Global Universal Design Educators
Monthly Online News
Produced monthly by Elaine Ostroff in cooperation with
the Adaptive Environments Center, Boston, MA., USA
Volume 1, Number 6, JUNE 1999
Contents:
EDITORS NOTE:
This issue highlights three very different approaches to the implementation of universal design. Brian Parker of the UK explains the workings of the Access Association to provide minimum levels of access at the community level. We note some accomplishments and resources of the growing international "Visitabilty" movement, the legislative strategy for basic access in single family housing. Olav Bringa of Norway describes the far reaching and inclusive approach that his government is developing, to elevate the discussion of universal design to the planning stages of community and facility development.
Several people have commented that the newsletter is great but "too long". We are reluctant to edit down your submission, so suggest that you limit your articles to 600 words. Also, the archives of the Monthly Online News on the Adaptive Environments website will make viewing easier. They will include each issue and within each issue, articles are linked to the table of contents.
Information may be freely copied and quoted as long as the individual author and this source is cited. Previous issues as well as this issue of the Online News will be available online at the Adaptive Environments website at http://www.adaptenv.org in the Universal Design section.
GLOBAL NETWORK NEWS:
:
-
Request for assistance My name is Linnie Tse and I am a graduate student of environmental design and my master's project is in the area of universal design. My research is on the level of awareness and understanding that design professionals may have on universal design. The collected information would guide the design of an educational tool to further the awareness and understanding of universal design among design professionals. My research has involved design professionals themselves and some of their suggestions for the educational awareness and implementation of universal design have been on the use of graphics, video, etc.
I am concentrating on residential design so I would like to ask any individuals or organisations or institutions who receive this newsletter for any graphics of universal designed residences. I would like to see what is available and out there before I decide on the final format and 'look' of the educational tool. If you can help with my request or would like information, please contact me at lcltse@ucalgary.ca. Thank you.
-
Luigi Biocca, md3285@mclink.it provides more references for the story on kitchens in the May issue:
-
Biocca, L. (1998) Case studies from a kitchen design competition: Cooking without handicaps, Proceedings of International Workshop on Universal Design, BRI, Japan.
-
Dionigi, I. (1998) Fondazione Don Gaudiano, Cucinare senza handicap - Concorso per la progettazione di pentole per ipovedenti e cucine per disabili, Ramberti Arti Grafiche, Pesaro.
-
Searfini, M. (1999) Scavolini Export Dept., Provisional data from questionnaire survey.
-
-
Jan Rietsema writes to introduce GENIE: Gerontechnology Education Network In Europe. The European Commission has approved GENIE: Gerontechnology Education Network in Europe, as a thematic network under the EU SOCRATES Programme.
More than forty universities and research institutes from 18 European countries are participating in GENIE and aim to develop education in the new area of gerontechnology. The coordinator is the Institute for Gerontechnology of Eindhoven University of Technology, The Netherlands.
Gerontechnology is defined as the multidisciplinary study of technology and ageing to ensure good health, full social participation and independent living to a high age. Various disciplines contribute to the area of gerontechnology, e.g. engineering, industrial design, economics, sociology, psychology and biology. This is not yet reflected in academic education. Links between these disciplines will widen and increase the qualifications of students.
GENIE is aimed at providing a more favourable environment for a deeper understanding of the disciplines involved in the study of technology and ageing. The objective is to improve the quality of gerontechnology education, to increase the European dimension and to stimulate the acceptance of gerontechnology as part of regular university and higher vocational programs.
A survey, to achieve a complete picture of gerontechnology education by studying the state and content of existing programs is being prepared. The result of the survey is firstly, to be used as input to the plenary meeting that will take place in June 1999 and secondly, a directory with existing curricula and courses related to gerontechnology, will be disseminated through the GENIE Web-site.
In October GENIE will organise a special symposium on education at the 3rd International Conference of Gerontechnology in Munich. In addition to this scientific session Building a gerontechnology curriculum, a students workshop program will be held. Interested students are invite to subscribe.
