User:Lor.ensō/contextures

[note to Steve: Introduction is meant as literal introduction to the thesis, maybe I have started this too soon?] I left your notes on the bottom of page without crossing it out.

Perfect timing! I suggested edits here:LorenzoThesisDraftSteveSuggests,

Introduction

Traveling around the city of Rotterdam with my brother, who is in a wheelchair, has made me aware of the architectural, cultural and bureaucratic limits that define our movements. In this Thesis I will reflect upon, (de)construct and criticize Rotterdam. I will reflect on Rotterdam in contrast to the utopian postcard realities that I experience in the city. In this text called Contextures, I develop a "counter-mapping" ^[1] practice in relation to the issue of accessibility in Rotterdam. This will take the form of the transcription of a series of drawings which I made whilst writing Contextures. I will also use my knowledge and experience in world building with 3D software. ^[2]

The text will be structured by the following themes, each of which represents one of the multiple obstacles to getting around.

Socially - Personal, Affordable, Family, Housing

Accessibly - Disability, Information provision, infrastructures

Bureaucratically - Protocols of local municipal / governments

Architecturally - Buildings, ways, pavements, roads, streets

Virtually - Imagery, impression, media, softwares, simulation, games

Culturally - budget cuts, false iconism, counterculture, grassroots, community, festivals/gigs/events

These issues become invisible. When people do not see them. they do not exist.

Chapter Outline

The three chapters of Contextures group the above into pairs:

^{Socially - Accessibly} ^/ (un)Familiar barriers, social thresholds and unmeant ignorance I refuse to allow myself to fall in a pit of despair. This is a healthy reflection on the topics; reacting honestly to a complex of issues in search for (alternative) mechanism.
^{Virtually - Architecturally} / Innovation and Virtual Tools as development or demolition of reality
^{Bureaucratically - Culturally} / Zoning: friction between counter culture and bureaucracy, false iconism vs community

GET AROUND / ^{Socially - Accessibly} ^/ (un)Familiar barriers, social thresholds and unmeant ignorance

This drawing is a cacophony of the examples I give in this chapter. I_{n the top right, it is me pushing my brother from street level, to pavement, over the ramp inside onward towards inside.}_________________________________________ B_{elow the hall there is a front door view of where my aunt and uncle live. Which is a multi-threshold construction of tiles, bricks and pavements, resulting into a tight door which isn't wide enough to fit my brothers wheelchair into.} _________________________________________ I_{n the middle of the image. Is a sketched version of the Trevvel app-interface based on the ride booking/reservation screen. Above this screen is a sketch of the Gemeente logo with the word of WMO (law for societal support) and the number 6-8, indicating the weeks it can take before you know if you qualify for Trevvel}. _________________________________________ O_{n the right side of the interface. A sketch based on the front door situation of my Nephew's recently bought house. (Looked at above from Google Earth) Where we met up to meet his kid and showing us through the house. My brother couldn't get in because of, once again construction of tiles, bricks and pavements. With another social threshold that could have been helped, had we the knowledge of entrance, since we do have ramps to get past this. Wouldn't know if he would fit inside, though.} _________________________________________ ^O_{n the bottom left, there is the possibility of a back door of my aunt/uncle's place. Which we didn't use in the end.} ________________________________________ _ ^T_{he A to B line in bright green hovers over the different thresholds. To show what bizarre detours have to be done to get complete the route, not even mentioning the delays.}

^{Socially - Accessibly} ^/ (un)Familiar barriers, social thresholds and unmeant ignorance

In this chapter I aim to show the preconceptions that are often there about the multiple obstacles to and how these become invisible when people are unaware. When people do not see it. It does not exist.

I am zooming in from the big picture to a personal experience. The questions I'm currently asking is:

How does one Manoeuvre ^[3] or get around 'town'?

