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Great Public Spaces Toolkit

The NSW Government’s Great Public Spaces Toolkit has all the elements for anyone interested in public space. It’s a collection of free resources to support local government, state agencies, industry and the community. It’s a really simple, well laid out tool.

The Great Public Spaces Toolkit includes:

A four page Fact Sheet about the Evaluation Tool which has four key questions: Am I able to get there? Am I able to play and participate? Am I able to stay? And am I able to connect? These key indicators are an extension of those developed for the Everyone Can Play guide. They were: Can I get there? Can I play? and Can I stay? and represent a universal design approach to the design of spaces.

Evaluation Tool for Public Space and Public Life

Great Public Spaces Guide Ideas and opportunities.

The Evaluation Tool Engagement Report

The Evaluation Tool is also available in Arabic, Chinese and Vietnamese. Print versions are also included.

Placemaking Europe

There’s another toolbox with extended resources from Placemaking Europe. It’s an open source collection of placemaking guides and manuals with lots of pictures.

“The Placemaking Europe Toolbox is a collection of curated placemaking resources for all to access, learn from, and practice.”

Placemaking Toolkit for small communities

Children play with bubbles in urban area.

Designing public space is not only for trained professionals. Because the Placemaking Toolkit shows how community groups and residents can do their own place make-over. The Toolkit is for community-driven, low-cost public space transformation. With the support of local government anyone can change a neglected space in their neighbourhood into a clean and safe play area or park.

This Guide is especially relevant for developing countries and remote communities in any country. The Guide is from the Public Space Network and includes case studies at the end. The introduction includes criteria for a good public space.

What makes a good public space?

1. Accessibility: Public spaces shall be well-connected to other places frequently used by people. They should be easy to get to, easy to enter, easy to move around, free and/or affordable for the vast majority.

2. Comfort: The place shall be kept clean and contain elements enhancing the comfort for its users. These can be seating facilities and dustbins painted in colours, and greenery (trees, loan, flowers) providing shade.

3. Safety: The space shall be well visible without any obstruction that could provide a hiding space for criminal activities. The space should be free of any illegal activities and the presence of motorized traffic shall be limited to avoid injuries.

4. Active use: Spaces become places when people use them. In an always empty space, people may not feel safe or comfortable. To encourage its social function, the place shall offer a wide variety of activities that can interest various types of users. The activities may include sport and leisure activities, such as space for boardgames and team sports, playground for children as well as a regular organization of community events – such as sports tournaments, concerts, fairs etc.

5. Walkability: Good public spaces provide opportunities for people to walk safely with minimal interruption from vehicles and other motorized transport.

Tokyo’s Olympic legacy acknowledges population ageing

Although Japan has the oldest population in the world, creating accessible urban spaces is making very slow progress. Tokyo aimed to have all parts of the city that linked to the Olympic venues completely barrier-free. That includes buildings, transportation, services and open spaces. Tokyo’s Olympic legacy is discussed in a book chapter, which is open access.

Deidre Sneep discusses the issues regarding the urban design legacy in the Japanese context and commercialisation. The title of the book chapter on page 91 is, Discover tomorrow: Tokyo’s ‘barrier-free’ Olympic legacy and the urban ageing population. It’s free to download, but if you have institutional access you can access the journal article version.

One interesting aspect is that some argue that the government’s guide to promote a ‘barrier-free spirit’ makes it sound like an act of friendliness. Any kind of patronising attitude or slogan only serves to maintain marginalisation as the norm. Posters focus on young people and make barrier-free a special design. There are no older people in the pictures.

The implementation of the universal design concept is increasingly commercialised says Sneep. This is likely due to the history of universal design in Japan. One of the first international universal design conferences was held in Japan in 2002, and was led by giant product manufacturers such as Mitsubishi. The International Association for Universal Design (IAUD) remains active.

