UD2014

In last decade the Universal Design education is being experimented by educators all over the world and people tried different ways to teach the concept. Though it has become a worldwide movement today but it has demonstrated limited acceptance amongst architecture, planning and design schools in India. There are no specialized courses on universal design in the country, this is perhaps because the benefits of designing in a more inclusive way are not immediately apparent and also because there are many other pressing issues that require attention. The Center for Human Centric Research (CHCR) housed in School of Planning and Architecture Bhopal organizes an annual National Student Design Competition on Universal Design (NSDC-UD) together with a Hands-on Workshop and Exhibition, to explore creative ways to offer universal design to the students of diverse design disciplines in the country. The center has organized three such events since 2010, and the next is scheduled in 2014. The events provide an intense and experiential universal design understanding to the students. For educators they provide an opportunity to explore design competition as a pedagogical tool to meet educational objectives that the center is striving to include in academic curricula. The paper presents this annual academic event in brief and summarizes the lessons learnt for the contextual aptness of universal design teaching and learning.

The social context for stairway design in multi-story buildings is changing. At one time, stairways were viewed primarily as a means of egress in an emergency, and elevators or escalators were the primary method of vertical circulation with the exception of monumental “feature” stairways. Today, the emphasis is changing to promote the use of stairways in buildings as opposed to use of elevators due to the health benefits of stair climbing. This is providing an opportunity for architects and building owners to experiment with innovative designs. One interesting innovation is the “interactive stairway.” Little is known about the impact of these interventions on the rate of stair accidents. The purpose of this study was to assess the safety of interactive stairway designs by comparing the user’s behavior and the incidence of unsafe stair use on two interactive stairways with a stairway made of conventional material. A checklist for recording observations of stair users was developed. Observations were conducted in two museum buildings with interactive stairways and in one university building with a conventional stairway. Safety-related behaviors and incidents on the interactive stairways (CM and SM) and the conventional stairway (SU) were documented and compared. On the interactive stairways, more stair users glanced down at the treads (CM: 90%, SM: 81% vs. SU: 53%); fewer stair users diverted their gaze away from the stairs (CM: 22%, SM: 32% vs. SU: 66%); and handrail use was higher (CM: 40%, SM: 33% vs. SU: 28%). Incident rates were similar across the stairways (CM: 2.2%, SM: 2.2%, SU: 2.6%). The research suggests that interactivity can improve stair safety if used appropriately.

The concept of universal design is fairly new, just a little more than two decades. The architect Ron Mace based is one of the key persons who have worked on developing the concept. This is a quite different approach to disability than the American with Disability Act, ADA, has developed after 1990, working with detailed ADA guidelines, and focusing much on the rights for persons with different sorts of impairment. The Norwegian, universell utforming, were first in a small report published in 1997, and is a strange hybrid of the American universal design congregation and the ADA. For understandable reasons there has been most focus narrowly on physical for wheelchair users and for persons with visual impairments. This paper try to remind us that persons characterised as disabled are human beings, with senses that are not so much focused on when working with universal design.
Further the paper comments on two Nordic researchers, the architect Camilla Ryhl and the landscape architect Per Hedfors. The paper also refer to another researcher, Inger Marie Lid, who takes us to an even wider perspective, by reflecting on the work by Hannah Arendt and Martha Nussbaum dealing with issues like dignity and participation.

Inclusive design outcomes in architecture rely on valid and reliable information about user experiences. The way users perceive and experience the built environment contains the clues for the optimal facilitation of their needs and expectations. However, their perceptions of aspects of the built environment and their needs and expectations are not easily accessed for incorporation into the design work of professional architects and architecture students. This paper identifies how this need may be addressed and outlines methods of making such knowledge more accessible and in a form that facilitates ease of incorporation of user perceptions and expectations into design. Specifically, this paper details approaches whereby user perceptions are transformed into design tools that can be used by architects for applying inclusive design. Several approaches that are described in this paper can be applied and combined by architects and students to obtain information regarding user perception of the built environment and subsequently converting the information into the tools or criteria for designing inclusive buildings and facilities. The approaches and the tools are expected to support the incorporation of inclusive design into the architecture profession and education.

