The universal design movement arrived in Australia well before the turn of the century. A handful... more The universal design movement arrived in Australia well before the turn of the century. A handful of individuals, often working as lone voices, are doing their best to incorporate the concepts into their everyday work and promote the concepts more widely. As is often the case elsewhere, the term "universal design" is misunderstood and confused with special and separate designs for people with disability rather than inclusion for everyone. Compliance to legislated disability access standards has created further confusion and as a consequence many myths about universal design have emerged. Such myths have held back the implementation and understanding of universal design and inclusive practice. Australian governments at all levels have shown little interest in promoting universal design principles, save for a casual mention of the term in policy documents. This is in spite of changes to disability and ageing policies promoting more autonomy and independence for individuals. When political leadership is absent, leadership often defaults to the community, or to be precise, to a handful of people with a passion for the cause. In 2013 a chance meeting of two unrelated individuals set the wheels in motion to establish a centre for universal design in Australia. This paper charts the development and progress of the organisation through volunteer effort, harnessing community support, maintaining international connections, using social media, and establishing a resource-rich website and newsletter.
In Australia, the last frontier for universal design is mainstream housing. Developers in the pri... more In Australia, the last frontier for universal design is mainstream housing. Developers in the private residential sector have consistently, and successfully, argued for the status quo to remain. Developers' claims of cost and lack of demand have swayed governments that are in favor of "letting the market decide". Disability- and age-specific housing and one-off projects have included many features that are considered universal design. So, the technical details are not an issue. The house-building sector in Australia consists of many parts, all held together by regulations and professional codes and norms of practice. Calls for accessible housing were heard by the Australian Government in 2010 and a set of voluntary guidelines were developed jointly by industry and disability advocacy groups. These became the "Livable Housing Design Guidelines". It was understood that industry needed time to reorganize to bring about the changes needed. Consequently, it was agreed to progressively introduce accessible features over ten years so that by 2020 all new homes should be built to a basic level of accessibility. However, it was obvious in 2017 that this goal was unachievable with voluntary guidelines. Mandating these guidelines has been shunned at every turn, but the need to mandate could no longer be ignored. Through community advocacy efforts, the body that regulates the National Construction Code has been brought to the negotiating table to discuss mandating basic access features in all new homes. This paper reports on the processes and progress of these negotiations and the outcomes to date.
This paper follows three previous ones which have reflected on the grassroots campaign in Austral... more This paper follows three previous ones which have reflected on the grassroots campaign in Australia to mandate a basic access standard in all new housing. The original negotiations with government and the housing industry for this reform were at first disingenuous then reluctant despite human rights obligations. A tenacious campaign over two decades by user stakeholders, researchers, and principled housing providers finally convinced political leaders to mandate national access provisions for all new housing in the National Construction Code. The paper discusses what assisted and hampered this campaign. It then discusses why politicians eventually favoured the interests of ordinary people over the selfinterests of the housing industry.
