Unseen City Canvases: Exploring Blind and Low Vision People's Perspectives on Urban and Public Art Accessibility

TL;DR

This study explores blind and low vision people's preferences and challenges in accessing urban and public art, highlighting the need for inclusive multisensory and descriptive solutions.

Contribution

It provides empirical insights and design dimensions for improving urban art accessibility for BLV individuals, expanding HCI research beyond navigation.

Findings

BLV people value spontaneous art exploration and multisensory engagement.

Safety concerns often outweigh art exploration in urban settings.

Inaccurate AI descriptions risk cultural erasure.

Abstract

Public art can hold cultural, social, political, and aesthetic significance, enriching urban environments and promoting well-being. However, a majority of urban art is inaccessible to blind and low vision (BLV) people. Most art access research has focused on private and curated settings (e.g., museums, galleries) and most urban access work has centered on outdoor navigation, leaving urban and public art accessibility largely understudied. We conducted semi-structured interviews with 16 BLV participants, using design probes featuring AI-generated descriptions and real-time AI interactions to investigate preferences for both discovering and engaging with urban art. We found that BLV people valued spontaneous art exploration, multisensory (e.g., tactile, auditory, olfactory) engagement, and detailed descriptions of culturally significant artwork. Participants also highlighted challenges distinct to urban art contexts: safety took precedence over art exploration, multisensory access measures could be disruptive to others in the public space, and inaccurate AI descriptions could lead to cultural erasure. Our contributions include empirical insights on BLV preferences for urban art discovery and engagement, seven design dimensions for public art access solutions, and implications for expanding HCI urban accessibility research beyond navigation.