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Generic Universal Design Position Statement

Has your organisation has been wanting to draft a universal design position statement and not sure where to start? Well, CUDA has devised a generic document to get you going.

The CUDA Universal Design Position Statement covers all the basics in a straightforward way. At the end of the document, organisations can insert links to their own policy documents that relate to the position statement. There is also an appendix with key references.

We have chosen not to abbreviate universal design to UD because acronyms are not accessible to everyone. We also decided not to use the proper noun version, ‘Universal Design’, because it makes it sound like a product. It also gives the impression of being a special design. So, we have used lower case throughout to emphasise that it is a process and an approach to design thinking rather than a thing.

For greater accessibility we have devised a companion document in plain language. This is a one page version that has all the key points. This document will be useful for advocacy organisations and others who are new to the concepts.

If you use these documents in whole or part, we ask that you make the appropriate acknowledgement to CUDA.

Download the Position Statement in Word:

- - Full document
  - Plain language version

Download the Position Statement in PDF:

- - Full document
  - Plain language version

We welcome feedback on the policy statements.

You can also see the Hobsons Bay City Council Universal Design Policy Statement.

Size matters in urban design

Aerial view of the city block plan in the city of Barcelona. Size mattes in urban design. — Barcelona architecture: high angle view of the city’s typical urban grid

Walkability is much more than paved walkways. To encourage people to get out and about, places and spaces need to be inviting. We know that urban design impacts our health and wellbeing so it’s important to get it right. Whether people go by foot, e-mobility or mobility device, size matters in urban design.

Nikola Babic says that the scale and form of buildings has a big impact on walkability. Height and width of places and spaces play their part. For example, the sense of scale is blurred when streets are too wide. Active frontages such as shops and cafes, good lighting and a sense of safety are critical factors in attracting pedestrians. Green infrastructure is another important element to include.

With the outbreak of COVID19, more people are aware of the importance of walking. However, most footways are too narrow to provide physical distancing. A good case of where size matters. It also matters for accessibility. Having welcoming streets should be part of the accessibility plan.

Babic discusses the “superblock model” in Barcelona and the 15-Minute City in Paris as examples of what works and what doesn’t. His article is very readable and good for anyone new to this topic. Babic encourages discussion with others to further develop ideas.

Babic ends with, “This short paper is just a beginning of a more in-depth research of walkable and ‘healthy’ urban forms which will explore the complex relationship between the history of urbanism, urban form, urban design, social processes and well-being.”

The title of the article is, Superblocks – The Future of Walkability in Cities? It can also be downloaded from the Academia website.

Doing plain language is a process

Accessibility and universal design have arrived in written language. People who can read and write well sometimes forget that not everyone else has that capability. But writing a document or webpage in plain language takes a lot of thought. Doing plain language is a process. This point is well made in a blog article.

Kelsie Acton writes about her plain language experiences in a blog post. As with any new idea, we grow with practice. That’s also one of the tenets of universal design: do the best you can with what you have at the time. Then do it better next time – it’s a process of continuous improvement.

Acton’s article is a great example in itself. It isn’t plain language as such, but it is very easy to read. She explains how she thinks about plain language and the difficulties it poses sometimes. For example, words feel flat – it’s all about facts and less feeling.

Having more than one version of a document is important. Writing in a way to make people think or to express values are difficult to do in plain language. Acton gives an example of this where she takes an emotive paragraph and turns it into plain language.

Acton says that plain language uses:

- - The most common vocabulary possible so that readers aren’t stopped by unfamiliar words
  - Active voice, so it is clear who is doing what
  - Short sentences
  - Headings, lists, bullet points, and white space to make information clearer
  - Definitions to introduce readers to complicated vocabulary

It makes you think

There is no doubt that writing complex ideas in a straightforward way takes time and effort. Acton says the process makes her think about her own understanding of a topic. Writing in an active voice makes her think about who is doing what. It also makes her think about her relationship to the topic.

So, doing plain language is more than a case of clever wordsmithing. It’s a learning process as well. Kelsie Action’s short article is on the Critical Design Lab website and worth a read. Note the design of the webpage for easy access and reading.

Heritage no barrier to accessibility

Medieval cities with cobblestones, castles and Roman city walls are not the most disability-friendly places. And they are not easy to make accessible either. However, heritage is no barrier to accessibility in five European cities. They’ve made accessibility a top priority thanks to technology, design and engineering so that heritage is no barrier to accessibility.