The aim of this study was to find out why the mass-market house building industry in Australia ap... more The aim of this study was to find out why the mass-market house building industry in Australia appears reticent to incorporate universal design principles into project homes. The central tenet of universal design is inclusiveness. Apart from social equity issues, there is an economic imperative stemming from designs that exclude. People who cannot easily participate in social and economic activities are at risk of becoming dependent on state assistance and tax payer support. Using an interpretivist framework the study explored industry stakeholder attitudes and opinions of universal housing design as a means of identifying barriers, and just as importantly, why they exist. It was anticipated that more appropriate processes for overcoming barriers might be identified. A survey questionnaire and in-depth interviews were used to gather information from across the professional spectrum including property developers, regulators, architects, building designers, land developers, and project home builders. Two sets of public documents were also analysed, one set relating to housing design policy and the other set relating to public access requirements. An exploratory investigation of the new home purchaser experience was also undertaken in an attempt to gain a consumer perspective of the industry. A small scale survey of new homeowners, and five in-depth interviews were carried out for this purpose. The findings revealed a complex web of barriers to implementing change within the house-building industry, and that overcoming the barriers is
Promoting the efficacies of universally designed built environments has been one of the ongoing q... more Promoting the efficacies of universally designed built environments has been one of the ongoing quests of disability and ageing advocacy groups, and more recently, governments. The underpinning principle of universal design is inclusiveness-that is, to design across the population spectrum for people of all ages, abilities and backgrounds. This means ensuring architectural features do not inadvertently become architectural barriers to inclusion in everyday social and economic life. The drive for social and economic inclusion for people with disabilities has recently moved up the political agenda and new policy directions at national and state levels are emerging. Political will is a necessary but insufficient condition to guarantee inclusion if industry does not understand what constitutes inclusiveness in design, and does not understand the differences in terms used in the built environment in relation to inclusion, disability and ageing. Using the NSW Government's recent call for tenders for social housing, and an academic paper as examples, this paper discusses how using various terms such as accessible and adaptable interchangeably might defeat the objective of inclusion, and how the misuse and confusion in terminology hinders not only the uptake of universal design in a practical way, but also stymies academic debate on the topic.
Designing products and environments to be useable by the majority of people is the underpinning c... more Designing products and environments to be useable by the majority of people is the underpinning concept of universal design. In some aspects, however, universal design fails to meet some of its own principles. This has resulted in a lack of understanding of the concept, which in turn, has allowed the terms "accessibility" and "disability" to inhabit the language of universal design. This means universal design is now bounded by concepts of accessibility, regulations and disability rights, rather than the intellectual challenges inherent in designing for the whole of the population bell curve. The universal design movement recognises that making headway is proving difficult and is seeking ways to improve its position. Market research, however, indicates universal design is now branded as a disability product and this has implications for consumers, practitioners, and for the universal design movement in general. Discussed are the influence of terminology on the direction and perceptions of universal design, and the dilemmas of applying a regulatory framework as an implementation strategy.
This paper follows three previous ones which have reflected on the grass-roots campaign in Austra... more This paper follows three previous ones which have reflected on the grass-roots campaign in Australia to mandate a basic access standard in all new housing. The original negotiations with government and the housing industry for this reform were at first disingenuous then reluctant despite human rights obligations. A tenacious campaign over two decades by user stakeholders, researchers, and principled housing providers finally convinced political leaders to mandate national access provisions for all new housing in the National Construction Code. The paper discusses what assisted and hampered this campaign. It then discusses why politicians eventually favoured the interests of ordinary people over the self-interests of the housing industry.
Playspaces bring children and adults together for fun and social interaction but are rarely desig... more Playspaces bring children and adults together for fun and social interaction but are rarely designed for the inclusion of all community members. In Australia, local government authorities (councils) are responsible for parks and playspaces. The New South Wales state government launched their inclusive playspaces policy in 2017. A guideline document was proposed but a guideline does not guarantee implementation. Consequently, an inclusive design process for developing the guide became the strategy. The task was to develop a guide that explained the concepts of inclusion and universal design within the playspace context. The project took an iterative and collaborative approach to the design of the guide. Intended users were those involved in creating playspaces, not playspace users per se. The participatory governance structure involved three levels of collaboration: a small steering group of experts, a larger group with key stakeholders, and a wider group of stakeholders and interest...
