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Universal Design Handbook

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Universal Design Handbook
by Wolfgang F. E. Preiser (Senior Editor) and Elaine Ostroff (Editor)

How universal is Universal Design? Wolfgang Preiser, Senior Editor of the Universal Design Handbook and noted expert in Building Evaluation and Programming, said "Universal Design is not about dimensions. It is an attitude." The impact of that attitude is felt across the world.
The Handbook contains 69 essays from leaders in their fields. Voices from the Third World propose solutions for densely populated regions. Europe and the United States continue to look to technology for labor-saving devices. What they all share is a commitment to design for the greatest number of potential users.
The literary styles are as varied as the solutions they propose. Case studies provide guidelines for professors considering similar studies. Theoretical papers discuss positions and implications. Historical narratives describe accomplishments to date. Topics range from transportation systems to bathroom design, from kitchen gadgets to computers. The authors are extremely candid about their successes and their failures. The common thread is their belief that solutions for one user group often benefit others.
The most remarkable aspect of the Handbook is the list of references at the end of each essay. Almost none of the authors reference the same sources. This is due in part to the fact that there are practitioners in almost every country in the world; however, until the Handbook, there was no keystone, defining text. Future scholars take note!
Elaine Ostroff, editor of the Universal Design Handbook, identifies the start of the Universal Design movement as the landmark legal decision Brown vs. the Board of Education. The resolution of the issue of segregated education led to the demand for inclusion in the classroom for children with birth defects. Activist veterans in turn demanded access to the workplace for veterans maimed in combat. With the support of various Civil Rights groups and the American Association of Retired Persons, the Americans with Disabilities Act was passed a decade ago. The hammer of litigation has codified the gains made by this particular movement, resulting in widespread resentment against it. The philosophy of the movement has been undermined by compliance enforcement. Universal Design as an idea goes beyond the letter of the law to benefit the world.

...I received a copy of Universal
Design Handbook. On first inspection I thought it was going
to make great door stop, or hold back for the overflowing
collection papers and pamphlets accumulating on my shelves.
However after only a couple of months I already find that it
is regularly dipped into. This massive document is a
fantastic and fascinating resource for researchers who are
interested in the subject of universal and inclusive design
and something of this type has been long awaited by the
design research community. It also provides a good resource
for those who wish to bring universal design into their
design teaching, giving them sound information on which to
base any teaching programme.

This is probably the most comprehensive reference work on
universal design to date. It brings together writings from
an international panel of experts in the field, each being
thoroughly referenced and providing an excellent entry point
for further research. The book, with its 69 international
contributions, addresses a wide selection of universal
design projects that range in scale from an office work
station, to interior architecture, buildings, landscape
architecture, facilities, such as on campus; urban design,
and all the way to parks and wilderness areas. It also
includes some chapters that relate to product design such as
the one on universal design in automobile design.

The research questions, methodologies and findings presented
are focused on how universally designed products and
environments can be created to be usable by most people,
regardless of ability/disability, health, gender, ethnicity,
or cultural context.

Though the emphasis is on the application of universal
design in the built environment, there is a mass of material
that it pertinent to anyone researching or teaching
universal or inclusive design. The fact that it covers a
wide set of issues across the various design communities is
especially useful as it helps designers and researchers
place their own practice and interests in context with
approaches in other design fields.

In my role as a researcher of inclusive design I have found
each contribution to hold something of relevance, which has
added to my body of knowledge and contributed to my own
research activities. As a design teacher I have been able
to draw on the experience of others in framing my own
teaching programme, the parts 7 and 8 on education and case
studies being particularly useful. And as a practising
designer I have been very interested to compare my own
experiences with those of others as outlined in Part 6.
I am sure that in the USA the additional CDROM is also very
useful, enabling readers to access and understand the laws
that have driven some of the universal design activities to
date. Regrettably there is no equivalent disk for European,
UK, Japanese or other country's legislation.

I would not recommend the book as an introductory document
on universal design as it would overwhelm the uninitiated.
It is, however, very comprehensive and in bringing together
the work of the major researchers gives access to this
essential information to a much wider audience than that
which regularly participates in the universal design
dialogue.

Cherie Lebbon, Research Fellow, Helen Hamlyn Research
Centre, Royal College of Art, London

The Universal Design Handbook (UDH) is an excellent collection of the works of 84 international experts. Many marketing, MIS, architecture and engineering professionals would agree that it makes sense to design products to be usable by people of all ages and abilities to the greatest extent possible.

Unfortunately many people do not know how to achieve this objective. The UDH compiles much of this information for you. The word "handbook" is misleading. You can't hold this book in your hand. It weighs six pounds and contains about 1,200 pages. The UDH organizes information into 69 chapters and ten sections. The CD, included with the book, contains technical and design data.

