Visually Impaired Persons and Social Encounters in Central Melbourne

Abstract

Urban spaces are areas where routes, activities, and people, including visually impaired persons (VIPs), intersect. Most urban research on VIPs focuses on wayfinding. However, the experience of urban spaces is not limited to utilitarian functions and also includes people’s lived experiences and random social encounters. To understand how a broader range of activities, experiences, and encounters may be better enabled, VIPs have participated in multi-method research including interviews, word games, walking interviews, and diary recordings in central Melbourne. Results not only indicate a broad range of unmediated conflicts between VIPs’ mobility needs and key aspects of intense street life but also reveal opportunities that are potentially hidden in random encounters in public spaces.