Research papers for built environment Archives

Playgrounds and mental health

Access to play spaces can improve mental well-being as children grow up according to an article by Alice Covatta. She argues that there is a connection between lack of play and the rise of mental health conditions.

The way we design our urban areas has an impact on play in outdoor locations and this in turn either encourages or discourages play. The article expands on these concepts and uses case studies to highlight the issues and the solutions and introduce play as sustainable design. The article comes from the latest edition of Urban Design and Mental Health, which has several interesting articles.

NSW Government has published a guide to taking a universal design approach to play spaces, Everyone Can Play.

Universal Design: Tangible and empathetic?

Students rarely get to practice on real clients. This means they are left with an academic understanding of issues such as inclusion and universal design. One way to help architecture students understand diversity in a tangible and empathetic way is to use age as a lens for designs.

The Department of Architecture at Buffalo challenged students through various exercises related to the extremes of age to empathise with, and ultimately design for, small children and older people. The article explains their process and is titled: Age-Focused Design – A Pedagogical Approach Integrating Empathy and Embodiment. Several pictures and graphics help with explanations.

From the abstract

Architects seldom design for themselves. Yet in the course of studying architecture one is rarely presented with the opportunity to design for a real client. The abstract nature of this education model prioritizes formal or technical design exploration over the role of the user.

The vague ambition of universality is difficult for students to engage with in an academic context. Approaching universal design through the lens of human age emphasizes the physical, sensorial, and cognitive modes of spatial understanding of the young and old. It offers a focused perspective through which to address difference and diversity in architectural education.

We discuss how the approach emerged from design seminars and studios taught in the Department of Architecture at the University at Buffalo. The outcomes were tested with exercises that challenged students to research, empathize with, and ultimately design for individuals at the limits of human age.

Designing inclusively with emotional intelligence

Patricia Moore is well-known to those who have followed the fortunes of universal design for some time. Dressed and behaving as an 80 year old woman she experienced the discriminatory treatment older people face every day. Her article with Jörn Bühring asks designers and business leaders to use social and emotional intelligence in their designs. They claim the philosophic challenge is to ask “Why not?” rather than “Why?”

“Designers don’t speak of limitations, instead they tend to focus on possibilities. The emergence of ’inclusivity’ in design supports the conviction that where there is a ’deficit’, we will present a solution. “Where there is ignorance, we will strive for enlightenment. Where there is a roadblock, we will create a pathway”.

The title of the paper is, Emotional and Social Intelligence as ’Magic Key’ in Innovation: A Designer’s call toward inclusivity for all.

A city designed only for young and old?

A city only for children and older people and all other age groups are welcome on visitor passes? What would such a city look like? A good question because having a visitor pass to your own city is what it feels like to groups who have not been considered in the design. The article, Diversity and belonging in the city comes from the Urban Design and Mental Health Journal. Erin Sharp Newton.poses various human perspectives on the city, urban form, architecture and design. A somewhat philosophical piece, but a step away from the usual thinking.

Wheelchair users identify the real barriers

A recent in-depth study from UK on wheelchair users reveals that in spite of legislation to improve accessibility, designers are still providing a bare minimum without regard to functionality for wheelchair users. One aim of the study was to find out the problems wheelchair users encounter in the built environment. Unexpectedly, they also found that wheelchair users were critical of their wheelchair saying the design could be improved. The title of the article is, “An Inclusive Design Study of Wheelchair Users in the Built Environment” published in the Journal of Engineering and Architecture, Tom Page & Gisli Thorsteinsson.

Abstract: The aim of this study is to determine the problems wheelchair users face in the built environment and why these problems have not been resolved. The study considered the role of the designer in creating an inclusively designed built environment. The literature review finds that there are many designers that support inclusive design, but also some that do not. The government has enforced many directives and legislation, but this is often met by designers using the bare minimum required and does not solve the issues that wheelchair users face. The empirical research then moves on to finding answers to research questions that were not found during the literature review. Two online questionnaires were used in order to gain qualitative and quantitative results from 45 wheelchair users and 54 designers. The results are analysed through the use of charts, and then the results are discussed. The designers are found to be in support of designing for wheelchair users, but often feel that if they do the revenue potential of their design will be affected. The study concludes that wheelchair users’ problems are a combination of the poorly designed built environment and the wheelchair they use.

Just add grass and a fence

Some major cities have neighbourhood lots that lay vacant for some time. It seems that a small investment in a fence and some grass can make quite a difference to the people that live nearby. The article, The case for building $1,500 parks, reports on a new study shows that access to “greened” vacant lots can reduce feelings of worthlessness and depression, especially in low-resource neighbourhoods. Using radomised control trials, researchers at the University of Pennsylvania observed cause and effect between access to green vacant lots and improved mental health. There were other benefits too such as decreased violence. The picture shows the before and after effect – simple and cost effective solutions. To find out more go to the article on the FastCompany website by Kelsey Campbell-Dollaghan. The original research report can be found in JAMA Network Open. Looks are everything.

Universal design for a social and sustainable life

The word “sustainability” mostly conjures up notions of clean and green, but social sustainability – an aspect just as important – has been left out of mainstream discussions. This point is made in Universal Design as a Significant Component for Sustainable Life and Social Development.

The authors argue that both home and neighbourhood need to be considered for a socially sustainable environment. An evolving criteria for social sustainability is access to facilities and amenities that are vital for people to run errands and do all the everyday things.

