UD2014

Audio and visual support systems for cinemas and theatres are generally costly and often impractical for the industry and visitors alike. Solutions which appeal to a wider audience and use innovative technology can create significant economic opportunities. This holistic approach is the basis for a successful implementation of Design for All, benefitting users with and without disabilities

Is it possible to create an inclusive playscape that integrates the needs and aptitudes of various children within its design? This paper presents a research design project, the product of an interdisciplinary collaboration between interior design and occupational therapy collaborators, which expands the principles of universal design with a performance approach. By mapping, surveying and analyzing public playscapes with the purpose of understanding the playscapes’ “typical profile”, the project proposes a new profile of an “accessible and inclusive playground” that promotes a common ground for the playing activity of children suffering from disabilities together with typical children of the same age. The paper presents new perceptions and spatial concepts based on this profile, which relate to playgrounds as a universal outdoors.

‘Reality to an autistic person is a confusing, interacting mass of events, people, places, sounds and sights. There seems to be no clear boundaries, order or meaning to anything. A large part of their life is spent just trying to work out the pattern behind everything'[1]. Educational environments have failed to consider the needs for users with autism, and are unpredictable, fearful and unsafe for children affecting their performance. Regardless of its immense occurrence, it remains unnoticed by the architects and designers in building design guidelines and codes. Most environmental research projects have excluded autistic participants as their involvement is restricted by the code of research ethics involving humans (like Institutional Review Board (IRB) in the United States). Consequently, users with autism and their needs are not considered in the design of built environment. There is an urgent need to develop investigative tools that identify the needs children with autism and conduct environmental research that does not involve them to comply with the research ethics statute. The current study reports the use of newly developed research tools to develop design guidelines for universal access to educational spaces. No children, with autism or able bodied, were involved in the study; only teachers were involved and the environment was examined. First, ‘environmental design issues’ were identified. Then newly developed evaluating tools were implemented to examine behavioral issues in existing educational settings, and they were tested in inclusive and specialized institutions. The newly developed research tools address the impossibility of involving autistic children in environmental research. The tools have been successfully tested and the results offer important information that have the potential to influence building design, revise building codes, offer new design guidelines and develop inclusive built environments for children with autism and able bodied children.

Korea needs policies and systems for the socially disadvantaged persons because of aging, low fertility phenomenon.
In addition, adequate space environment is required for them.
Seoul has implemented Universal Design as a design policy for variety of users, including the young and the old in order to provide adequate space.
Seoul City also developed design guideline to execute it into real life.
Says the development of design guidelines. The results will be introduced.

This paper is developed with a growing concern on accessibility issues for winter cities in Nordic context. Much of this knowledge on inclusiveness, universal design and all such efforts in making buildings and public places accessible and usable for everyone are becoming critical for winter conditions especially in the case of northern settlements that are mostly covered with snow and ice for about six to eight months in a year. There is not much of literature available on such concerns of accessibility in winter cities. This paper extends the definition from ‘design for all’ to design for all in all weather conditions’. The first section of this paper highlights the need to rethink the definition of the concept ‘design for all’ in the context of all weather conditions. The later part of this paper develops a new integrated and multi-dimensional framework for understanding the accessible built environments for all in all weather conditions. The framework is developed by integrating three different disciplines urban design, social and behavioral studies, and maintenance aspects. Currently this framework is used for conducting empirical case study in small towns in North Sweden.

This paper states the underlying concept and motivation of the design and building process of a Universal Design (UD) living lab that opened in 2013. The UD-lab is located in the city centre of Hasselt, Belgium and initiates three main ambitions: demonstration, conducting research and offering information on the added values of Universal Designing. The paper confirms the importance of global real life initiatives in order to drive forward the general awareness on Universal Designing, as ongoing activity. Besides the paper stresses the fact that the impact of small local initiatives may instantly bridge the gap between government, institutions and the population at large by means of a UD-attitude.

Majority of Japanese people now know the term “Universal Design.” It is not only because of publicizing effort by the local governments and their related organizations, but also schools have taken up universal design as a concept to be taught. Shizuoka University of Art and Culture has adopted universal design as one of its fundamental policies since it was established in 2000, and the authors examined how the students of high schools and of the Shizuoka University of Art and Culture have learned UD. Authors compared the findings with UD education tools for pupils and students, including UD promotion by the local governments and Japanese language textbooks. The examination of the effect upon students’ knowledge of UD by these tools and actions suggests correlation between them, and what are sufficient/insufficient as to the contents of UD education. The authors discuss what UD education should be, based on the results.

In this world-first study in 2010, universal design education was introduced into the curriculum of third year occupational therapy students and first year architecture students. The teaching initiative included face-to-face and online teaching as well as an experiential workshop with students reporting positively in relation to their learning experiences. Since this time, the academic staff from both disciplines continue to embed universal design education into the curricula and it has been further extended into second year architecture where architecture students and occupational therapy students take an active role in critiquing students’ design studio presentations. In a student-led initiative, architecture students who themselves have a mobility or other impairment present their own personal experiences to their student colleagues regarding the barriers to participation and the impact on their health and well-being, caused by built environments. This paper outlines the initial teaching and research initiative and explores the progress and outcomes since then.

In the Norwegian Action Plan (2009-2013) Norway Universally Designed by 2025, one measure is to implement Universal Design (UD) in the academic sector. In order to promote this, the government has established a National Driving-force provided by a small amount of funding to promote the sectors implementing of universal design. This far, the National Driving-force unit has been operative for 5 years and has been supporting projects in universities and university colleges.
Although building upon earlier measures of barrier-free and user-centered design, UD is a new strategy, emerging over the latest decades. The trajectory from a political and strategic concept towards a topic in higher education may have just started. There is an emerging recognition that to work with universal design and implement the strategy is a question of knowledge, skills and competence. In line with this, The UN-Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) focuses in article 4 on the need for education and research on universal design. The CRPD highlights knowledge on what it implies that persons with disabilities have equal rights and should be able to participate in society as equal citizens.
From analyzing two projects that have received financial support from the Norwegian Action Plan, this paper will discuss UD as an interdisciplinary area of academic teaching. What characterizes the teaching and research, and how can students learn through interdisciplinary work? Are the structural conditions sufficiently? Can research-based teaching avoid that academics and students perceive UD in higher education as a top-down ideology enforced upon them?

Inclusive Design is one of the most important design movements of this era; as demographics change throughout the world, it promises to gain increasing significance. Despite this global trend, architecture programs in U.S. universities have been slow to incorporate inclusive design into curricula. The State University of New York at Buffalo is an exception, and has offered a formal Master of Architecture – Inclusive Design since 2006. This paper describes obstacles to starting UD graduate programs, challenges and successes of the Buffalo program, and recommendations for ways to grow additional UD programs in architecture.