Category: Practice Guidelines for built environment

A universal design approach to all building types: A guide

Front cover of the guide.What does it mean to take a universal design approach to designing all building types? In a nutshell, it means designing for as many people as possible. It’s not a one-size-fits-all approach either, although some say it is. 

The concept of universal design has come a long way from its roots in barrier-free-design. It covers everything from tangible objects to customer service. 

A guide from the Centre for Excellence in Universal Design covers all types of public buildings: offices, transport, retail, shopping centres, restaurants and bars, museums, galleries, libraries, entertainment centres, religious buildings, hotels, outdoor areas, parks and historic sites. The whole guide takes a universal design approach to all aspects of building design and across all types of buildings. It’s a very detailed guide, but the sections have clear subheadings. The section on housing was updated in 2023.

The Building for Everyone guide contains checklists for each section and pictures show some of the design issues arising. This is a comprehensive publication and brings together all building types together in one place. This makes it a good resource for local authorities that need to join the dots between all buildings in their community. It is also useful for planners and designers involved in one or more of the building types. 

Also, have a look at Designing Homes with Dementia in Mind. 

 

Universal Design, Health and Ageing: A checklist

Four older men wearing hats sit at a square table in the park.The most well-known guide for ageing populations is the World Health Organization’s Age Friendly Cities and Communities. This, and similar guides, focus on “active ageing” or “positive ageing”. They aim to counter the “burden” view of older people which tends to focus on ill-health. But good health and design are closely linked. The Center for Health Design has joined the dots on universal design, health and ageing and created a checklist.  

The Center for Health Design‘s checklist focuses on design features specific to older people. This checklist differs from others as it includes the health care aspect and takes a universal design approach. The checklist is not a list of comprehensive specifications, but a “thought starter”. It is best used to guide the discussion of design teams at the outset of a project. The checklist covers Home and Community including residential, Healthcare and design of clinics and emergency rooms, and Workplace designs and strategies.

The checklist matrix lists the strategy or goal, design considerations for the built environment, and the universal implications. It includes ageing in place, active living, hospital at home, hospital design, and promoting healthy lifestyles. 

The checklist has a comprehensive reference list to support the content. An extract from the checklist is below. 

The header of the checklist matrix showing the Strategy, Design element and universal implications.

 

 

Great Public Spaces Toolkit

Public Spaces Toolkit cover.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

placemaking Europe logo. Yello background with a drawing of a hammer and nail.

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.

Norway: A guide for universal design is not enough

An aerial view of a hospital courtyard showing gardens, seating and children's play equipment.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”. 

relates to With a Deadline In Place, Norway Warms Up to Universal Design

“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.

Better Placed: Action for Good Design

Front cover of Better Placed.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

View of Auckland cityscape and waterfront with piers and boats. The Urban Design Toolkit is from New Zealand.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.

Urban design and active living

An infographic from the guide focused on buildings.Healthy active living is a good thing but it isn’t just about joining an exercise class or a gym. It’s about a whole of life approach to a process none of us can avoid – ageing. So it begins with the design of our built environment – the everyday places and spaces, including our homes. But does being ‘active by design’ include thoughts of older people and people with disability? 

Healthy Active by Design is a Heart Foundation online resource. This website is a practical guide that offers evidence, advice and examples to assist with the development of healthy and active neighbourhoods. It covers:

Public Open Space
Buildings
Community Facilities
Housing Diversity
Destinations
Sense of Place
Movement Networks
Healthy Food

Each section leads to more information and checklists. There is little mention of older people and people with disability in any of the section checklists. “Accessible” and “accessibility” are mentioned a few times but these terms mean different things to different practitioners. 

In terms of housing, this is expressed as housing choice and aged care facilities and specialised accommodation. Unfortunately, old assumptions about the accommodation needs of older people are solved by age-segregation. While the guide is focused on younger cohorts it offers good information for taking a whole of built environment approach to active design. The video below gives an outline. 

Editor’s Comment: I think this is another case of an organisation forgetting the National Disability Strategy which should be considered from the outset. It’s likely that hired consultants have no idea about the overarching Australian policies when devising resources. Inclusion, by definition, is not something separate to add at the end.

