Author: Jane Bringolf

Universally designed infrastructure planning

An aerial view of a new highway junction with overpasses.One of the underpinning tenets of universal design is to involve users in the design process – at the beginning. Involving citizens in early stages of design can avoid costly retrofits, but more importantly, it is more likely to give people what they want. That means they are more likely to use it. Transport planning can also be universally designed. An article in The Fifth Estate argues that to leave out citizens is asking for trouble, and it is also undemocratic. Infrastructure is a public thing regarless of  who owns it, runs it or controls it. It is about good city governance. Planners need to do three things:

  1. consult and engage citizens early in infrastructure planning
  2. improve quality and access of citizen engagement at the strategic planning stages
  3. use more sophisticated strategic planning tools and practices to improve decision-making

The original article was in The Conversation. 

Another look at missed business

Close up of a a man's hand holding a wallet with some bank notes sticking out.Champions of universal design are often told that to effect change you need a good economic argument. Several such arguments have been written, but have met with little success in terms of gaining greater acceptance of universal design and inclusive practice. Shops, buses, buildings, hotels, meeting places, schools, parks, tourist destinations, and homes still remain inaccessible to many. The tourism sector has recognised that telling hotels and holiday businesses that they are missing out on a significant market is not sufficient of itself to make change. What is needed is more “How to…”.  The latest publication  discussing economics, is on the purchasing power of working age people with disability. It travels over familiar ground with the latest statistics, facts and figures relative to the United States. It compares the disposable income of people with and without disability and with Front cover of the reportdifferent disabilities, and goes on to discuss the data from a marketing perspective.

The full title of the paper is, A Hidden Market: The Purchasing Power of Working-Age Adults with Disabilities, by  Yin, Shaewitz, Overton & Smith. Published by the American Institutes for Research. You can download from Researchgate. 

Note: The economics of universal design in housing by Smith, Rayer, Smith (2008) is an excellent example of economists applying their skills to a social problem. Nothing has changed yet.

Universal Design in Housing

Front cover of book showing lots of different sized and coloured cubes stacked. The title banner is in dark yellow For anyone not familiar with the movement for universal design in housing, Introduction to Housing has a chapter that gives a really good overview of how to incorporate UD into the design. It covers each of the design features and explains that they can be factored into moderately sized homes. The chapter addresses each of the classic principles of universal design and how they apply to housing design. A case study illustrates the features. As with many Google Books, many of the pages are freely available, but for the full chapter you will need to contact the authors, Hartje, Ewen and Tremblay or purchase the book.

Introduction to Housing, 2nd edition, is edited by Katrin B. Anacker, Andrew T. Carswell, Sarah D. Kirby, Kenneth R. Tremblay. 

Urban design for the not-so-average

Wide footpath in a shopping strip which has a veranda overhead. There are planter boxes and a seat. We need urban design for the not so average.How quickly can you get across a pedestrian crossing? The Department of Health says the average walking speed required is 1.2 metres per second. However, the average speed of the older pedestrian is 0.7 to 0.9 metres per second, according to an article in The Guardian. So we need urban design for the not-so-average.

Cities are designed with a mythical average person in mind, but this so-called average is getting older. Have designers updated their data on this? The article discusses many issues that have been mentioned elsewhere: older people having problems getting outdoors; time to sit down; a bus driver who lets you sit before moving off; and of course, uneven pavements – or no pavements at all.

Global Network of Age Friendly Cities

Across the world 258 cities have signed up to the World Health Organisation’s Global Network of Age Friendly Cities. One has to ask “only 258?” The title of The Guardian article is, Our cities must undergo a revolution for older people. It questions the approaches of urban designers and has links to other useful references. 

Norway takes a universal design approach to the WHO Age Friendly Cities Guide and has given it an update. 

