating a barrier-free environment in new residential compounds and universities, as well as in the objects of the municipal sphere of the city analyzed. The conclusion that the process of introducing the principles of formation of a barrier-free environment has a rather low pace has made. This is not in line with the city’s sustainable development objectives. The question of the development of local urban planning regulations and design standards, which will allow the transition to the massive use of the principles of universal design, has raised.