International conference participation

The annual Livable Cities conference series focuses on life in cities—”cities being seen as places of inequality, social injustice, unsustainability and sites of global health problems.” Held in Manchester (England), the 2026 conference showcased diverse readings of the places we inhabit through exploring the design, management, and experiences of life in cities, from a range of disiplinary perspectives and in a range of formats. Mary Ann’s pre-recorded presentation drew on her PhD research, more specifically on the site sessions component of the Universal Mobility Index (UMI) Process trial undertaken in inner-Melbourne. The site sessions revealed, very clearly, that achieving accessible public transport is more complex than merely providing accessible, mass transit rolling stock (i.e., the trains, buses, and trams). Many people with disability require continuous, accessible paths of travel to reach transport stops. However, these paths are frequently disrupted by uneven surfaces, protruding infrastructure, and obstructive shared micro-mobility devices. As such devices are increasingly framed as public transport options, the broader transport ecosystem becomes even more complex. Further, the site sessions demonstrated how accessibility barriers accumulate at the interfaces between vehicles, infrastructure, and neighbourhood environments. Consequently, creating inclusive, accessible public transport involves interrogating multiple, interacting, multi-dimensional sub/systems. Trial findings highlighted boarding/alighting from the rolling stock (tram, bus, etc) to the supporting built infrastructure (the transport stop) and negotiating pedestrian infrastructure to reach the transport stop as key pain-points. Therefore, within both the academy and professional practice, built environment practitioners must work together with users with disability in real-time and in real-world conditions to improve neighbourhood-scale accessibility so that accessible public transport becomes reality for all.

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