In order to find out more about this exciting and growing network, please visit the GENIE Website: http://www.tue.nl/gerontechnology/edu/genie, or contact the coordinator: Dr. Jan Rietsema, Institute for Gerontechnology, PO Box 513, NL-5600 MB Eindhoven, The Netherlands. Tel: +31 40 2474658, E-mail: J.Rietsema@tue.nl
He also notes the Call for Proposals: In the United Nations "International Year of Older Persons" and on the eve of the Millenium the International Society for Gerontechnology invites you to a conference on the role of technology in an ageing society. The Third International Conference of Gerontechnology: Ageing and Technology, Starting into the Third Millenium will be held 10 - 13 October 1999, Technische Universitt Mnchen, Munich. It will provide an opportunity for experts in the field to exchange innovative ideas and to promote the autonomy, independence and social participation of older persons in the next Millenium.
Organized by the International Society for Gerontechnology. Supported by the WHO. More information and abstract forms: http://www.uni-bamberg.de/~ba6us1/g99-1.htm
-
Olav Bringa introduces the Norwegian governments new approach to universal design: Completing the chain of objectives - Universal design in planning
Although we have high level objectives and international policies on accessibility, the common practice in many countries is to relegate the implementation to a technical, ineffective, poorly co-ordinated effort that has low prestige. The Norwegian government began an effort in 1997 to find a high level strategy to address this problem and to develop more integrated and comprehensive planning. Creating objectives and actions supporting accessibility in general plans on all administrative levels is the core of the programme.
The basic and normative high level objectives are the fundament of international and national policies, giving the directions of how fundamental values should be put into practice.
The norms in the UN Charter, national constitutions and elsewhere creates both a moral, ethical and juridical basis for the making and implementing national and international policy, and there is hardly any dispute on these basic values. In implementing the policy governments uses a variety of means; laws, regulations, economical programs, information supported and controlled by public administrations on the various administrative levels.
Every country chooses a way of conducting the policy that is based on political priorities, political tradition and the economy available. When it comes to implementing the policy of accessibility for people with disabilities there seems to be some general characteristics world wide:
-
Focus on high level national issues and on the details of construction
-
A lack of visible and effective objectives on other levels
-
Concentration of responsibility on the social sector
-
A lack of responsibility on other sectors.
There will of course be variations in this, but a typical political and administrative picture may be this: A government accepts UN Charters and UN Rules, which fits well with the basic ideas of the constitution. The parliament formulates national policies and passes white papers with high level objectives and places the main responsibility in the Ministry of Social Affaires. Other Ministries like transport, housing and planning follow up by including the concern for people with disabilities in specific areas. Most common are specific regulations for the design of trains and busses, building regulations for buildings and guidelines for pavements. On the administrative levels of counties and municipalities this picture looks much the same. The social sector has the overall responsibility, and the technical sector with its departments handles accessibility as a fragmented end-product issue on some predefined areas. In the technical sectors accessibility is generally a low-attention and low-prestige issue.
The consequence of this is evident, and has been pointed out repeatedly; insufficient quality, poor co-ordination of efforts and a lack of strategic thinking. The medicine prescribed is in short more laws, more regulations, more user participation, better professional qualifications and considerations of accessibility to be included early in the planning.
The Norwegian Government started to look into this situation in 1997, trying to find a strategy that would accelerate the speed and quality of accessibility in the built environment on a national basis. Having used most common means like national guidelines, regulations and special programmes for development, the interest was turned to the political and professional planning processes in counties and municipalities. The master plans for these administrative levels give the directions on how the main political issues shall be implemented and financed in the coming years. They shall include both national objectives and local priorities and fulfil all requirements set in laws and regulations. Surveys showed that objectives concerning accessibility was non existent, leaving both politicians and professional planners without guidance and backup to include this aspect. User-participation in the planning process, which is statutory i Norway, was almost invisible when it came to people with disabilities. It also became evident that planners were positive to include accessibility, but that they considered accessibility to be a question of details, and not an issue in master-plans, local plans and development plans. In short; the planning arena, where strategic priorities were made and work co-ordinated did not recognise accessibility as an issue.
As a consequence the Norwegian Government in 1998 launched a four-year programme to make accessibility a key issue in planning. The Ministry of the Environment, which is the planning authority, is responsible for the programme. The objective is to introduce accessibility as a high level aim in plans, and integrate the issue in all relevant parts of the plans. Using most means available; laws are evaluated, directives are issued to clarify national policy, research is launched, development of methods is carried out, pilot projects are conducted and a series of educational programmes are supported.