The five cities are the Dutch towns of Breda and Rotterdam, Lyon in France, Slovenia’s Ljubljana, and Chester in the UK. The motivation is that these are popular tourist destinations. These examples show that where there is a will there is a way.

Some of the solutions are:

- lifting cobblestones, slicing them and re-laying them upside down
- an app that lets you tell the council about paving issues and follows progress until the remedial work is completed
- sound beacons that tell blind people when and what bus or tram is pulling into the stop
- an app for the most accessible restaurants, hotels and hotspots
- building cascading ramps to the upper walkways of ancient city walls

Part of the motivation is the tourist trade, both nationally and internationally. However, the EU also takes inclusion seriously and gives access awards to cities that prioritise accessibility in urban planning. The title of the article is Cities without barriers. Heritage is no longer an excuse for exclusion.

Medieval cities need not be “disabled”

When the user of a place or thing is most likely to be a person with disability, it is often labelled “disabled”. But what about places being disabled? “Disabled” in it’s original meaning is something that doesn’t work. So, if the chain of accessibility for everyone is missing, the place is indeed disabled. This was pointed out in an article in The Guardian: “People aren’t disabled, their city is“.

The story is about the Dutch medieval city of Breda – now one of the most accessible in Europe. This is because there is “joined up” access throughout – not a bit here and a bit there. They have pulled up cobblestones and re-laid them upside down to create a flatter surface. Hotels are on board too. The key point is that the local authorities have a commitment to inclusion and accessibility and that’s what makes the difference. The next major step will be improving digital communication. See the article for more information.

How will we know when we have achieved inclusion? It will be the day when separate labelling for places and things is no longer required.

Universal Design in Architectural Education

Two student models of a housing development incorporating universal design. — Two examples of student designs

Ageing is a fact of life. It’s something we know happens but don’t want to think about. But policy-makers and designers need to think about it as many of us live longer. Yes, it is a good thing, but also a challenge. Two things need to change – designer attitudes and skills, and building codes. So what are architects doing about it? We need universal design in architectural education if we are to leave behind the age-unfriendly designs of last century.

A paper from Ireland discusses many of the housing issues faced across the world. That is, homelessness, affordability, social housing, and ageing safely at home. The crisis in homelessness led to more funding for local authorities to tackle the issues. Hence, an opportunity to try something different.

The Cork Centre for Architectural Education (CCAE) embarked on a “Live Project” for architecture students. This type of learning allows creativity to meet the real world. It also encourages students to take a moral and social approach to design.

The authors discuss the real life project which was to design a housing development for older adults. It covers the site and the teaching methods related to universal design. Working with the local authority gave students awareness of different housing provisions. It also changed their perceptions of families similar to their own experience.

One of the outcomes was that students found it harder to combine both the effective overall site strategy with an equally well-considered scheme for the interior of the houses. However, this was likely due to the limited time frame they were working with. But there is much more in this paper.

The title is, Universal Design in Architectural Education: Community Liaison on ‘Live Projects’. The paper is from the 2018 Universal Design Conference held in Dublin.

Abstract

The infusion of Universal Design principles into existing courses in
architecture should become evident in any project work undertaken. ‘Live project’ is a term used to describe projects that engage the academic world with real-world groups/organizations.

CCAE sees such projects as valuable exercises in a student’s education, particularly, the practical experience of interaction with ‘user-experts’. In 2016 Cork County Council approached CCAE with a proposal to promote age friendly housing as part of their age-friendly initiative.

CCAE developed this into a ‘live project’ for Year 2 architecture students, continuing the integration of UD into the curriculum. This helps students to identify the negative disabling aspects of ageing and show UD principles can be seen as commonplace. For their part, the County Council were able to expand their own thinking, availing of the less constrained ideas that students brought to their schemes.

An approach to achieving the adoption of UD is to consider the Vitruvian definition of architecture as having ‘commodity, firmness and delight’. From this, the aesthetic integration of features to benefit users of limited ability can be achieved without stigmatising anyone as being old or disabled. Now in its second year the project is being run in West Cork.

The chosen site in Bantry town centre, has interesting challenges for the students to incorporate UD principles. This paper will present imaginative but viable projects as examples of student’ responses to the challenges of designing housing solutions and will report on their ability to integrate age-friendly features at different scales.