 

Environments in an Ageing Society

Front cover of the publication.White background with purple line graphics and textThis year the topic for the annual review of Gerontology and Geriatrics is Environments in an Ageing Society: Autobiographical Perspectives. The contributors have long-standing research careers – some are well known in Australia: Edward Steinfeld, Jon Pynoos, Laura Gitlin, Susanne Iwarsson, and Sheila Peace. The chapters cover home, neighbourhood, ageing in place, and social change. Each chapter is written from the researcher’s perspective providing reflections of their experience and learning. As an academic publication you will need institutional access for a free read, or you can purchase chapters separately. Here is the introduction:

“Through the autobiographical perspectives of 16 preeminent researchers and scholars of Environmental Gerontology, this state-of-the-art Annual Review critically examines the broad range of topics that comprise this interdisciplinary field. The writings of these individuals, who have contributed to and shaped the growth of the field over the past three-plus decades, trace the growth and evolution of Environmental Gerontology and provide understanding of, and insights on, the role of environments for older adults and an aging society at multiple levels.    

Inclusion in the chemistry lab

Two students look on while the teacher shows how to dissect an animal. They are wearing gloves and safety glassesThree articles were published in Accessibility in the Laboratory about creating inclusion in school and research laboratories. Good to see this topic discussed as it broadens our thinking about universal design and where it needs to be applied (that is, everywhere). The first is about accommodating students with disability in chemistry teaching laboratories. This is especially important now that the STEM subjects are being promoted and encouraged. The second is focused on the modifications that labs might need to undertake. They include people with reduced hand strength in their discussions. The third is about invisible, or not readily observable, disabilities that need to be considered. They discuss stigma and other challenges students face in the lab. Each chapter can be purchased separately if you don’t have institutional access for a free read. The book is published by the American Chemical Society. Here are the full titles:

Laboratory Safety for All: Accommodating Students with Disabilities in Chemistry Teaching Laboratories

Accommodating Persons with Physical Disability in the Lab

Hidden or invisible disabilities and Laboratory Accommodations  

Hobsons Bay Universal Design Policy Statement

Three circles in blue sitting inside one another. Centre light blue is minimum BCA compliance. Next circle is extension for Australian Standards, and third all embracing circle is for universal design.
       Graphic from the Policy Statement

Hobsons Bay City Council is situated south-west of Melbourne with a significant stretch of coastal area. As with many local councils in Victoria they are keen to embrace the principles of universal design in their planning policies. As part of their access and inclusion strategy they plan to implement universal design principles in new buildings, buildings with significant upgrades, retrofits of existing buildings, features and public open space. They started with a Hobsons Bay Universal Design Policy Statement.

The policy statement includes a table where the 7 classic principles of universal design are translated into specific guidelines for council staff. The policy statement discusses the myths, regulatory framework and how to implement universal design, and how to go beyond compliance. 

A short document and a good template for other councils to use. Policy statements don’t need to be long and wordy. This one gets to the point. 

Preferences of older people in residential design

Aerial view of high rise buildings in Hong KongGuy Luscombe did a great report on his findings from a study tour of residential settings for older people. He found aspects such as natural light were of important to residents. A similar study was undertaken in Hong Kong looking at age, gender, marital status, etc., to see the preferences of older people in residential design

The importance of living in a space you like has ongoing health benefits (or detriments if not). This is a thorough study using qualitative techniques which looks at residents preferences. Differences emerged about windows, but there seemed to be some general agreement about bedroom size. The title of the paper is, Comparison of facilities management in private domestic buildings among different elderly groups in Hong Kong.  Here is the last part of the abstract:

“The result shows that satisfaction with natural daylight was significantly different among elderly people of different genders, while the one-way between-groups ANOVA indicates that satisfaction with the size of bedrooms, turning spaces at doors, temperature in bathrooms and/or toilets, colour, accessibility and ease of closing or opening the doors were significantly different among elderly people belonging to different age groups and of different marital status and education level.

