Jane Bringolf, Author at - Page 92 of 109

Classroom design from a student perspective

What is the optimal classroom environment for students? Why not ask them? Designing Classrooms for Learning reports on a project that included student opinions about classroom design for learning about science. The project included a survey where students compared their “ideal” design with current design.

The study concludes that lighting, desk layout, places to put belongings and the layout of materials in the classroom all have an effect on student learning. “Student morale and learning can be affected greatly by the physical structure of the classroom, and that the involvement of students in the environment creating process can increase their motivation as well as empower them and develop a sense of community”.

According to the findings, something as simple as desk layout can make a big difference. Most teachers of adults have known this for some time. They take the time to rearrange rows of previously aligned tables and chairs into circular layout or into small group layout.

Given that every student learns differently, instructors need to provide multiple avenues for learning. This links with the theory of humans having different intelligences. You can read more on education, learning and universal design for learning, on this website.

Economic arguments for universal design in housing

The 2022 National Construction Code has at last included the Livable Housing Design Standard. Citizen advocacy and political will made this happen. But there were strong economic arguments. Research papers have produced solid economic arguments for universal design in housing over many years. However, these arguments failed in their quest. So the issues are beyond those of economics. For those who want the research, here is a list of papers, including the cost effectiveness of home modifications (or not needing them in the first place).

Selected articles on economic arguments

The cost of NOT including accessibility in new homes This landmark article by Smith, Rayer and Smith (2008) uses complex economic methodologies to show that a new home built today has a 60% likelihood of having an occupant with a permanent disability. People with disability live in families – not alone – which is often forgotten. They followed up this work in 2011 with similar results.

Universal design in housing: is cost the real issue? The Dalton-Carter economic evaluation disputes the Australian Building Codes Boards economic study.

A cost benefit analysis of adaptable homes by urban economist Martin Hill of Hill PDA. This 1999 conference paper shows how long these arguments have been running. The context is adaptable housing – the forerunner of universal design concepts in housing.

Home adaptations: Costs? or Savings? A survey of local authorities and Home Improvement Agencies: Identifying the hidden cost of providing a home adaptations service.

Accessible housing: costs and gains This article evaluates the costs and gains of modifying homes

Using Building Information Modeling with Universal Design Strategies. This article develops a technical framework to evaluate the costs and benefits of building projects.

Universal design in housing from a planning perspective. A comprehensive look at the housing landscape, an ageing population, and the need for universal design in housing.

Universal design in housing – does it really have to cost more? In a down to earth fashion Kay Saville-Smith discusses the “size fraud”

Barriers to Universal Design in Australian Housing is a short paper based on a thesis. It gives an indication of why economic arguments alone are insufficient to bring about change.

Can tourism improve walkability?

If local and state governments aren’t listening to residents about mobility, walkability, and wheelability then perhaps they might consider visitors and tourists with money to spend locally. But are they really interested in the extra tourist dollars? Does the local Chamber of Commerce think it’s all too difficult to create greater access and inclusion? The walkability issue isn’t just about footpaths, seating and toilets – it’s about all the links in the chain to make it happen – joined up thinking. Otherwise we end up with islands of access and inclusion. And you can’t be a bit inclusive – it either is or it isn’t. That means business, community and governments need to work in unison on the design of physical environments, customer service and tourist information. And of course the reverse of the question is, “Can walkability improve tourism?”

Accessibility and Equitable Tourism Services for Travelers with Disabilities: From an Charitable to a Commercial Footing, takes a corporate and social responsibility perspective on some of these issues. You will need institutional access for a free read – published in Corporate Sustainability and Responsibility in Tourism, where there is further reading.

A research paper from Turkey, Assessment of factors influencing walkability in shopping streets of tourism cities is also worth a read. They found that “Urban planning and design should focus on how to connect people and places together, by creating cities that focus on connectivity, accessibility, crime security, traffic safety, and comfort
and use’.

You can find some inclusive tourism guides, magazine articles and research papers in the tourism section on this website.

