COST Action TU1002 - Assessing usability of accessibility instruments

The report presents the results of a number of experiential workshops with local planning practitioners. In these workshops, these practitioners, first experienced and then reflected on the usability of accessibility instruments. These workshops were promoted by developers of accessibility instruments from different European countries (and Australia).
The report also presents the workshop methodology developed for this research. In order to produce a scientifically valid analysis of usability of the different accessibility instruments, we needed to compare the results across workshops in different countries with often very different contexts.
The report begins by presenting a discussion on the current implementation gap of accessibility instruments . It provides a detailed description of the workshop methodology (the ‘workshop protocol’) and the methods for data collection and analysis.
The qualitative reports of the local workshops are also presented and followed by quantitative and general analysis of the surveys follows. Lastly, it examines the findings, distils the key conclusions and shares some suggestions for further research.
The report provides valuable new contributions to the already extensive, ongoing debate on the usability of accessibility-based planning support instruments by highlighting the perspective of their potential users—the planning practitioners. We hope that this research will launch a debate on how to improve their application in everyday planning practice.