The Fukuoka Municipal Government has developed a paving block that benefits both blind or partially sighted pedestrians, who need curbs to recognize boundaries between roads and pavements, and wheelchair users who have difficulty getting up raised edgings.

The new block, developed together with experts and people with different types of disabilities, has been installed in various parts of the city during municipal-managed road construction work.

One set of blocks** can be seen at an intersection in front of One Fukuoka Building, a new shopping complex that opened in Fukuoka’s Tenjin downtown district in April, installed as **part of the improved features that symbolize the area’s ongoing redevelopment.

The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism has set a standard of creating a 2-centimeter curb between roadways and pavements adjacent to intersections.

Since it can be difficult for wheelchair users to ascend the curb, many of them are made into slopes. However, slopes can make it difficult for blind or partially sighted individuals to recognize boundaries between roads and pavements, so the ministry is asking road builders to take the issue into consideration.

At the intersection in Tenjin, a linear protrusion roughly 5 millimeters high runs through the center of the block, and a narrow slope is formed along the roadway side of the paving.

The new block “is designed in a way that makes it easy for people with visual impairment to recognize (boundaries between roads and pavements) while making it easy for wheelchair users to get past them,” said Satoshi Hano, associate professor at Kyushu University specializing in public space design, who led the development.

A cross section of a boundary block shows a linear protrusion running through its center and a slope on one side to benefit both blind or partially sighted pedestrians and wheelchair users. | NISHINIPPON SHIMBUN

The Fukuoka Municipal Government embarked upon a project to develop boundary paving blocks in 2021. Hano spent two years designing and producing a number of samples, while interviewing wheelchair users and blind or partially sighted pedestrians to reflect their voices in the design.

The new block design, selected out of five samples, features the linear protrusion that enables blind or partially sighted people to recognize boundaries with their white canes or the soles of their shoes.

The slope on the road side is made to be narrow enough so that wheelchair users can ascend it in one go.

As of March, the boundary blocks are installed at 215 locations in the city such as the Ikidanchi residential district in Nishi Ward. They are also installed in some places along the prefectural and national roads managed by the city.

The city is asking that the blocks also be used on national roads managed by the central government.

“We hope we can promote the use of the blocks — including installing the same design on streets throughout a certain area regardless of jurisdiction — as the Fukuoka model,” Hano said.

This section features topics and issues from the Kyushu region covered by the Nishinippon Shimbun, the largest daily newspaper in Kyushu. The original article was published Sept. 30.