Abstract from journal article

In 2020 Tokyo will host the Olympic and Paralympic Games for the second time in history. With a strong emphasis on the future – Tokyo’s slogan for the Olympic Games is ‘Discover Tomorrow’ – Tokyo is branded as city of youth and hope. Tokyo’s demographics, however, show a different image: in the coming decades, it is expected that well over a third of the citizens will be over 65. Despite the focus on a youthful image, Tokyo is well aware of the fact that its demographics are rapidly shifting.

Governmental bodies have been actively trying to find solutions for anticipated problems related to the ageing population for decades. One of the solutions that is being discussed and implemented is highlighted by the 2020 Olympics: the implementation of universal design in public spaces in the city in order to make it more easily accessible – in other words, making Tokyo ‘barrier-free’ (bariafurī).

This chapter presents the concept of ‘barrier-free’ in a Japanese setting, critically analyses the history and current implementation of the concept, pointing out that it seems to be increasingly commercialised, and evaluates the purpose of implementing the concept in the light of the 2020 Olympic Games.

Community involvement for design in planning

Planning is also about design. And good design now includes users. Community involvement is a key part of planning processes. It must take account of our human diversity otherwise designs will unintentionally exclude. Community involvement in planning also introduces designers and planners to “other ways of being”.

Design and planning go hand in hand, but design has been a subject to avoid in planning, particularly in the U.S. This is according to a journal article that challenges planners to move beyond policies of spatial organisation.

The article covers climate change and climate justice, and social and racial justice. A workshop using collaborative processes is the basis of a case study highlighting the issues. Community involvement was pivotal to the success of the project and the research outcomes. The subject of the case study is an affordable housing provider. The aim was to move from standard cookie cutter designs to designs that suited the potential residents. The new design was applied to a prototype home.

The author concludes that there are profound implications for planning research. Designers need to engage with planning because they can better address the social and environmental concerns.

The title of the article is, Design in Planning: Reintegration through Shifting Values.

Abstract

Design is increasingly entering planning beyond the subfield of urban design. At a larger scale, designers are moving into the social sciences to apply design skills at intersections with the social sciences. This article offers an overview of research and practice at the forefront of both interpreting design fields and understanding their growing importance within planning. This transcends examinations of urban design to incorporate the potential of design more broadly in planning, with particular emphasis on community development and engagement.

The article does this through a case study of an existing design-based nonprofit (bcWORKSHOP) which leverages techniques across design and planning to generate new forms of community planning practice in the State of Texas. Ultimately, this case study begins to ask whether planning can fully address a number of issues (like social/racial justice and climate change) without understanding these issues from both design and planning perspectives simultaneously. It also emphasizes the importance of training planners to both envision and build alternate possible worlds, a skillset fundamental to design that could reshape planning education and practice.

Digital transitioning requires mainstream accessibility

COVID has revealed our reliance communicating online and via social media. That’s why European countries are getting together to improve the accessibility of all digital services. The digital world has to be accessible to all. It is also part of the Sustainable Development Goals and “leave no-one behind”. That’s why digital transitioning requires mainstream accessibility.

The International Telecommunication Union has launched its ICT accessibility assessment for the Europe region. The COVID-19 pandemic has reinforced the importance of ICT accessibility. The report is designed to provide ITU members and stakeholders from the ITU Europe region with a holistic view of ICT accessibility requirements, the implementation status of ICT accessibility laws, regulations, policies and institutional frameworks, and with good practices and recommendations. Accessibility for all, including ICT is now a top priority.

A magazine article in Mirage titled, Accessible Europe 2021: Making ICTs accessible to all, provides an overview of the assessment report. By 2023 the ITU wants 90% of digital services to have the “seal of usability and accessibility”. This is part of the Accessible Europe project.

Inclusive Tourism: Management perceptions are key

Management perceptions of disability are key to encouraging inclusive tourism. A study comparing national parks in two countries highlighted this and other factors that impact universal accessibility. A legal perspective and no penalties imposed for lack of accessibility means the status quo remains. Taking an economic perspective and an inclusive attitude is more helpful.