The first few chapters of the book provide the reader with a rich history of the birth and evolution of Universal Design (UD). The reader soon discovers the term Universal Design has different meaning, to different people, in different parts of the world. Gaining familiarity with many new dimensions of UD helped me better understand how my knowledge of accessible information technology design, fits into the "big picture."

The big picture in this case incorporates UD guidelines, public policy, accessibility standards, residential environments, UD practices, education, research, and many case studies from every corner of the world.

I found chapters 65 - 68 interesting. These chapters focus on information and telecommunications technologies including the worldwide web, film and media and even smart card technology.

The final section of the book addresses, "The Future of Universal Design." It discusses how the legacy of the twentieth century is defining the challenges and opportunities that facing all of us in the coming decades.

There is a natural attraction that causes consumers to buy one product over another... that transcends status, cost, quality and service. If manufacturers were able to identify, capture and integrate the spirit of this "attraction" into their products and services they would have a mine of gold. Understanding the essence of what UD is all about will move them one step closer to making this a reality.

For those wishing to see the "Forrest for the trees" of Universal Design, having a copy of the Universal Design Handbook in their library is a must.

The publication of the Universal Design Handbook makes accessible the breadth of recent research on Universal Design. The editors have produced a remarkable resource, bringing together a collection of readable essays by the world's leading experts on Universal Design, "the design of environments and products that respect the diversity of human beings." (xvii)

The Universal Design Handbook is a clearly organized reference book. It begins by defining its subject, proceeds with its history and accomplishments, presents research and case studies, and concludes with a look to the future. Web accessibility and telecommunications are presented as industries positioned to integrate universal design principles in their own infancies, while the notion of "smart technologies" promises opportunities for a universally designed future.

As an architect and educator, I applaud the arrival of this valuable resource, both its practical, highly-focused research and its theoretical, broad inquiry. I appreciate the extensive case studies linking the theories and research with practice. Principles are illustrated with examples of built environments that go beyond the minimum requirements of codes, showing how accessible design can enhance a space for all users and/or presenting ways accessible features can be integrated into a pleasing spatial composition. These studies suggest the need to include questions about the ways people experience a space or object when programming a project, so that the resulting products are created to be usable by most people, regardless of ability/disability, health, gender, ethnicity, or cultural context. Examples range in scale from simple hand-held industrial pieces such as scissors to transportation systems such as buses and subways to entire landscapes and cities. This range requires the support of individual designers and clients as well as public, governmental support and corporate recognition that the goals of human-centered, universal design benefit both the citizenry and the economy. Various methods for reaching these constituencies are discussed in a number of chapters, primarily in "Part 4: Public Policies, Systems and Issues."

The handbook arrived just as I was teaching a Spring 2001 course entitled "Social Agenda in Design and Architecture." In addition to the important facts discussed in chapters such as "Principles of Universal Design," students responded to many of the case studies I presented, based on readings from the handbook. Students were reassured that social responsibility and aesthetics are not mutually exclusive, particularly when shown examples from high-design cultures such as Italy, France and Japan. One of the goals of the course was to challenge students to see social concerns as design opportunities and as a basis for contemporary theories of form-making. In addition, I was able to document the relationship of Universal Design to the other hot topic: Sustainable Design. The chapter "Sustainable Human and Social Development: An Examination of Contextual Factors" outlines how a sustainable built environment is necessary for sustaining human accessibility as well as for benefiting the natural environment. Conversely, the Universal Design movement reminds the Sustainable Design initiative that together their goals are truly human-centered.

In addition, at one faculty meeting we used the distinction between " injection and infusion" as defined in the chapter "Advances in Univeral Design Education in the United States" as a means of considering strategies for bringing Universal Design and other social issues into the curriculum. The discussion considered examples from other programs and sought ways to adapt these to fit the BAC program. As a result of the approach, our discussion was seen as part of an education-wide paradigm shift toward a user-centered design philosophy.

The Universal Design Handbook is an important, timely text that is a welcome and much needed resource for those committed to making this new century accessible to all.

Sally L. Levine, AIA

A wide ranging resource examining the Universal Design paradigm and illustrating the internationality of academic, applied and theoretical design and research activity and expertise. The reader is able to gain a good grasp of the drivers that have led to the development of Universal Design and the theoretical positioning of the subject.

Each section provides a window on the way in which Universal (Design for All/Inclusive design) has become an authoritative approach to designing, especially, thought not exclusively, in the field of the built environment.

Project descriptions and case studies allow design students, academics and researchers to explore a range of issues and approaches presented in an easily accessed form and consider these different options as ways of approaching their own work.

I would recommend this as a valuable addition to any design school library and as a good introductory resource for academics.

Cherie Lebbon MA(IDE) FRSA DRS

Associate Senior Lecturer Design Research, Theory and Analysis
Course Leader MSc Inclusive Design
Design and Ergonomics Research Group and Centre of Excellence in Product and Automotive Design
Dept Industrial Design
Coventry School of Art and Design
Coventry University UK