Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport
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New Space for the Creation of Cities -   Deep Underground  
 
Main contents of guiding principles related to steps to enhance barrier-free nature and improve amenities for the public use of the Deep Underground


The role of guiding principles
 ·  Among the Basic Policies, concrete guiding principles have been formulated related to barrier-free nature and improving amenities.
 ·  Guiding principles have been formulated related to the approach to "General Principles of Universal Design Policy," which was published in July 2005. They have been categorized into measures that promote barrier-free nature and measures that improve amenities, taking account of the characteristics of general manned facilities in the Deep Underground, including increases in travel distance and time.
 ·  They are applied practically in the examination of measures for business operators to promote barrier-free nature and improve amenities and in the screening of use authorization by the authorities.

II Measures for promotion of barrier-free nature

Examination criteria Issues Measures
Facilitation of movement of persons whose movements are impeded such as senior persons and physically handicapped persons Installation of elevators and escalators Reinforcement of transport capacity Increase in capacity, redundant facilities, increase in speed
Set-up in view of constraints in the entry space Installation of elevators and escalators
Communication measures Prevention of decline of direction sensing ability including up and down directions, and improvement in labyrinthine ability Ingenious techniques for sound and display, colors that are easily distinguished
Human-related measures such as cooperation Ingenious ways of getting cooperation among people in underground spaces Systems that facilitate organized human cooperation and can call for assistance when necessary


- Drill for employees of subway stations - (Tokyo Metro Co., Ltd.)
- Drill for employees of subway stations -
(Tokyo Metro Co., Ltd.)
- Recruitment of station volunteers - (Tokyo Metro Co., Ltd.)
- Recruitment of station volunteers -
(Tokyo Metro Co., Ltd.)

III Measures for improvement of amenities

Examination criteria Issues Measures
Maintaining an internal environment that is comfortable, providing a sense of relief Appropriate control of temperature, humidity, air, air flows Planning facilities without stagnant air at specified locations within the facilities
Introduction of air conditioning facilities that can comprehensively control temperature / the humidity, carbon monoxide concentrations, quantity of air-borne dust, bad smells, and air currents
Appropriate control of lighting Countermeasures to create spaces that are comfortable by taking into consideration the quality and quantity of illumination
Appropriate control of sound Measures to reduce the noise that occurs in underground spaces
Measures against leakage of water to facilities from subsurface water Waterproofing measures and drainage measures to maintain facility functions and protect those functions
Creation of a more comfortable internal environment Amelioration of sense of being confined and pressured Various ingenious techniques applied to spatial design
Addressing the increase in travel distances in the entire underground space Examination of spatial design contributing both to the promotion of barrier-free nature and improvement of amenities
Set-up of benches, rest-rooms, and other rest areas
Elimination of psychological pressure on users in connection with being isolated from the external environment Setup of communication relay facilities with the outside


- Intake of natural light via optical fiber - (underground cross-walk passage in front of Toyohashi-shi Station in Aichi Prefecture)
- Intake of natural light via optical fiber -
(underground cross-walk passage in front of Toyohashi-shi Station in Aichi Prefecture)
- Bench with ingenious design aspects - (Toei Oedo Line)
- Bench with ingenious design aspects -
(Toei Oedo Line in Tokyo)

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