Playgrounds for all children

Inclusive play spaces are receiving more attention, but what equipment and design features are most suitable? Research in the US throws some light on this topic. Children, parents, teachers, landscape designers and equipment manufacturers all have a stake in the outcome. This means there are often gaps between what is required, what is available and what gets implemented.

Building Playgrounds for Children of All Abilities looks at legal requirements and provides some useful recommendations. You will need institutional access for a free read. Or you can access the paper via ResearchGate and ask for a free copy.

Also see Everyone Can Play published by the NSW Government.

Abstract

Schools and communities typically design and build playgrounds with little knowledge that the selected playground equipment meets the needs of children, caregivers, and teachers. In this article, the various categories of playgrounds are discussed and analyzed.

The focus of this discussion includes an overview of the legal requirements and guidelines for school and community playgrounds, a description of prior research highlighting the inadequacies in currently available playgrounds, and an explanation of the trends in playground design over the years.

We relate these topics to the need for universally designed playgrounds and a deeper commitment to designing playgrounds and play equipment that is empirically tested and meets the needs of all children, their teachers, and their families.

By discussing practical examples and research findings to illustrate the gap between playground manufacturers and their play equipment and playground consumers, this paper serves as a meaningful resource for teachers and other stakeholders so they have the knowledge to advocate for their students with disabilities in playground endeavors. Taking recent research findings into account, we provide a vision for playground policy change.

A less lonely planet with inclusive tourism

International travel is a great experience for everyone especially when operators get on board with inclusive thinking. In his latest article, Martin Heng goes beyond the rights arguments to explain the economics of inclusive travel. With a growing market of older travellers tourism and travel businesses need to step up to take advantage. Heng also picks up the issue of terminology: “accessible” makes people think of compliance for wheelchair users. But he rightly points out that wheelchair users are a small proportion of the population that has some kind of disability or chronic health condition. That’s why we should be calling it “inclusive travel”.

Heng goes on to list the easy, cost effective things that businesses can do. And not just thinking about the building. Easy to read fonts on menus and other information materials, TVs with captioning options, and websites that provide relevant visitor information about rooms, attractions and services. The article has several pictures showing Martin in various overseas locations. The title is What is accessible travel, and why should we be talking about it? Martin Heng works for Lonely Planet as their Accessible Travel Manager.

Image courtesy Martin Heng from his article.

Mobility as a Service

Public policy on transportation is desperately trying to keep up with the technology. We are looking at a shift from personally owned vehicles to mobility consumed as a service. This already happening as younger generations are choosing ride-share systems rather than car ownership. But will future mobility services be inclusive of people regardless of income, ethnic background, age or disability?

AARP Public Policy Institute in the US has looked closely at the issues in an attempt to stay ahead of the policy curve. Their discussion paper argues that the current disruption offers an unprecedented opportunity to expand mobility for everyone. “If implemented fully and thoughtfully, Universal Mobility as a Service has the potential to lead to a more equitable transportation system, where tens of millions of non-drivers are able to more fully participate in the economic, social and civic life of their communities”. The paper rightly points out that it can’t be universal without Universal Design from vehicle design through to customer interaction. There is a video with an overview on the main Future of Transportation page.

Public transportation systems are also discussed, as well as serving rural communities and other policy issues. There is lots to digest in this comprehensive discussion paper. The title of the report is Universal Mobility as a Service: A bold vision for harnessing the opportunity of disruption.

Universal Design Improves Access Compliance

What can you do to improve compliance with disability access standards when they are misunderstood, seen as too hard to implement, and where buildings are in a serious state of disrepair? This was the challenge set by Australia’s overseas aid program in Sri Lanka. The aim of this project was to find a way to educate built environment professionals in Sri Lanka about complying with disability access regulations. Rather than take a text book approach to explaining the standards, the training group decided to take a universal design approach. That meant focusing on the reasons why certain designs were needed, not just the need to apply the standard.