 

 

Increase sales with inclusive design

logo of Design Council. white lettering on red backgroundWhen a UK theatre embedded inclusive design in their new building they had a 25% rise in ticket sales from people with disability. This is one example in the Design Council a video showing what is possible with some preliminary design thinking. It showcases several organisations and their approach to embedding inclusion into the design of buildings and services – that includes social inclusion. Community engagement was a big part of the design process: “A lot of ordinary people were involved in the design”.

One interviewee explains how people don’t always use buildings the way you think they will. Consequently it is important to understand the diversity of users with lived experience of the built environment. The video shows several examples – a playground for children and adults alike, transport systems, information systems and devices. It’s down to the details that matter – Barclays bank has a teller machine that includes a spot to hang your walking stick. The theatre mentioned above is also featured. The video is 8 minutes and is captioned.

COVID-19 Screens and hearing augmentation

A man wearing a striped apron passes is behind an acrylic screen. A woman on the other side of the screen is paying for her goods.Acrylic screens have appeared at almost every reception desk in response to covid-safe requirements. But without related hearing augmentation installed, it makes it harder to hear each other.  If people are wearing masks as well, this makes it worse. 

We are familiar with screens at ticket offices, such as train stations, where hearing augmentation systems are mandatory. An article by Bruce Bromley explains how these new reception desk screens contravene the building code if they don’t have hearing augmentation. When businesses installed new screen, few, if any, thought about the communication problems they would cause. And if they did, they perhaps thought we could all live with it.  We need respond to this issue because being covid-safe looks like being a new normal. 

Any service or business that recently installed an acrylic screen at reception should look at finding a hearing augmentation system. It will benefit the receptionist and the customer. Plug and play solutions are available where there is a microphone and speaker on both sides of the screen. I suspect that these screens will not disappear even if and when covid does. It’s all part of adjusting to the “new normal”.

Editor’s comment: Sometimes I find myself or the receptionist ducking around the screen to hear and to be heard. So the screens only work some of the time.

Movement and Place: A guide

Front cover of movement and place guide. The design of the built environment can make or break a successful transportation system. Transport for NSW and the state government architect have updated their guide to movement and place to aid practitioners. 

The guide aims to change some established ways of working so that we get better places and better outcomes. It outlines:

      • a collaborative method for practitioners, stakeholders, and the community 
      • shared responsibility and a shared language to support collaboration 
      • a process for implementing this approach in decisions and project types
      • criteria for measuring and evaluating movement and place now and in future projects

The Practitioner’s Guide to Movement and Place has three main sections. The introduction to the concept and implementing a place based approach cover the practicalities. The third section is more about understanding why this approach is important. The guide is necessarily technical in places and has a reference list at the end.

Established working practices and standards are likely to change, according to the guide. It is asking professionals to think differently about their role in creating successful places. 

The toolkit includes separate sections:

Aligning Movement and Place. 

Evaluators’ Guide to Movement and Place

Practice notes and case studies

Editor’s Note: I couldn’t find a mention of accessibility and inclusion. I assume that practitioners will make this part of the process, but that means it will likely rely on existing standards.  Aboriginal custodians get a mention. And the movement and place appears to be more about infrastructure and budgets than people

Walking Space Guide: Ease and Comfort

A large arched walkway at night with purple bougainvillea flowers overhead. The pathway is well lit but has the line shadows of the arches across it.Getting out and about is good for our health. We know that. But the environment has to be conducive to encourage walking and wheeling. That means streets and paths have to be designed for ease of access and walking comfort. The Walking Space Guide sets out standards to ensure sufficient walking space is provided for everyone. That includes people with disability, people with mobility limitations, families with young children and prams, and people walking dogs. 

A graphic from the walking space guide showing the distance needed for footpaths.The Guide sets standards for designing, planning and implementing footpaths. It sets targets for five levels of footpaths: local with low and medium activity, and main streets with low, medium and high activity. There is no standard less than 2 metres wide. 

There is a quick overview in a summary of the Guide. Transport interchanges or where walking is highly managed is not covered. Work on a space guide for crossings is underway.

Included in the guide is a method for carrying out a Walking Space assessment and guidance on how to understand the results. There is an accompanying Excel spreadsheet for recording data and calculating results. The Guide was developed by the NSW Roads and Maritime Authority.