This briefing document is a supplement to “The Great Barrier Brief”. “Lost in the Urban Jungle” is about Access to the Built Environment and in this we make every endeavour to inform everyone who plays a part in how public buildings are created, including architects, builders, and local authorities.

There is almost nothing that can be done in modern life without at some stage walking into a public building. If you ever go into a shop like a dairy or grocery store, or an airport, hotel, doctor, bank, gymnasium, library or museum, or you go to school or a tertiary education facility, then you are walking into a public building. Public buildings can range in size from something like a simple stand-alone corner shop or a small block of shops on your local street corner to a huge office building in the centre of a big city.

Most people take public buildings so much for granted that they never stop to think that such facilities can be difficult for some people to use. If not properly designed, features such as steps, staircases, escalators, lifts, doors and furniture can be hazards to blind people and other people with disabilities.

Blind Citizens NZ thanks the Lotteries Grants Board for its support and funding of this publication.