Starting with myself: I can not ride a bike, so I either walk, take public transport, take a cab or carpool with someone. My brother can not walk, he is in a wheelchair or mobility scooter, so public transport mostly isn't an option. He can be transported from bed to wheelchair, from bed to mobility scooter, from wheelchair to a car.^[4]

It is mostly the case he gets around with something that is called Trevvel^[5] He manoeuvers around in his mobility scooter for longer distances and for shorter distances, he uses his electric wheelchair. One would assume that this fixes a lot of problems, which is true but still he meets a lot of obstacles on the way.

Here's an example of a difficulty I encountered. I intended to go to a friends Halloween party. I needed to get there via metro and bus. I couldn't stay there, and the option of a taxi with a big group was too expensive. Another friend offered a place to stay, but that was only accessible via bike. I didn't go in the end, but that kinda struck to me. This wasn't the end of the world, just a bit shitty and I felt a bit left out, even if this was well intended.

The frustration I felt through being presented with a series of comparatively low thresholds made me consider my brother. The thresholds that occur along the way for him: from a pavement without hills or ramps, to bureaucratic, social and architectural thresholds are of a different order.

Here's an example of a difficulty my brother encountered. My aunt wanted to plan my grandfather's birthday at their place in Spijkenisse, but they were worried that my brother can't access the hallway, because it is too small and the chair might damage the varnish. The other option was that he comes in through the backdoor but that was also inaccessible due to the same compact measures and fear of damage.

My mother came with the idea that we would do it at 'our place'. Which means I have to 'work' for this: I sometimes help my mother as a Mantelzorger. [ informal caregiver ].^[6]

Every 4-6 weeks, my brother, mother and I have a little get together. Because, if I want to meet with my brother and mother at my mother's place, it takes some preparation:

The mobility scooter is too heavy for the ramp, he needs to get there in a wheelchair.

The situation installation of my brother visiting my mother's home.

For my brother to enter my mother's house, we need*:

- to reserve the parking spot before the pavement by addressing neighbours, people on the street. ^[7]

- to place a hill or a plank on an empty parking spot

- to place a plank/hill from the street to the curb

- to place a ramp from the curb that which transitions into another a hill(small ramp) going into the hallway

- to place another small ramp in the corridor to enter the entrance hall.

*The ramp and hills needed to be purchased.

- The ramp and hills need to be stored.

Quite the protocol on its own with these steps to make.

My brother has multiple ways to manoeuvre around, which gives him freedom. To get these things, there's a process that has to happen via the municipality. For this, he needs to get the 'social' version of Trevvel ^[5], called Trevvel Samen'.^[8] Applying for this takes 6-8 weeks ^[9] and is done through the Gemeente via communicative layers of bureaucracy.^[10]

You would say this system would be great, customized for the person. The wonderful idea of social transport and traveling together and having a customized travel based on your necessities. But it has been quite the 'ride' so to say. Concerning my brother and mother. It either can go well and as it should be.

But when requesting a ride, you can reserve a booking via the app or call the company. It just works like a regular taxi service. It gets communicated via some sort of telecommunication device :

## \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"I'mavailable"\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\

## //////"We have a ride from Boermarke 65 to Statenweg 127a" //////////////////////////////////////////

## \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'Yes I will take that one'\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\/////////////"Okay"///////////////////////

My brother then communicates that he has a ride planned. He sends us a message and we set up the small and large ramps. We tip the driver based on the fact if they help, are friendly, cooperate and participate.