In cooperation with the Norwegian State Housing Bank the Ministry of the Environment manages a project to introduce universal design/ design for all as an aspect in the basic education of planners. Five universities and colleges are developing this as part of their curricula, and one is developing post-experience courses. So far the results are promising. Aspects of the importance of accessibility in master planning are discovered in the process, amongst others:
-
The link between housing areas, city centres and transport intersections
-
Strategic and preferential development plans of accessibility
-
The need to see the relation between accessibility, aesthetics and antiquarian considerations in the development of centres
-
The connection between the consideration for people with disabilities and sustainable development, preventive health work and safety and security local plans.
In this programme Universal Design serves as a fresh and good strategy for developing an integrated thinking and to make students and professors stretch for new angles. The Universal Design concept offers a framework to handle more accessibility features simultaneously, taking into account reduced mobility, hearing, vision and learning abilities as well as allergic reactions. These factors represent a challenging diversity of planning conditions. At the same time these conditions falls in line with classical planning premises like high quality pedestrian areas, acoustics and noise, perception and design of urban environment and pollution control.
Although Universal Design is a very demanding way of working, the distinct way the concept addresses a general approach to planning challenges seems to simplify logic planning argumentation. Being developed for the design of products and buildings the remarkable Principles of Universal Design as defined by The Centre of Universal Design can be stretched to work most of the way, but have some shortages when applied to parts of larger scale planning. This is probably one enlargement that could contribute further to filling the gap between national high level objectives on accessibility and the fragmented accomplishments in detail implementation. Contact Olav Bringa: olav.bringa@sveiva.telemax.no.
-
-
Brian Parker describes the Access Officers and the Access Association. I thought it would be appropriate and of interest to readers of the Online News to have a perspective on the situation in England and Wales regarding the creation of an accessible built environment. In common with other countries, we have inherited an environment that is in varying ways inaccessible to a significant percentage of the population, and one of the means chosen to seek to improve the situation has been the appointment of Access Officers by local authorities.
In 1982, the Department of the Environment (which encompassed issues of town and country planning) issued Circular 10/82, an advisory document from the Government to local authorities, in which, amongst other things, they were encouraged to designate one of their staff as an "Access Officer", to provide a clearly defined point of contact on questions of access for disabled people. Where local authorities have appointed them, it has become apparent that Access Officers are drawn from a wide variety of professional backgrounds. Some are architects, some planning or building control officers, some work in occupational therapy or equal opportunities departments. Not all local authorities employ them, but many do, and the need for the sharing of information and the establishment of good practice began to be felt amongst them.
The Access Association (originally the Access Officers Association) was formed in 1991 in response to the need to network and support professionals whose primary responsibility was to promote and facilitate accessible environments and services for all including people with disabilities. Access Officers are working in many local authorities across England and Wales as well as within voluntary and private sector organisations. The Access Association is now well established and continues to raise its profile as an invaluable professional body working in this particular field. Increased awareness of the issues of accessible design and current legislation ensures that the role of Access Officers and other access practitioners remains fundamental to ensuring that the physical and attitudinal barriers that disabled people have encountered for so long are challenged and eliminated.
What can the Association offer members? In pursuit of its aims and objectives the Association:
-
Supports existing Access Officers and other access practitioners
-
Facilitates the exchange of knowledge and experience amongst members
-
Promotes the appointment of Access Officers
-
Promotes training in the field and the professional development of Access Officers
-
Seeks to ensure consistency in practice
-
Monitors and advises on the effectiveness of current legislation, guidance, practices and policies
-
Liaises with relevant organisations in the field
-
Advises on technical matters
-
Represents the views of the membership to the media, Government Departments and Local Government organisations.
The Association publishes an excellent Briefing Newsletter to keep members up to date, and is becoming more and more involved in the business of improving the standards of professionalism of members through Continuing Professional Development and is seeking other suitable accredited training opportunities in universities and colleges.
The body of knowledge and experience that access practitioners need to acquire includes: understanding the range of users of environments; the elements of a universally accessible environment and the physical and attitudinal barriers to accessibility; disability and equality issues; the design and construction processes in relation to buildings and external environments; the functioning of local government; building, planning and disability legislation; the access auditing of existing properties and the appraisal of plans of proposed building projects; an understanding of assistive technology, etc.
I should be interested to know if an equivalent profession to that of the Access Officer exists in other parts of the world, and indeed if there is an organisation like the Access Association. Though no doubt the underlying legislative base is different in different countries, the principles of Universal Design are the same, and we would all benefit from dialogue. If anyone would like more information, please get in touch with me. Since the Association changed its name, membership is no longer confined to people living in England and Wales. Brian Parker, Dipl Arch. RIBA, BEP@weavery.freeserve.co.uk.