How is architecture experienced? What makes good architecture? These are the key questions for both architectural theorists and practicing architects. Today these questions should be asked in relation to the concept of universal design. The Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities defines the term universal design as the design of products, environments, programs, and services to be usable by all people, to the greatest extent possible, without the need for adaptation or specialized design. Universal design has become part of Norwegian architectural policy. However, the definition of universal design sets no criteria for aesthetic design. This paper discusses why aesthetics (in the sense of integrated quality and sensory experience of architecture) could be a missing link that unites architecture and the concept of universal design. The paper concretizes this in the light of fundamental principles on accessibility for the visually impaired.

Introduction:
Both legislation and incitements have been in place for a long time, yet nothing happens.

We will kick off this workshop by presenting the results from a few large international studies that we have conducted, including the European web accessibility study that we finalized in 2013 on behalf of the European Commission. The main takeaway from these researches is that legislation needs to be paired with other factors in order to be successful. We will review the most critical factors.

 Group discussions: What is the status in your country? Do we need more knowledge? New policies? Complaints from end users? Involvement from end users? The group discussions are based on the factors presented during the workshop introduction.

Each group appoints one person to document the results.
Each group presents the results from the discussions.
Joint discussion about future solutions.

Introduction:
Innovation and business cases dealing with accessibility.

Funka presents how to make money on disability matters, and talks about the trend to include assistive technology in mainstream products.

Group discussions: How can we influence more suppliers to mainstream their products and become as inclusive as Apples iPhone? Will existing assistive technology companies disappear from the market? If so, is that a good or a bad development? What can we do to get more end users involved in technology development? What can we do to encourage participation? What is the situation in your country?

Each group appoints one person to document the results.
Each group presents the results from the discussions.
Joint discussion about future solutions.

Workshop chairs and presenters:
Andreas Cederbom, Hampus Sethfors and Susanna Laurin

Tactile walking surface indicators (TWSIs) are necessary for
visually impaired persons to walk independently. Audible
pedestrian signals are also necessary for them to cross
intersections. TWSIs support approaching the intersection, and
audible pedestrian signals support crossing the intersection.
However, the support of audible pedestrian signals may not
necessarily be related to the support of the TWSIs. This
research sought to verify how visually impaired persons are
guided by different positions where the audible pedestrian
signals are set up.

The aim of the NavMem project is to develop a mobile navigation companion for elderly persons with memory decline (MCI). The project is intended for a wide range of target users – e.g. persons with memory problems due to early dementia, stroke but also elderly persons in general. In the following we report results from studies made together with the Swedish Stroke Association. We describe the early stages of the user centered design process and provide a list of requirements. We also provide initial designs and early prototypes and report preliminary results from recent user tests.

In this paper, a design case for senior mobility app is presented. We de¬scribe the case through the different frameworks that we have applied in the design process in order to arrive in an accessible and usable interface solution.

Recent Aged and disability care reforms in Australia have shifted emphasis from ongoing support and care toward prevention and early intervention, complementing universal design values of equity and flexibility. The reforms encourage the active engagement of individuals in the choices they make about housing and the support and care they receive, and are likely to drive a preference to age in place. As little as 2% of Australia’s housing stock is new built each year, with only a small proportion incorporating universal design principles. As such, existing premises will need to be modified to enable people who are ageing and people with disability to live in the community and receive support at home. This paper considers how, in a person-centred support environment, do-it-yourself home modifications expand our understanding of universal design, as do-it-yourself can empower individuals to exercise autonomy and control over their lives and the choices they make.
This paper uses preliminary findings from research undertaken at the Home Modification Information Clearinghouse (Australia) into do-it-yourself home modifications to illustrate how the do-it-yourself process reaffirms the role of the individual in universal design. First, the paper provides an overview of the Australian reforms and universal housing design in Australia to highlight the potential of modifications to ensure existing housing stock enables aging in place. The paper then provides an overview of the project and research methods, followed by a discussion of preliminary findings. The paper concludes that do-it-yourself highlights the importance of individual choice and control over changes made to a person’s home. Do-it-yourself home modification practices should inform the way that universal design policies accommodate and facilitate the views and preferences of the individuals they are designed to serve.