PRINCIPLE 6 : LOW PHYSICAL EFFORT

According to this principle of universal design, one design should be used efficiently and comfortably and with a minimum of fatigue. The user should not be forced to keep his/her body in unnatural positions. The product of design should be worked with the acceptable degree of force applied by the users. The product should not require repetitive behaviors. The applied forces should be short-termed in order not to cause excessive fatigue.

In Ankara, this principle is contradicted generally and that can be connected to the absence of slopes or the traffic issues.

For the slope of topography, the castle of Ankara would be the best example of it. It is an ancient building and also a common area of both this and that ages, located on top of a hill. Because of the fact that, at that time, it should have been protected and be hard to reach, it has many stairs made up of stones. However, nowadays, the castle and inside of it is used as a touristic and historical place which should be easily reached. Thus, the stairs of this time, of course by protecting the original existence, can be supported by some ramps or some smaller stair attachments by means of reducing the physical effort which is spent by the visitors. Also, some spiral ramps around the slope may decrease the percentage of its steepness.

On the other hand, the traffic in Ankara may cause some problems in this point. For instance, there are some overpasses seen mostly in Kizilay and the ones in here are the ones that is used least. This kind of behavior of people can be explained by the rush of daily works, and people generally prefer to pass by the roads which even do not have any traffic lights for pedestrians at some point. This fact is very understandable when the conditions of the overpasses are regarded carefully. Most of them, especially the one located above Mesrutiyet Avenue, has large numbers of steps and they are very steep. Therefore, people do not prefer to climb up and spend effort on them.

Instead of the whole stairs, there may be also some escalators next to the normal ones. Of course, the maintenance and repairs should be done regularly to keep them working.