We welcome the opportunity to provide comment on the Discussion Paper: Sydney Over the Next 20 Ye... more We welcome the opportunity to provide comment on the Discussion Paper: Sydney Over the Next 20 Years. This submission arises from the discussions of staff and doctoral students at the Urban Research Centre at the University of Western Sydney. At the outset we make five general statements about inadequacies in the structure and content of the discussion paper and thereby point to what we see as crucial underpinnings of a successful metropolitan strategy for Sydney. While some of the issues we raise are mentioned to a greater or lesser extent in the discussion paper, our view is they require enhanced treatment and more informed discussion than is presently provided
The lyrics to the 1965 song My Generation expresses the sentiment that being ‘old’ is undesirable... more The lyrics to the 1965 song My Generation expresses the sentiment that being ‘old’ is undesirable – hence the song line, “Hope I die before I get old”. In a preceding line the lyrics “People try to put us down...” indicate that older people lack pertinent insights into the hopes and desires of young people. The ‘misunderstood’ generation of the 1960s is now today’s ‘baby boomer’ generation – perhaps feeling misunderstood yet again, but from a different perspective.
Purpose This paper identifies key methodological issues for economic analyses of costs and effect... more Purpose This paper identifies key methodological issues for economic analyses of costs and effectiveness of Assistive Technology (AT) systems based on the International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF). Following the biopsychosocial model of the ICF, the paper explores the consequences for cost-effectiveness analyses of AT systems when a user centred approach is taken. In so doing, the paper questions the fiction of neutrality in economic analyses and discusses the distinction between weak and strong objectivity.
Australian cities are facing a higher density future. With metropolitan planning strategies in pl... more Australian cities are facing a higher density future. With metropolitan planning strategies in place or under development across much of metropolitan Australia that promote compact city outcomes, the development of higher density housing, particularly in the form of apartments, is becoming a major feature of our housing markets. In Sydney and Melbourne this form of housing has already become a major component in the housing provision. This paper sets out a novel approach to the delineation of the component groups that underpin the demand profile for private market higher density housing in these two cities. One of the distinctive features of this market is its spatial fragmentation, with pockets of apartments and attached housing highly associated with areas which have been zoned for this kind of dwelling, or where redevelopment of older housing predates the introduction of higher density zoning, as well as the three dimensional nature of the housing. It is therefore difficult to apply traditional two dimensional spatial analysis approaches to delineating the sub-structure of the consumption of higher density housing. Rather than base subgroup definition in terms of the simple geographical delineation of exclusive contiguous sub-areas, this approach uses the concept of spatially discontinuous housing markets to unpack the structure of the current demand for flats and apartments in Sydney and Melbourne. The analysis is based on special ABS Census 2006 collector district level data for households living in apartment dwellings. A particular innovation is the use of GIS methods to display the spatial interpenetration of a range of different consumption groups within the higher density population, thus avoiding the problem of ecological fallacy common in earlier approaches. The paper therefore offers new insights into the different profiles of demand for higher density housing in Australia's two largest cities at a time when planning policies and markets are delivering greater numbers of this form of housing.
Designing products and environments to be useable by the majority of people is the underpinning c... more Designing products and environments to be useable by the majority of people is the underpinning concept of universal design. In some aspects, however, universal design fails to meet some of its own principles. This has resulted in a lack of understanding of the concept, which in turn, has allowed the terms “accessibility” and “disability” to inhabit the language of universal design. This means universal design is now bounded by concepts of accessibility, regulations and disability rights, rather than the intellectual challenges inherent in designing for the whole of the population bell curve. The universal design movement recognises that making headway is proving difficult and is seeking ways to improve its position. Market research, however, indicates universal design is now branded as a disability product and this has implications for consumers, practitioners, and for the universal design movement in general. Discussed are the influence of terminology on the direction and percepti...
The universal design movement arrived in Australia well before the turn of the century. A handful... more The universal design movement arrived in Australia well before the turn of the century. A handful of individuals, often working as lone voices, are doing their best to incorporate the concepts into their everyday work and promote the concepts more widely. As is often the case elsewhere, the term "universal design" is misunderstood and confused with special and separate designs for people with disability rather than inclusion for everyone. Compliance to legislated disability access standards has created further confusion and as a consequence many myths about universal design have emerged. Such myths have held back the implementation and understanding of universal design and inclusive practice. Australian governments at all levels have shown little interest in promoting universal design principles, save for a casual mention of the term in policy documents. This is in spite of changes to disability and ageing policies promoting more autonomy and independence for individuals. When political leadership is absent, leadership often defaults to the community, or to be precise, to a handful of people with a passion for the cause. In 2013 a chance meeting of two unrelated individuals set the wheels in motion to establish a centre for universal design in Australia. This paper charts the development and progress of the organisation through volunteer effort, harnessing community support, maintaining international connections, using social media, and establishing a resource-rich website and newsletter.