Walkability in neighbourhood design

Health professionals say the lack of walking is a major factor in poor long term health. But do planners consider the breadth and diversity of the population? Perhaps we need a broader definition of walkability in neighbourhood design.

Lisa Stafford and Claudia Baldwin discuss the issues in their paper. They say few articles on walkable neighbourhoods include people with diverse abilities across the age spectrum. We need to design equitable space – places where everyone is welcome. They recommend that studies on walkable neighbourhoods encapsulate diverse abilities and ages.

The title of the article is, Planning Walkable Neighborhoods: Are we overlooking diversity in ability and ages? It is available through Sage Journals via your institution. Or you can access for a free read through QUT e-prints.

Walkable, rollable, seatable, toiletable

We need a broader term than walkable to explain how everyone can be actively mobile in the community, says Lloyd Alter. In his blog article he adds that unless you are “young and fit and have perfect vision and aren’t pushing a stroller… many streets aren’t walkable at all…” Alter takes his point from a new book where other terms are coined:

- Rollability. Walkability isn’t enough anymore
- Strollerability, for people with kids
- Walkerability, for older people pushing walkers
- Seeability, for people with vision impairment
- Seatability – places to sit down and rest
- Toiletability – comfortable places to go to the bathroom

“All of these contribute to making a city useable for everyone. So we need a broader term for this” says Alter. His suggestions are activemobility, or activeability to cover all the ways different people get around in cities. He says he is open to suggestions for a better word.

The title of the blog article is, We need a better word than ‘walkable’. The title of the book is Walkable City Rules by Jeff Speck.

Pedestrians First: A Walkability Tool

Cities are expected to hold seventy percent of the the world’s population by 2050. In planning terms that is very soon. Encouraging walking is talked about as if it was just a matter of persuading us to do it. However, planners and urban designers need to focus more on pedestrian needs and find out what the barriers are to getting out and about on foot and with wheels. The Institute for Transportation and Development has a new tool, Pedestrians First: Tools for a Walkable City.

Joe Chestnut, author, says, “but walkability is not just a sidewalk, it’s a whole system of design and infrastructure”. The tool aims to create a better understanding of walkability and ways to measure features. Their interpretation of walkability also includes people with disability. Best practice examples from around the world are provided. But note – an even footpath or sidewalk is still required!

What about the stairs?

Walkability is discussed as the solution to keeping people active and engaged in their community. A research study on stairs and older people concludes that the presence of stairs “may deter older persons (and others) from walking outdoors.” The study was a systematic review of the literature. The full article is available online from BMC Public Health. Or you can download the PDF. The title is “Examining the relationships between walkability and physical activity among older persons: what about stairs?” by Nancy Edwards and Joshun Dulai.

1000 Play Streets Toolkit

The play street movement has taken off and councils across Australia are taking an interest. Play streets are run by residents for a few hours at quiet times of day. They can be weekly, fortnightly or monthly, or even one-off events. Regular times bring the best results for creating connection, and it’s all explained in the 1000 Play Streets Toolkit.

The aim of the 1000 Play Streets project is to reclaim quiet residential streets as places for neighbours of all ages to connect. Older Australians will remember playing in the street as they were growing up and this is a way to recapture some of that value. But now neighbours need help to make it happen and this is where local councils come in.

The Toolkit is specifically designed to provide planning advice to local governments that want to build local communities. It requires the approval of temporary street closures and support for neighbourhood groups.

The overall aim is to create a play street movement that develops organically through citizen action. The Toolkit is for local government to help them on their Play Street journey.

There are several supporting documents to the Toolkit including case studies.

The online Toolkit links to online case studies, templates and other resources. It includes issues such as traffic, public liability and a risk benefit assessment.

There is a video of the national launch of the Toolkit and the Play Street movement. There is also a slideshow with the key elements of how and why the project is important.

Frequently Asked Questions provides answers to the typical questions councils would ask. This document provides similar information to the Toolkit, but in a different format.

Neighbourhood fun for everyone

Roadways take up a lot of land. Time to make that land more flexible for more than just vehicles. The video below shows how closing down a residential street for two hours can produce a lot more activity just for people, not people in cars. It’s neighbourhood fun for everyone!

The video explains how this has reduced obesity and social isolation. It also shows how it can become an inclusive space for everyone. When there is an inclusive communal space at your front door there is no excuse not to get involved. See the video for how this idea got started. Would be good to see more of it. But as always, it takes a leader to get it going. Would, or do councils in Australia support this initiative? This looks like a cost effective method for tackling childhood obesity.

