Cagliari is (also) that city where tactile paths and paths for the blind end against a wall. Where the sidewalks are dotted with poles planted in the middle. And concrete blocks are distributed in the spaces for pedestrians. Not a big deal, for those who can see or walk without problems. A damage, almost an insult, insurmountable barriers for those who cannot.

The picture is outlined in a long open letter signed by Marco Deplano, president of the Sinnos association, which we publish in full.

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Living and being free are synonymous. Freedom means being able to move anywhere, whenever and however you want. Wherever you want. Cagliari, the capital of Sardinia, the place of the soul where we have chosen to live, is for the few. It turns off its already sparse and dim lights, instead of strengthening them and adding new and necessary ones for its inhabitants who are increasingly fewer and increasingly fragile. Ever more alone and voiceless.

Streetlights should be (and remain) lit from dusk until the first glimmers of dawn to ensure cold or natural light that is strong, homogeneous and constant. Instead, even today public lighting is poor, unsightly and intermittent. Often completely absent. This reduces safety and encourages crimes against people and property: assaults, vandalism, thefts, robberies. Consequently, it also fuels perceived degradation and dirt, bivouacs, and social marginalization.

People give up exercising their autonomy. They suffocate their need to live in community. They resign themselves to solitude. Prisoners in their own home: deprived of the right to move freely in their own city.

Cagliari has one of the oldest populations in Europe and Italy and, this fact, beyond depopulation and the change in age, will be difficult to reverse in the coming decades. There are more and more people with motor and visual difficulties and, of course, girls and boys. Towards all these portions of the community, Cagliari is hostile, cynical and indifferent. At every corner it manifests, demonstrates and arrogantly flaunts the will to exclude others.

The city is for a few, for someone in particular. Precisely: for someone who has no problems. Someone who, with a self-referential attitude, goes on his own way, to the sound of "if I can see, the lighting is sufficient; if I pass, then the sidewalk is wide enough". This is the city of that someone who doesn't care if a scooter occupies the passage, or if a car or scooter prevents you from getting on or off from one end of the pedestrian crossing to the other. Social inclusion, my ass!

Cagliari fights and suppresses minorities, one post and one step at a time, incessantly, with lucid arrogance. In 2012 there was a project to remove architectural barriers aimed at the neighborhoods of San Benedetto and Villanova as experimental areas of the city: the objective declared by the Municipality was to implement interventions to remove obstacles, improve the urban context and then adapt it to all neighborhoods, peripheral and central.

Without fear of contradiction and with great regret we declare the failure of this project which, apart from some levelling of the sidewalk, has done nothing but:

  • adding poles in the middle of sidewalks without any respect for any type of pedestrian;
  • reduce (or remove!) public lighting;
  • scatter bulky blocks of concrete and stone everywhere;
  • deactivate almost all of the traffic light system's acoustic warning devices;
  • erect curbs in the beds of ornamental plants inside the sidewalks.

Furthermore, of equal gravity and responsibility, public and private institutions have created the following inaccessible works:

  • tactile paths and LOGES paths that end on the walls. In the train station in Piazza Matteotti, the aforementioned paths, moreover, lead to disused ticket offices;
  • orange CTM stop signal poles are stuck in the center of the sidewalks, obstructing the passage and causing injuries;
  • the bus shelters of the CTM lines lack acoustic signals and adequate lighting;
  • the street lighting is directed only towards the roadway, while it should have two light points, one facing the road for cars and the other oriented towards the pavement for pedestrians;
  • the presence of waste bins and bins at any time of day and the simultaneous installation of poles take away space for pedestrians to pass on the sidewalks;
  • the uncultivated foliage of ornamental plants hinders the already insufficient lighting;
  • flower boxes, traffic islands made of stone or concrete, constitute a serious risk to the safety of everyone.

Such barriers are everywhere and here are some examples. See viale Colombo Su Siccu - especially in the part close to the so-called Marina di Bonaria -, via Dante corner of via Cocco Ortu, via Tuveri, piazza Gramsci, piazza Garibaldi, piazza Repubblica (Upim side), via Zagabria, via Berna, viale Regina Elena (walls side), the streets Paoli, San Benedetto, Rossini, Boito, Ariosto, Corelli, Donizetti, Cimarosa, Verdi, Catalani, Palestrina, Machiavelli, Cavaro, Goldoni, Tommaseo, Boccaccio, Giusti, Petrarca, Pergolesi, Pascoli, Todde, Salaris, Lai, Foscolo, Tiziano, Pacinotti, Cino da Pistoia, Tasso, Boiardo, all the recent squares near the T Hotel and the Parco della Musica.

All this entails a series of findings and consequent considerations.

An absolute and regrettable mediocrity emerges as the dominant trait of those who think and create obstacle courses on a daily basis for any person, regardless of their age or psychophysical condition.

The degree of accessibility is summarized by the way in which the spaces are conceived and created.

Contrary to what has been happening in much of Europe for decades, the capital and the island continue to build places where it is the individual who has to adapt and not the other way around.

The second factual observation is that “participation” is an empty word: a pure mystification of reality propagated by an inadequate and self-styled ruling class. The proliferation of new barriers and the permanence of the old ones are proof of this paradox.

We persist in wanting to make life impossible for many people in normal daily activities. Architectural barriers are not a battle of a political party. These are questions of pure logic and adaptation to civilization.

Another consideration concerns the optimization of political and technical action in favor of breaking down barriers, that is, the economic sustainability and timing of interventions. In the immediate future, every useless and harmful barrier can be eliminated and the cost for public spending and the budget of "our" coffers is practically zero.

Specifically:

  • road signal poles must be fixed flush with the wall, curved towards the road and no longer in the middle or on the edge of the pavement;
  • road signs for motorists, where possible, should be printed with paint on the asphalt (also reducing the number of road signs on poles);
  • the recesses in the sidewalks created to house the bins (no longer present today) must be level with the rest of the pavement;
  • the stairlifts and elevators in the city must be maintained and always active. In the stairways where they are still missing, they must be installed;
  • lighting must be strong and uniform. All roads where there are sidewalks (for pedestrians) and lanes (for vehicles) require active lighting on both sides. The street lamps must also consist of a double light: the first one is higher, curved and facing the center of the carriageway for vehicles; the second one is lower, curved and facing the sidewalk for pedestrians;
  • the plants planted for decoration must be adequately pruned because if not cared for they become diseased and take away light from the already insufficient public lighting;
  • bus shelters must be truly accessible, well-lit and equipped with multilingual acoustic guidance;
  • CTM line buses, similarly, must always have the voice guide of the route taken active.

The classic procedure would involve the use of reports via certified email and regular mail, service conferences, consultation tables and technical meetings.

SINNOS, as is known, has so far mainly dealt with dissemination. But, as its statute states, on a topic like this, we are attentive and vigilant.

We therefore commit to act as a connector for other associations and groups of people who want to inform the institutions about what actions, such as those set out above, should be taken immediately. Let's reverse the order of things: let's contribute to making this a programmatic document that can be an operational guide. The Departments of the Municipality of Cagliari for Public Works, Technological Services, Urban Planning, in agreement with the rest of the Council and the Mayor, the CTM, are called to the comparison.

(Online Union)

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