Tactile paving is a universal system that helps visually impaired people walk down sidewalks. Consisting of lines and points on cement, this system enables them to move forward and stop. It helps them but it is not enough, because they cannot know what is around them, that is why they´re forced to depend on constant assistance to locate basic services and businesses such as banks, drugstores or restaurants.

The dependence on others for daily tasks is frustrating and has a negative impact on visually impaired people, especially since this community is already marginalized due to a lack of government support.

What if a cement company could help?

We designed a new tactile signage system that improves the current one.

This is a new vocabulary system that allows visually impaired people to recognize exactly what type of basic services or business is in front of them just by tapping the sidewalk with their cane.

Using the same pattern as the universal system, a horizontal bar on the sidewalk indicates a tile where vertical lines can be counted, each number of lines means a category of commercial venue.

Thus, if the person tap a line, in front of him there is a restaurant.

If he taps two lines, there will be a bank.

Three, grocery store.

Four, drugstore, and so on.

These sidewalks are implemented throughout Miraflores, the busiest district in the country, and allow blind people to find the places they are going without having to ask other people for help and move around with complete independence.

The strategy was very simple. We had to create a system that helps blind people to move easily around the city, that also gives them independence and that can be very easy to learn and replicate in other cities.

Strategically, we had to implement it first in Miraflores, the most important and busiest city, and then extend the action to all other cities in the country.

Our audience was all the organizations for the blind that exist in the country and every person with visual impairment.

They organizations helped us to train all visually impaired people to learn how the new system works.

The development of the entire project took almost 2 years and was designed with the active participation of people with visual disabilities who were always testing the execution to ensure that it would be user-friendly and functional.

First, a matrix model was made for each line number, and then they were mass-produced.

The sidewalks were then installed throughout the city in a period of two weeks.

The first stage of the implementation covered an area of 75,000 m2 throughout the central and busiest commercial area of the city.

The biggest organizations for visually impaired were trained to teach and provide information on the use of the new system.

Finally, they were inaugurated for the use of the city and for all its visitors.

It´s a large-scale project, which intends to transcend from a single city to all the large cities of the country.

The response was excellent. This solution really made a difference in the lives of the visually impaired people.

A low-tech solution that not only achieved many improvements in people's lives, but also generated a brand experience for each person who was able to try something that only a cement brand like Sol could have created.

The behavior change of the visually impaired was impressive and the sentiment was totally positive.

It is estimated that more than 500,000 people will benefit from this action and soon the effect will impact many more people.

Sightwalks can be replicated in all cities in the country and abroad.

The designs and patents are open and free to help millions of people worldwide.

Sol positioned itself as the brand that builds more inclusive cement-based solutions for Peruvians.

This project reopened the discussion on the need of more inclusive cities in Peru.