In Australia, the last frontier for universal design is mainstream housing. Developers in the pri... more In Australia, the last frontier for universal design is mainstream housing. Developers in the private residential sector have consistently, and successfully, argued for the status quo to remain. Developers' claims of cost and lack of demand have swayed governments that are in favor of "letting the market decide". Disability- and age-specific housing and one-off projects have included many features that are considered universal design. So, the technical details are not an issue. The house-building sector in Australia consists of many parts, all held together by regulations and professional codes and norms of practice. Calls for accessible housing were heard by the Australian Government in 2010 and a set of voluntary guidelines were developed jointly by industry and disability advocacy groups. These became the "Livable Housing Design Guidelines". It was understood that industry needed time to reorganize to bring about the changes needed. Consequently, it was agreed to progressively introduce accessible features over ten years so that by 2020 all new homes should be built to a basic level of accessibility. However, it was obvious in 2017 that this goal was unachievable with voluntary guidelines. Mandating these guidelines has been shunned at every turn, but the need to mandate could no longer be ignored. Through community advocacy efforts, the body that regulates the National Construction Code has been brought to the negotiating table to discuss mandating basic access features in all new homes. This paper reports on the processes and progress of these negotiations and the outcomes to date.
This paper follows three previous ones which have reflected on the grassroots campaign in Austral... more This paper follows three previous ones which have reflected on the grassroots campaign in Australia to mandate a basic access standard in all new housing. The original negotiations with government and the housing industry for this reform were at first disingenuous then reluctant despite human rights obligations. A tenacious campaign over two decades by user stakeholders, researchers, and principled housing providers finally convinced political leaders to mandate national access provisions for all new housing in the National Construction Code. The paper discusses what assisted and hampered this campaign. It then discusses why politicians eventually favoured the interests of ordinary people over the selfinterests of the housing industry.
The aim of this study was to find out why the mass-market house building industry in Australia ap... more The aim of this study was to find out why the mass-market house building industry in Australia appears reticent to incorporate universal design principles into project homes. The central tenet of universal design is inclusiveness. Apart from social equity issues, there is an economic imperative stemming from designs that exclude. People who cannot easily participate in social and economic activities are at risk of becoming dependent on state assistance and tax payer support. Using an interpretivist framework the study explored industry stakeholder attitudes and opinions of universal housing design as a means of identifying barriers, and just as importantly, why they exist. It was anticipated that more appropriate processes for overcoming barriers might be identified. A survey questionnaire and in-depth interviews were used to gather information from across the professional spectrum including property developers, regulators, architects, building designers, land developers, and project home builders. Two sets of public documents were also analysed, one set relating to housing design policy and the other set relating to public access requirements. An exploratory investigation of the new home purchaser experience was also undertaken in an attempt to gain a consumer perspective of the industry. A small scale survey of new homeowners, and five in-depth interviews were carried out for this purpose. The findings revealed a complex web of barriers to implementing change within the house-building industry, and that overcoming the barriers is
Promoting the efficacies of universally designed built environments has been one of the ongoing q... more Promoting the efficacies of universally designed built environments has been one of the ongoing quests of disability and ageing advocacy groups, and more recently, governments. The underpinning principle of universal design is inclusiveness-that is, to design across the population spectrum for people of all ages, abilities and backgrounds. This means ensuring architectural features do not inadvertently become architectural barriers to inclusion in everyday social and economic life. The drive for social and economic inclusion for people with disabilities has recently moved up the political agenda and new policy directions at national and state levels are emerging. Political will is a necessary but insufficient condition to guarantee inclusion if industry does not understand what constitutes inclusiveness in design, and does not understand the differences in terms used in the built environment in relation to inclusion, disability and ageing. Using the NSW Government's recent call for tenders for social housing, and an academic paper as examples, this paper discusses how using various terms such as accessible and adaptable interchangeably might defeat the objective of inclusion, and how the misuse and confusion in terminology hinders not only the uptake of universal design in a practical way, but also stymies academic debate on the topic.
