Assessing Walking Routes for Wheelchair Accessibility at a Historic District in Saudi Arabia to Enhance Social Sustainability

Historic districts possess significant cultural value, yet visitors with disabilities, particularly wheelchair users, often encounter substantial barriers to physical access. Previous studies have highlighted a gap in the assessment of walking routes utilized by wheelchair users in these districts. Therefore, this study aims to assess the extent to which historic districts’ walking routes are physically accessible for wheelchair users in the Jeddah Historic District, a UNESCO World Heritage site in Saudi Arabia. As a method, we developed a wheelchair accessibility assessment checklist (consisting of 14 assessment indicators) to evaluate 14 walking routes in the Historic District of Jeddah, accompanied by an observation strategy (consisting of five questions) to understand wheelchair users’ behavior using these routes. Our results reveal that the walking route assessments show inconsistent accessibility for wheelchair users, with the lowest rating for the indicator of route crossing signals, followed by route connectivity, the width of wheelchair parking space, accessibility to surrounding buildings, route crossing treatment, route ramp slope, and route ramp pavement quality. These findings offer valuable insights for local authorities to improve regulations and enforce wheelchair accessibility standards, promoting social sustainability and equal access for all. It also helps to underscore the necessity of prioritizing physical accessibility in the design of urban open spaces within historic districts to improve social sustainability. Ultimately, this study offers a practical and cost-effective method for other similar cities around the world to assess wheelchair inclusion in their cultural heritage sites.