Public Participation in the Development Process of a Mobility Assistance System for Visually Impaired Pedestrians

Nora Weinberger, Markus Winkelmann, Karin Müller, Sebastian Ritterbusch and Rainer Stiefelhagen
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Nora Weinberger: Institute for Technology Assessment and System Analysis, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, 76131 Karlsruhe, Germany
Markus Winkelmann: Institute for Technology Assessment and System Analysis, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, 76131 Karlsruhe, Germany
Karin Müller: Study Centre for the Visually Impaired, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, 76131 Karlsruhe, Germany
Sebastian Ritterbusch: iXpoint Informationssysteme GmbH, Pforzheimer Str. 160, 76275 Ettlingen, Germany
Rainer Stiefelhagen: Study Centre for the Visually Impaired, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, 76131 Karlsruhe, Germany

Societies, 2019, vol. 9, issue 2, 1-15

Abstract: Blind and visually impaired people have to cope with the safe movement through public space and the (lack of) knowledge of spatial issues and walkable routes. These challenges often lead to a fear of accidents and collisions, frequently also of disorientation. This, in turn, can result in a reduced radius of action, restricted mobility, and later on, in social isolation. Against this background, the project TERRAIN aims at developing a technical guidance system for orientation and navigation in urban space. For the development of this assistance system, the project pursues an approach in which reflexive, responsive, and deliberative dimensions have been integrated to address the ethical, legal and social implications (ELSI) in a co-design process. This paper focuses on the participation of citizens independent of vision impairments in the project which provided a variety of relevant indications of impacts and potential technical adaptations from an ‘outer’ point of view. In addition, conclusions can be drawn about the existing desirability and acceptance of the technical solution among the potential users as well as their social environment of potential users. In addition, it turned out that the citizen participation process raised different expectations among the project partners. Therefore, this article evaluates the participation results from the perspective of the technology developers and the technology assessors.

Keywords: grand challenge; people with visual impairments; technology assessment; demand-orientation; public participation; co-design (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: A13 A14 P P0 P1 P2 P3 P4 P5 Z1 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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