Zoom for people with vision loss

The inventors of Zoom could not have predicted the level of use during COVID lockdowns. It is one of the easiest to use and one reason it is popular with business and families. It also has provision for live captioning for people who have difficulty hearing. However, the purpose of video platforms is to see who you are talking to. But what if they are a fuzzy block of faces? Here are some tips on Zoom for people with vision loss.

Sheri Byrne-Haber’s has some tips to make Zoom meetings more equitable for people with vision loss.

- - If you send out presentation materials in advance, people using screen readers can download and magnify them. That way, they don’t have to ask the presenter “can you make that bigger?”
  - If you embed text in images they just pixelate when they are magnified. That is, all you can see are pixels – dots.
  - Use good contrast. Low contrast is still difficult to read with a screen reader. Larger does not make it clearer. Neon colours are difficult for some autistic people. Best is off white with charcoal or navy blue. Stark black and white is not best.
  - No fancy fonts and make them a decent size. No Italics. Bold or colour change is better for emphasis.

Byrne-Haber has more detail in her blog post and it is worth a read. As she says: Don’t be the barrier. Be the solution.

Universal design is a thinking process. Once you start incorporating these ideas into presentations it starts to become second nature.

Older adults lead universal design processes

Three soda cans showing the ring pull opener. Older adults lead universal design. — Ring pulls need more space for fingers

If you design for the extremes of the population, you include the middle. That’s one way, among many, of describing the universal design process. So asking people at the older end of the age spectrum to engage in design process could bring good outcomes for all. A recent study tested this idea to see if older adults could take a lead in universal design processes. They found that they could.

“Lead users” are people who have the potential to identify needs that could be present in the general population. The concept is based on the premise that what is good for lead users is good for many others. A group of researchers decided to test this idea with older adults. In the process they found additional things they weren’t expecting.

The researchers discovered that many everyday products do not comply with universal design principles. This leads to older adults ignoring tasks due to design complexity. For example, wearing slippers to avoid shoes that demand bending for socks or laces.

The researchers found no real difference between the needs of the older population and the general population. They also found that products redesigned for older adults were preferred by others, on average, 89% of the time. One of the redesigns was the ring pull tab on soda cans. A deeper dent under the tab makes more space for all fingers.

The title of the paper is, A Lead User Approach to Universal Design – Involving Older Adults in the Design Process. It is open access. The paper provides the method and results in detail.

From the Abstract

Previous work has shown promising results on involving users with physical challenges as lead users – users who have the potential to identify needs that could be latent among the general population. It has also been shown that older adults can act as such lead users. They can help design universal product ideas that satisfy both older adults and the general population.

In this paper we build on this and examine if involving older adults in the design phase can result in universal products, products preferred by both older adults and the general population over a current option.

Products were redesigned and prototyped based on the needs of older adults and tested among both populations. Although the needs differed between the populations, on average 89% of the general population participants preferred products designed based on design needs expressed by older adults over the current option.

This provides further evidence supporting the use of older adults in designing products for all.

UDL and education resources in online learning

Title slide of the presentation UDL for education resources for online learning. — Title slide of presentation

People have worked and studied from home for several years. It is not a new concept, but it has evolved. e-commerce has become online shopping, and e-learning has become online learning. Living life online during COVID times has become the new normal. It’s likely that online learning will continue to evolve and that means open education resources need to keep up.

Most people were not taught digital accessibility in school. Consequently, it likely it comes as an afterthought to designing open education resources. Similarly to a building, it takes far more effort to make it accessible after it is built. This point is made by Josie Gray from BCcampus in Canada.

Gray’s presentation slides and speaking notes explains how to create inclusive open education resources (OER). First she takes you through the basics of UDL and some digital information. Subsequent slides explain the best ways to make links, data tables, audio, and video. Colour contrast, images, text descriptions and displaying image captions are also covered.

The last part of the presentation discusses the “average” student, social model of disability, and other factors affecting accessibility. This is a useful document for anyone producing online educational material.

As these are speaking notes together with presentation slides, it makes for easy reading and understanding. A good example of document presentation style for others to follow.

The title of the presentation is Accessible and Universal Design for Learning in OER. The presentation slides are available separately. The slides are free to use, modify, or distribute with attribution.

Author: Jane Bringolf

Generic Universal Design Position Statement

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Size matters in urban design

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