Designers and private developers are therefore recommended to increase the sizes of bedrooms, install windows on opposite sides of walls in the flats and ensure there is an adequate light reflection ratio for wall and floor colours, in order to accommodate elderly people’s special characteristics.”  

Staying connected with “third places”

Two men tending a raised garden bed in a community garden. One is tipping up a wheelbarrow and the other is scraping out the soil. Staying connected with third places.The notion of “third places” is about places in the public domain that encourage informal and casual social interaction. The “first place” is home, and the “second place” is where significant time is spent in a formal sense such as the workplace. Community gardens and town squares are an example of a “third” place. 

The Conversation has an interesting article about being lonely in the city. It brings into focus the idea of creating spaces with the human scale in mind. Loneliness is a growing concern and spoken of as the “new smoking”.  The article, Many people feel lonely in the city but perhaps third places can help with that also has links to relevant papers. 

The Compassionate City

A brick terrace house fronts the footpath and has lots of pot plants in front of it.The Dutch idea of the Woonerf has been picked up again, this time by Jenny Donovan of La Trobe University. Using some graphics, she shows how design can affect our decisions to either walk, drive, use public transport or not, and whether you feel welcome in the environment. She covers the key elements of a Compassionate City where various design elements can meet the needs of a range of people and create more harmonious behaviours. There are several links in the article to other related reports and articles. The article originates from The Conversation.  

Urban design and social responsiveness

A distance pic of a three column building in Singapore with trees and people in the foregroundIt’s one thing to be accessible, but what other features make a place socially responsive? According to a research paper from Singapore, top of the list is footpaths followed by seating for resting. Concerns over the mix of cyclists and pedestrians and good lighting also feature. The article outlines a method for assessing accessibility and useability of environments.  Apart from the method, the results support many other papers on this topic.

The title of the paper is, The Methodology for Evaluating Accessibility as a Tool for Increasing  Social Responsiveness or Urban Landscapes in Singapore. Several photos illustrate the text. 

From the abstract

Creating a more responsive urban environment enables social integration of people into active public life. This is especially the case for people limited physical abilities.

The author presents a research-based methodology for analysing and evaluating accessibility in public areas of a big city. The originality of the method lays in empowering the disabled persons to play the active role of experts in measuring and evaluating accessibility according the developed assessment tool.

The methodology enables evaluation of accessibility on different urban scales: urban landscapes, in buildings, and in their interiors. The case study performed in Singapore explores the quality of access that people have to public spaces, metro stations, hotels and café.

The paper presents recommendations for improving accessibility in the city by improving the architectural design of buildings. Updating building regulations is also required as well as the maintenances of open spaces and buildings.

The results of this research provide the comprehensive action plan for eliminating barriers in the specific Singapore’s environment and in the other cities. Conclusions present a coherent accessibility monitoring tool and improvement programme to create a socially responsive urban environment.

 

A tiny house can be accessible

Inside the Wheel Pad showing the bedroom with a colourful quilt on the bed. A tiny house can be accessible.Inhabitat website has a feature about the Wheel Pad. The 200 sq ft (18.5 sqm) residence is designed to be an add-on to an existing home. It comes on a trailer and stays on the wheels. This means it can be taken away again if the “house” isn’t needed any more. Judge for yourself in the video below to see if a tiny house can be accessible. 

The original idea arose out of a need to incorporate someone after an accident and needed a wheelchair for getting around.

The explanatory  video on this website is almost ten minutes long, but well worth the watch. It covers the design process, the features, and finally two wheelchair users who visit and give their feedback about the design. This idea could be adapted in Australia as long as the existing home has a yard big enough to take it. They claim it can be built in a day. A must see for anyone involved in providing home modifications. Also suited to bringing a parent close to home.

Editor’s note: I found the trial by the two wheelchair users at the end very informative. The ramp was a bit steep and long so they used the wooden rails to pull themselves up (splinters were mentioned). One had difficulty coming over the threshold. They discussed what worked and what might not and how things could be changed to suit.