Going to the shops, a medical appointment, or the cinema should be available to all no matter their age or circumstances. There are useful explanatory graphs in this in-depth paper that emphasises well-being, safety and accessibility. The authors sum up in the conclusion, “The social aspect of sustainability should be emphasized in the mainstream discussion on sustainability because it influences human behaviour and quality of life in many ways”. They also point out that it is environmentally unsustainable to build homes that need major modifications, “which causes pollution, hazardous construction equipment and material and inappropriate methods of wastage removal”. The article can also be found in Asian Journal of Environment-Behaviour Studies.

Abstract

Universally designed environment provides comfort, adaptability and flexibility that can help to reduce human life cycle impact and encourage residents’ participation in the community. With that, the purpose of this conceptual study is to explore the concept of Universal Design (UD) as a significant aspect of social sustainability, based on professional practitioners’ and scholarly views. UD implementation in built environment may cater the needs of diverse users over the changing abilities throughout lifespan. This study concludes that UD has evolved as a significant component for sustainable life and social development within the individual’s own dwelling and the community as well.

Mapping Norway’s Status of Accessibility

How do you know if your action plan for accessibility and universal design is actually being implemented? The Norwegian Government’s plan to be universally designed by 2025 now has a tool to monitor progress. A standardised method to collect and measure data nationally has been trialled.

The first results show that Norway still “faces many challenges to meet the government’s goals for Universal Design”. Data were collected on buildings and major facilities such as transport hubs, walkways, cycleways and car parks. The techniques are discussed in the article, “Mapping Norway – a Method to Register and Survey the Status of Accessibility“. The authors conclude that while their system is not perfect due to the need to fully standardise and simplify complex data, they believe it will be valuable to municipal and recreational planners and developers. The article and others can be found in the Proceedings of the International Cartographic Association.

2021 Update – next steps

Mapping accessibility in Norway – a Method to Register and Survey the Status of Accessibility in urban areas and recreational areas. You will need institutional access for a free read.

From the abstract:

The Norwegian mapping authority has developed a standard method for mapping accessibility walking in urban and recreational areas. . All data are stored in a geospatial database, so they can be analysed using GIS software. By the end of 2020, more than 230 out of 356 municipalities are mapped using that method.

The aim of this project is to establish a national standard for mapping of accessibility and to provide a geodatabase that shows the status of accessibility throughout Norway. The data provide a useful tool for national statistics, local planning authorities and private users. The results show that accessibility is still low and Norway still faces many challenges to meet the government’s goals for Universal Design.

Cities and the NDIS

The overall aim of the NDIS is to enable people, previously excluded from mainstream activities, to join in and participate. However, the rest of society hasn’t caught up yet and the NDIS isn’t set up to make those changes happen. That’s up to the people who are not NDIS recipients. The Conversation has an article based on research carried out by University of Melbourne and La Trobe University. The research team has produced a report, How will the NDIS change Australian Cities? This paper sets out the research agenda on the urban policies that we need if the NDIS is to meet its aims. Housing is a key factor in this policy mix. And it is not just the built environment – services have to shape up too. The Conversation spells out the issues well.

Universally designed infrastructure planning

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:

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

The original article was in The Conversation.

Can universal design create social sustainability?

Applying the principles of universal design at the formation stage of planning can lead to harmonious, accessible, sustainable and healthy cities. This is the conclusion of a European study.

The study looked at the design and development of city space from the perspective of the varying levels of human capabilities. The overall aim of the research was to raise the quality of urban planning, and to develop tools for healthy cities compatible with the principles of sustainability. You can download the PDF of Sustainable Urban Development: Spatial Analyses as Novel Tools for Planning a Universally Designed City, by Joanna Borowczyk.

Forgotten social sustainability

When it comes to sustainability, how many people think about social sustainability as well? Environments and people are inter-linked. The Sustainable Development Goals make this clear and one unifying factor is universal design. A new book chapter investigates the issues further.

The title of the chapter is, Forgotten sustainability: A socially conscious paradigmatic shift in design. The title of the book is Situating Design in Alberta. You can request a copy of the chapter from the authors who are from Queensland University of Technology. The webpage has this synopsis:

“In this chapter, Rieger and Iantkow discuss socially sustainable design, especially its emphasis on universal and inclusive design. They present a history of thinking on accessible design in Alberta, which has moved toward greater inclusion. They also explain the incorporation of these concepts in design education and a greater social consciousness toward the need for accessibility. However, they stress that this isn’t enough.

Local environments aren’t adequately accessible, which will become increasingly clear with the aging population. Like many other authors in this anthology, Rieger and Iantkow discuss local mind-sets toward design. They note that Albertans are becoming increasingly aware of accessibility issues and expect accessible environments, but that this could go even further. It is also important to encourage the population to adopt new ways of understanding the built environment and demand innovation and forward thinking in design.”

Sustainability from an ergonomic perspective

The focus of sustainability has been on energy efficiency and all things “green”. But sustainability should have a broader context argues Erminia Attaianese. She claims that this narrow focus is paradoxical as maximising the building’s efficiency is not always maximising the comfort and efficiency of the building’s occupants.

Taking a human ergonomic approach to design, the author argues for a better outcome for both the building and its users. Note, the paper looks as if it has been through a poor translation and is not easy to read. But the conclusions at the end are clear enough. The title of the paper is, Ergonomics of Built Environment i.e. How Environmental Design Can Improve Human Performance and Well-Being in a Framework of Sustainability

Category: Research papers for built environment

Playgrounds and mental health

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