National parks within South Africa and Zimbabwe were the subject of a study comparing them for universal design and accessibility. The attitude and perceptions of national park management was found to be a contributing factor for accessibility.

In South Africa there was an understanding that people with disability wanted to experience nature as much as anyone else. There was also a recognition that there was a good economic argument for being inclusive. In Zimbabwe, management considered disability to be a legal issue and did not believe that tourists with disability wanted to visit national parks.

The study revealed that, generally, the management of parks in both countries appreciate the plight of people with disabilities who want to visit their parks. However, the managers from South Africa seemed more willing and prepared to make their parks universally accessible compared to their counterparts in Zimbabwe.

This study was the subject of a doctoral thesis which takes a holistic approach to the issues. The conclusions and recommendations beginning page 184 are relevant to all national parks. Staff training, an understanding of the economic benefits and community consultation are just three of the recommendations. It’s an easy read and the conclusions and recommendations easy to follow.

The doctoral thesis is titled, The development of a universal accessibility framework for National Parks in South Africa and Zimbabwe .

The findings are also published in a journal article which requires institutional access for a free read. The title is, Universal Accessibility of National Parks in South Africa and Zimbabwe: Park Management Perceptions.

Conferences and calls for papers

This page has the latest information on upcoming conferences and calls for papers.

A large room with a power point screen at the front and people sitting at tables cabaret style

7th International Conference on Universal Design, was held 22-24 November 2024 in Norway. The book of open access conference papers is available now.

New to the list:

Neurodiversity Forum 2025: Inclusive Design for All. 26 March 2025. A free one day forum, Manly, Sydney. Focus is on the built environment. Sponsored by Altro. (CUDA does not endorse any for-profit company. Provided for information only.)

Ageing Well and e-Health: ICT4AWE 2025, 6-8 April 2025, Portugal, hybrid. Topics welcome on ageing well, telemedicine, independent living, digital health.

NTRO International Conference, The Transport Revolution: Solutions led by innovation , 7-9 May 2025, Melbourne. 6 topics but not much on inclusion.

CWUAAT: Design for Sustainable Inclusion – Cambridge Workshop on Universal Access and Assistive Technology. 2-4 April 2025, Cambridge UK. Themes: diversity and inclusion, intersectionality, inclusive design in challenging contexts, inclusive design and AI.

Email udaustralia@gmail.com with a link to your event and it will be added to the list.

Videos more effective than policy

Policy is often seen as the way to make change. But when it comes to being inclusive it hasn’t worked very well. If policies, codes and papers are not accessible to all stakeholders, how can we create inclusion? Janice Rieger says videos are more effective than policy.

The title of her short paper and workshop is, Reframing Universal Design: Creating Short Videos for Inclusion. Her research provides insights on how videos travel and reach different audiences. This results in a significant impact and enacted change and informed policy. Dr Rieger concludes that “video impacts more than policies, codes and papers ever can”.

Here is an extract from her paper:

“Video is a visceral medium, offering the opportunity to reframe universal design practice and education. It captures movements and can be co-created with people with disabilities. Videos co-created for inclusion encourage detailed and rich embodied knowledge and experiences because information is prompted by association with one’s surroundings. Significantly, videos have the capacity to excavate personalized knowledge of those with different abilities and uncover systems of exclusion that are often hidden or naturalized, and shamedly rendered invisible through policies, codes and papers.”

In a short video titled, Wandering on the Braille Trail, Sarah Boulton explains how she navigates the environment using her white cane and tactile ground markers.

Norway: A guide for universal design is not enough

Guides give guidance, but you need to know the point of universal design. Knowing the point is a key success factor in taking a universal design approach. This is what the Chief Architect of St Olav’s Hospital in Norway said about the way the hospital precinct was designed. That’s why a guide for universal design is not enough – you need to know the point of it.