There are a few social factors and flaws in dealing with these procedures. Not only from services but also to close relatives:

We wanted to book a ride that picks up my mother and me^[11] and then also picks up my brother^[12]. That wasn't possible, because there has to be an hour between rides. So we, in that matter, needed to be picked up and brought to my brother. And then we would join him on the same ride. We then decided to go separate and ended up being picked up in the same bus.
This ride was heading to my nephew's house.^[13] We would visit and look at his new house, meet his newborn. We were there on time and then the same family was not thinking about my brother's situation, were unintentionally ignorant. My nephew has these concrete tile stairs. So this house becomes a liminal space to my brother. It is highly upsetting that in these vinex type lifestyle arrangements of normality, there seems to be some sort of tunnel vision of new town nuclear family type of normality. A modern village in this Truman Show type of aesthetic.
Even though my nephew is a sweetheart and does not have any bad intentions, it doesn't come to mind to him that my brother has been impaired since 2019, needs to be taken into consideration. It was a hot summer day (just imagine the shitty day it would have been if it were raining the entire day and to just be sitting in the rain.
.. but we just continued our nice meeting as planned. And as our ride was there according to schedule, my mother and I were picked up apart from my brother, he was picked up the moment when we arrived at my mothers place. Resulting him to finally be home an hour later than us.

Continuïng in Spijkenisse in the summer to the winter back towards the next organisational madness: organizing my grandfathers 89th birthday.

In the eternal chamber of terror (inside the trevvel bus)

Our solution became that the three of us^[14] went to my grandfather for custom version of my grandfather's birthday. My mother and me were picked up around 13:00.

My brother was in another bus and the driver picked up other people, so it took a while in traffic. A very important bridge in the area was under construction which redirected traffic to all of us. Meaning my brother would be at the birthday 1,5 hour (!!!) later than us.

Returning, we were supposed to leave at 16:45(as our ride was scheduled), but we had to wait an hour to be picked up. My brother started to get tremors (myoclonus ^[15]) because he didn't have his medicine (we assumed he was going to be home in time).

The way back was bizarre: The bus needed to pick up people in another location; and just before we reached my brother's house, the driver picked up another person at the Saint Francis Hospital (SFG) in Rotterdam^[16]. My brother was not doing well, getting pissed off and tired, which was influenced by and influencing his 'shaking'. When we were finally were heading to his home in Crooswijk. The last picked up person squished herself out of the bus when we were almost at our own space. Whilst we could have also requested the same but chose to be less egotistical.

This is one of the many stories of how customized so called "social" transport, still has plenty of drivers and systems that are not listening to the needs of the travelers. And the fact that people need to wait 6-8 weeks depending on their situation if they qualify for this?! My brother in this case ends up less healthy and supported than this Social Support Law and Customized Transport.

This is story exemplifies the degree of mental and physical preparation required to move through the city. There are MANY day-to-day transactions that require understanding and knowledge; it requires a municipal threshold; it requires physical support and aftercare and rest afterwards.

There are multiple obstacles to getting around, socially, accessibly, bureaucratically, architecturally, virtually. And these become invisible when people do not see this. When people do not see it, it does not exist.

https://www.rijnmond.nl/nieuws/1930343/vervoerder-trevvel-spant-kort-geding-aan-tegen-gemeente-rotterdam-we-maken-ons-grote-zorgen
https://www.government.nl/topics/care-and-support-at-home/social-support-act-wmo

https://www.rotterdam.nl/wonen-leven/vraagwijzer

https://www.trevvel.nl/trevvel-sociaal/uit-thuis-agenda/

https://www.verwijswijzer.nl/rotterdam/hulpmiddelen-en-aanpassingen/aanvullend-openbaar-vervoer.html

https://openrotterdam.nl/directeur-miniworld-woest-nadat-senior-klant-drie-uur-moet-wachten-op-taxi/

https://www.rijnmond.nl/nieuws/1799787/krijgt-trevvel-een-opvolger-hopelijk-hebben-we-ook-als-gemeente-geleerd-van-de-fouten

https://www.ad.nl/rotterdam/trevvel-altijd-op-tijd-en-gezellige-chauffeurs-of-gaat-het-soms-toch-nog-mis~a9f4d9bd/

https://www.rijksoverheid.nl/onderwerpen/zorg-en-ondersteuning-thuis/wmo-2015

https://www.trevvel.nl/doelgroepenvervoer/trevvel-samen/

https://www.government.nl/topics/care-and-support-at-home/social-support-act-wmo