Engaging Appreciative Inquiry in Exploring Accessibility Needs among Vulnerable Community in Kuala Lumpur Neighbourhood

Abstract

Neighborhood accessibility affects a wider range of people, especially the vulnerable groups. The disablement of the built environment imposes limitation for the vulnerable groups to reach facilities and services independently. The built environment can only be effective when it is interconnected and seamless. Research in the past focuses on problem base approach which had little success in eliciting responses from stakeholders for sustainable change in their built environment. This research investigates accessibility experience in the built environment through social process of meaning-making based on positive and constructive interactions. This qualitative research using focus group discussion (FGD) employs an appreciative inquiry (AI) to collect and decode data in four stages; discovery, dream, design, and destiny. The FGD involved stakeholders including vulnerable communities; the elderly, pregnant women, mothers with toddlers, persons with disabilities (PwD), academicians and NGOs. Findings revealed collective priorities related to the accessibility improvements in the external and internal living environment, the need to enforce national disability law, the actualisation blueprint of the desired future living environment. To create an accessible and sustainable neighbourhood in Kuala Lumpur, the study demonstrated how the Appreciative Inquiry approach generates real community needs and voices those rights holistically.