These four words, planning, diversity, inequity and justice all belong in the same sentence. Being excluded from places and spaces means walking, public transport, work, education, and seeing friends are out of reach. But good design can fix it.
The way we plan and design for human diversity requires serious rethinking if we genuinely want to address inequity and injustices in our suburbs and cities.
Image from the inclusive communities workshop.
Lisa Stafford is a planner and researcher and she urges the planning fraternity to be change agents. Her short article in Urbanet neatly spells out the reasons why and what needs to change. Stafford is leading a research project with people aged 9 to 92 years to identify the details of the changes we need.
The changes needed in planning
To address the injustices we must adapt and retrofit our suburbs and cities for sustainable inclusive futures. People with disability have a right to access everyday spaces, housing, transport and social infrastructure.
Stafford’s article discusses changing the narrative and confronting ableism and adopting inclusive urban governance. Treating people with disability as equals in planning processes requires a universal design approach. Stafford points out that the New Urban Agenda and SDG 11 are about disability justice. Adopting inclusive urban governance, planning, and leadership are a good start.
Stafford concludes the article with a call to action:
“Planning for equity and inclusion is an essential approach. We simply will not have sustainable suburbs and cities if they are not inclusive and just. The message for our profession is simple – we must do better. Be a change agent by considering your ways of working and what it means to plan better for equity and inclusion.”
The title of the article is, Celebrating Human Diversity – Urban Planning for Disability Equity and Inclusion.
Diversity is more than disability and urban planners also have to consider many other groups including gender, ages, and cultural background. This is the era of intersectionality – we can be more than one identity.
Evolving perspectives on disability
A literature review of the evolving perspectives on disability focuses on the interaction of the built environment and people with disability. It concludes with some recommendations which are not new to followers of universal design. However, it adds to the growing literature on the topic. Briefly, the recommendations are:
1. Create accessible environments by removing physical barriers to spaces, places and transport.
2. Adequate amendments and enforcement of existing accessibility legislation. Currently, the laws are poorly executed in plans and practice.
3. Adequate funding, investment in specific programs and services for people with disability.
4. Increase public awareness about disability rights and building human resource capacity training of staff and professionals.
5. Involvement of people with disability in policy and design.
6. Strengthen and support research on disability.
The title of the paper is, “An analysis of national ideological constructs in evolving perspective on disability in built environment design: A comprehensive review of the social and medical models in contemporary literature”.
This paper discusses social and medical models of disability. The end result is a focus on accessibility rather than inclusive design and universal design. 21st century universal design thinking and practice has moved past describing the models of disability. However, this paper provides historical context for newcomers to universal design and accessibility.
Legislation promotes inclusive design and accessibility in every sphere of life, but doesn’t enforce it. Anti-discrimination legislation also demands equity and inclusion, but people continue to face barriers and stigmatising stereotyping.
Prevailing narratives inform design
Narratives, or the way we talk about about everyday things, are expressed in many forms whether intended or not. Policies, plans and designs are all affected by prevailing societal narratives. But we can turn that around and challenge those narratives with our designs . This is essential if we are to make our world more inclusive and equitable for our diverse population.
A paper from the UK discusses this issue and offers a matrix of concepts for designers to consider when designing. This is not to provide a solution but to stimulate critical reflection on the role of narratives in design.
The title of the paper is, Design as an agent of narrative: A matrix and framework for incorporating narrative into deign processes.