The point is inclusion – it’s about society, not just design. The focus on compliance with standards does not tell you the point, just what to do. An article in Citylab provides some examples of how Norwegian designers are embracing the principles of universal design. The Norwegian policy Norway Universally Designed by 2025 is the driving force for change.

St Olav’s Hospital in Trondheim is a great example of how universal design is deployed across the whole hospital setting. That’s from the outdoor and external features through to the internal design. The Chief Architect says, “Guidelines are not enough, you need clear intentions. You have to know what’s the point of this”.

“It looks like a nice urban environment,” said Onny Eikhaug, Program Leader at the Norway Design Council. “It doesn’t look like a hospital, it doesn’t smell like a hospital.”

DOGA, The Innovation Award for Universal Design

The Norwegian policy was launched in 2005, and includes transportation, open spaces and ICT and communications. Nicely written article by Marie Doezema.

Olav Rand Bringa was part of the early movement and wrote about the processes in, Universal Design and Visitability: from Accessibility to Zoning. He also presented at the UDHEIT conference in Dublin.

Local Government and SDA

Specialist Disability Accommodation (SDA) is not just something the NDIS deals with. When it comes to planning and building, local government has to get involved. SDA will not solve all the housing problems for people with disability within a council area. So, the City of Whittlesea is pro-actively tackling this issue. Their approach is outlined in a paper for the upcoming Universal Design Conference.

As Linda Martin-Chew points out in her paper, many people with disability are not eligible for SDA housing. So Council needed to understand the risks and benefits for residents with disability and the SDA market. As Whittlesea has a strong focus on access and inclusion they decided to take action.

Linda’s paper, From niche to mainstream: local government and the specialist disability housing sector outlines how Council tackled the issues. This should make for an interesting and informative presentation at the Conference.

Better Placed: Action for Good Design

Policies and guidelines can be inclusive and thoughtful without needing to even mention universal design. The NSW Government Architect’s policy, Better Placed, has many of the elements of universal design without mentioning it.

A universal design approach to any design is about taking a holistic perspective. The Better Placed objectives are easily linked to the 8 Goals of universal design, which are adaptable to the language of any discipline. In this case it’s urban planning and infrastructure development. The key objectives of this integrated design policy for the built environment are:

- Better fit
- Better Performance
- Better for community
- Better for people
- Better working
- Better value
- Better look and feel

The NSW Government Architect defines a well-designed built environment as healthy, responsive, integrated, equitable and resilient.

The accompanying document, Implementing Good Design takes the ideas and turns them into actions. There’s an evaluation guide as well.

“Better Placed confirms our collective wishes for the future design of our infrastructure, architecture, and public spaces, and endorses the power of design to enable a better and resilient future for our communities.” – Peter Poulet, former NSW Government Architect.

Distant view across Sydney Harbour looking South. Probably taken from Tarongo Zoo

Urban Design Toolkit from NZ

The Urban Design Toolkit is a practical manual explaining the what, the how and when of urban design processes. This New Zealand publication supports the implementation of their Urban Design Protocol. Each section is written in the same straightforward format with the same subheadings. Some sections give examples as well.

The five key sections are Research and Analysis, Community Participation, Raising Awareness, Planning and Design, and Implementation. The Toolkit is now in its third edition. There is no specific mention of universal design in the Toolkit, but some elements are evident in the Urban Design Protocol:

- competitive places that thrive economically and facilitate creativity and innovation
- liveable places that provide a choice of housing, work and lifestyle options
- healthy environments that sustains people and nature
- inclusive places that offer opportunities for all citizens
- distinctive places that have a strong identity and sense of place
- well-governed places that have a shared vision and sense of direction.

The first section begins with an accessibility audit, but it does not mention the inclusion of marginalised groups. Taking a universal design approach to the framework adds extra value.

The New Zealand Ministry for the Environment published the online Urban Design Toolkit.

Author: Jane Bringolf