-
-
PROFIT BY DESIGN is the recently published Proceedings of the 1998 conference organized by the United Kingdom Institute for Inclusive Design (at the time of the conference the group name was the British Institute for Design and Disability). The Proceedings document the lively discussions and presentations that emphasize the economics of inclusive design. Held at the IBM Headquarters in London, the conference convened leaders in design, government and disability to advance the concept of inclusive design. Contact Andrew Walker at andrew@cottage.sonnet.co.uk if interested in obtaining a copy of the 55 page report.
-
Affordable and Universal Homes for Independence
This is a new two year project at the Center for Universal Design. Richard Duncan is the project director and Rex Pace is the project manager for the effort which is working closely with Habitat for Humanity in three North Carolina counties. Funded by the Kate B. Reynolds Charitable Trust, the project will review and revise standard house plans, maintaining low costs while designing and furnishing an attractive, universally designed house. After construction, follow up monitoring and evaluation will determine the usefulness of the universal design features. The resulting standard plans will be available for other Habitat affiliates. Duncan can be reached at: Richard_Duncan@ncsu.edu.
-
Designers with Disabilities, Wanted
If you have studied design in the fields of architecture; industrial design, interior design, landscape architecture or urban planning, we are interested in hearing from you. A number of designers will be part of a small study to learn more about their career development. This information and personal experience will be analyzed and compiled as part of the new project, Access to Design Professions, mentioned in the May Online News. The interviews will be conducted by phone or by e-mail. Access to the Design Professions was inspired by [the late] Ron Mace, The project wants to find ways that more people with disabilities can enter the design fields and use their personal experience to contribute to great design, as Ron did.
The interviews will be used as the base for an Action Plan, which will be created by a national task force. The task force will include stakeholders in career development, employment initiatives, vocational counseling and design education-people who can identify pilot projects that begin to address the issue of the lack of people with disabilities in design.
Project Director Elaine Ostroff, with the assistance of Daniel Hunter, will carry on Ron Maces wish to form an international network of designers with disabilities.
Daniel Hunter, a master's candidate in landscape architecture at the University of Oregon is the project researcher. He recently gave a paper at the annual Society for Disability Studies meeting, presenting the subject of his graduate thesis, "Reclaiming Repton's Man with One Leg: Landscape Taste and Disability". He will be doing the background research, both with design professionals with disabilities and on career development systems.
The project is funded by the National Endowment for the Arts through a Universal Design Leadership Initiative Grant that has been awarded to the Adaptive Environments Center. For more information, about the interviews or the international network, contact Ostroff at 617.695.1225, ext. 30 or at elaine@ostroff.org.
-
Visitibility and Visitability Resources
TEXAS, as of May 28, 1999, became the first state in the United States to pass a state law mandating zero-step entrances (and certain other features) on a significant number of new, single-family houses throughout the state.
You can see a copy of the new law on the Concrete Change website. Concrete Change, led by Eleanor Smith, is an Atlanta Georgia based organization that leads an international effort to make all homes visitable. The website address is: http://concretechange.home.mindspring.com./index.htm.
The site is full of the "resources needed to change the status quo". It includes the text of the related US housing laws including the Fair Housing Amendments Act; the Atlanta Georgia ordinance; the Austin, Texas Ordinance; the new Texas State law and the older Florida bathroom law. It also includes the 1998 United Kingdom law.
In addition to construction guidelines, costs and other practical tips, you can see the creative, well publicized and visitable "Gingerbread House, created by the Center for Disability Rights in Rochester NY for the city's annual gingerbread art display. Also, Concrete Change has recently begun a moderated e-mail list that promises infrequent and carefully focused messages. You can sign up on the site.
-
Visitability in Irvine, California
Julie Overton from the Home Modifications Action Project at the University if Southern California reports that the city of Irvine in Southern California is in the process of creating an ordinance to regulate single family homes aimed at "visitability." It would include ramped entryways, larger front doors, wider halls and bathrooms with enough space to accommodate wheelchair users. Also, some percentage of the homes could be earmarked as entirely accessible to disabled people. The Irvine Planning Commission recently approved a 105 unit townhouse project only after the developer incorporated 17 "visit-able" units. For more information, Julie Overton joverton@usc.edu.