In her paper on this project, Penny Galbraith details the particular issues Sri Lanka faces. Major heritage sites, assets in complete disrepair, obsolete infrastructure, and transport conveyance designs from previous centuries all contribute to the complexities. “Universal design was the ideal starting point, not least because of its emphasis on users, but also that it allows for acknowledging and embracing cultural factors which is very important given ethnic tension in Sri Lanka”.

An interesting application of the principles of universal design. It shows that reducing barriers in the built environment is reliant on understanding why, not just how to comply. The title of the paper is, A Practitioner’s Universal Design Approach Making a Difference to Distressed Assets in Sri Lanka.

The paper is from the proceedings of the UDHEIT 2018 conference held in Dublin, Ireland, an open access publication.

Being a Good Sport: Including Everyone

Australians come together for sport no matter who they are or where they’re from. That’s why it’s important to keep sport as inclusive as possible. While there is a need for specialised sports facilities for para-athletes, community sporting groups and clubs need to adapt to providing sporting activities for everyone.

Introducing young people to sport and keeping them involved can have long term positive effects. However, young people with disability are involved to a lesser extent. While there are some specialised programs for children and young people, this may not be the way of the future.

Susanna Geidne and Kajsa Jerlinder tackle this issue in the Sport Science Review journal. After a systematic search of peer-reviewed articles, they conclude,

“We must go from adapting physical activity for disabled persons to adapting physical activity for all people, because the diversity of people’s reasons for doing sports, their differing backgrounds and their uniqueness all demand it. Such an approach will result in more people doing sports for longer in life, which will benefit everyone, both individually and at the societal level.”

The title of the article is, “How sports clubs include children and adolescents with disabilities in their activities. A systematic search of peer-reviewed articles”.

Sport and Recreation Victoria are doing great work on inclusion and have produced a useful handbook, Design for Everyone Guide.

Housing, older people and resilience

People want to stay put as they age. That means housing design is critical in supporting this desire, as well as ageing-in-place policies. A new study from New Zealand looked at issues of appropriate housing for older people, and how people and communities can develop resilience to adverse natural events. The findings relate to ageing societies across the globe and within the context of changing environmental conditions. The decision tools that researchers devised from this participatory research are useful for older people and for architects and other designers.

The title of the article by Bev James and Kay Saville-Smith is “Designing housing decision-support tools for resilient older people“. There are several useful references at the end of this excellent study.

ABSTRACT: Our ageing populations make it critical that older people continue to live and participate in their communities. ‘Ageing in place’, rather than in residential care, is desired by older people themselves and promoted as policy in many countries. Its success, both as policy and practice, depends on housing. House performance, resilience, functionality and adaptability are all essential to maintaining independence. Three New Zealand research programmes have worked with older people to investigate issues around housing, ‘ageing in place’ and how older people and communities can become resilient to adverse natural events. Using participatory research techniques, those programmes have generated evidence-based decision-support tools to help older people maintain independence. These tools have been co-designed and widely tested with older people and others. Designed to help older people identify priorities and information requirements, assess diverse factors determining thermal performance and dwelling resilience as well as repairs and maintenance needs, the tools help improve decisions around: repairs and maintenance assessment and solutions; dwelling and location choices and housing options. Various organizations have adopted the tools. This work demonstrates how research outputs can be used to facilitate older people’s housing choices while also giving architects and designers guides for meeting older people’s housing needs.

Image by David Mark.

Design Council Inclusive Environments CPD

Inclusion is everybody’s business. By definition it isn’t a fringe activity. Inclusion requires everyone to be involved. In the built environment that means people involved in commissioning places and spaces as well as the trades and certifiers. So it goes beyond access codes and leaving it to access consultants. To help, the Design Council has a free interactive online Inclusive Environments CPD training course. It is about raising awareness of population diversity and why we should be designing more fairly and sustainably. There is also a searchable resource hub that has relevant information and discussion on this subject.

Author: Jane Bringolf

Classroom design from a student perspective

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