-
Human Centered Design
Joseph Koncelik, Ph.D., Director of the Center for Rehabilitation Technology at Georgia Tech, College of Architecture is the instructor of a Human Centered Design course. The course is based on the premise that design is meaningful only when the focus of design activity and design outcomes accommodate the largest possible number of people inclusive of their diversity. The essential thrust of the course is to inform students about broad-based issues of human factors including: the evolution of humankind in the 20th century and beyond, normal aging changes, disabilities and the consequent development of responsive products and environments. The course is a graduate and senior undergraduate seminar experience developed for the field of industrial design. Students from disciplines other than industrial design may enroll by permission of the instructor. For more details see:
-
The CALL for Proposals is online at http://www.adaptenv.org/21century/. This includes the RFP for Pre-conference Intensive Sessions. Proposals must be received by September 1, 1999.
We invite you to present your work and demonstrate its contribution to making the world fit for all people. Please join us in this vital international dialogue. Our participants are leaders in universal design development, education and advocacy around the world, a knowledgeable and enthusiastic audience. They need and expect cutting edge information and practical solutions for Designing for the 21st Century.
The 2000 conference will be a leap to the next developmental stage of universal design education and practice. We will showcase state of the art universal design solutions addressing the needs of people across the life span and worldwide innovations in environments, products and information technology.
We will offer forums that consider universal design in the larger context of social justice, sustainable development and successful business practice. We welcome your responses on emerging issues such as universal design in developing nations; hidden disabilities including cognitive impairment and chemical sensitivity; affordability; workplace technology.
-
Creating Legible Environments is the theme of the Student Design Competition that is being held in conjunction with Designing for the 21st Century II. Michael Everett, Dean, Division of Architecture and Design, Rhode Island School of Design, is the Chair of the Student Design Competition.
The application requires a team submissions, with a minimum of two design disciplines. In addition, the participation of other related disciplines is recommended. If you are a design advocate, we encourage your promotion of this design opportunity; bring it to the attention of faculty in design schools. The application suggests the involvement of users in the early stages as well as in review of the proposed solutions.
Submissions must be received by February 1, 2000. It is expected that the responses to the design competition will be developed by teams of students during the Fall, 1999 semester. The preliminary announcement is online at http://www.adaptenv.org/21century/ or we can mail a print copy. Contact Mike DiLorenzo at mdilorenzo@adaptenv.org or 617 695 1225 x 35.
-
July 5 - 7, 1999 Singapore Women's Health - The Nation's Gain : An International Conference with a Special Focus on Older Women in Asia Information: http://www.asiawomen.org.sg
-
July 12 - 16, 1999 New York City, NY, USA Vision 99, International Conference on Low Vision Contact: vision@lighthouse.org
-
July 27 - 28, 1999 Perth, Australia The Universal Design Conference, focus on retail design, includes a design competition. For more information, contact: pip.dalysmith@dsc.wa.gov.au
-
September 5 - 8, 1999 Montreal, Quebec, CANADA The Fourth Global Conference, International Federation for Aging, and the Universal Design Track For information, contact: ageingconf@jpdl.com
-
September 30 - October 2, 1999 Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada Universal Design In The City Beyond 2000 For more information, contact: pparch@cc.umanitoba.ca
DESIGNING
FOR THE 21ST CENTURY II
An International Conference on Universal Design June 14-18, 2000:
GLOBAL UNIVERSAL DESIGN EDUCATOR'S NETWORK E-MAIL LIST
The Global Universal Design Educator's Network has been established people are exchanging introductions, notes. At this time, this is a group e-mail and NOT a true automatic Listserv. This is temporary - we anticipate that the automated List will be in place in the near future. At this time, if you would like to be included on the list, send an e-mail to: elaine@ostroff.org.
NEWS FROM YOUR SCHOOL/ORGANIZATION/COMPANY IS WELCOME!
Adding your information, questions to the Online News: Send e-mail to elaine@ostroff.org by the 20th of each month for the next month's mailing. Articles should be limited to 600 words. If the issue is too full to include, and the timeliness of the article allows it, we may hold the item until the following month.
Acknowledgments: The Global Universal Design Educators Network and the Global Universal Design Educators Online News is produced with support from the National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research, of the US Department of Education.
Elaine Ostroff, Founding Director, Adaptive Environments Center, Editor.
[ About
Universal Design Network ]
[ What's New? ] | [ Access
to Design ]
[ Global
Universal Design Educators Online News ]
[ Links to Universal Design Sites ]
[ Search ] |
[ Home ]