Designing products and environments to be useable by the majority of people is the underpinning c... more Designing products and environments to be useable by the majority of people is the underpinning concept of universal design. In some aspects, however, universal design fails to meet some of its own principles. This has resulted in a lack of understanding of the concept, which in turn, has allowed the terms "accessibility" and "disability" to inhabit the language of universal design. This means universal design is now bounded by concepts of accessibility, regulations and disability rights, rather than the intellectual challenges inherent in designing for the whole of the population bell curve. The universal design movement recognises that making headway is proving difficult and is seeking ways to improve its position. Market research, however, indicates universal design is now branded as a disability product and this has implications for consumers, practitioners, and for the universal design movement in general. Discussed are the influence of terminology on the direction and perceptions of universal design, and the dilemmas of applying a regulatory framework as an implementation strategy.
This paper follows three previous ones which have reflected on the grass-roots campaign in Austra... more This paper follows three previous ones which have reflected on the grass-roots campaign in Australia to mandate a basic access standard in all new housing. The original negotiations with government and the housing industry for this reform were at first disingenuous then reluctant despite human rights obligations. A tenacious campaign over two decades by user stakeholders, researchers, and principled housing providers finally convinced political leaders to mandate national access provisions for all new housing in the National Construction Code. The paper discusses what assisted and hampered this campaign. It then discusses why politicians eventually favoured the interests of ordinary people over the self-interests of the housing industry.
Playspaces bring children and adults together for fun and social interaction but are rarely desig... more Playspaces bring children and adults together for fun and social interaction but are rarely designed for the inclusion of all community members. In Australia, local government authorities (councils) are responsible for parks and playspaces. The New South Wales state government launched their inclusive playspaces policy in 2017. A guideline document was proposed but a guideline does not guarantee implementation. Consequently, an inclusive design process for developing the guide became the strategy. The task was to develop a guide that explained the concepts of inclusion and universal design within the playspace context. The project took an iterative and collaborative approach to the design of the guide. Intended users were those involved in creating playspaces, not playspace users per se. The participatory governance structure involved three levels of collaboration: a small steering group of experts, a larger group with key stakeholders, and a wider group of stakeholders and interest...
We welcome the opportunity to provide comment on the Discussion Paper: Sydney Over the Next 20 Ye... more We welcome the opportunity to provide comment on the Discussion Paper: Sydney Over the Next 20 Years. This submission arises from the discussions of staff and doctoral students at the Urban Research Centre at the University of Western Sydney. At the outset we make five general statements about inadequacies in the structure and content of the discussion paper and thereby point to what we see as crucial underpinnings of a successful metropolitan strategy for Sydney. While some of the issues we raise are mentioned to a greater or lesser extent in the discussion paper, our view is they require enhanced treatment and more informed discussion than is presently provided
The lyrics to the 1965 song My Generation expresses the sentiment that being ‘old’ is undesirable... more The lyrics to the 1965 song My Generation expresses the sentiment that being ‘old’ is undesirable – hence the song line, “Hope I die before I get old”. In a preceding line the lyrics “People try to put us down...” indicate that older people lack pertinent insights into the hopes and desires of young people. The ‘misunderstood’ generation of the 1960s is now today’s ‘baby boomer’ generation – perhaps feeling misunderstood yet again, but from a different perspective.
Purpose This paper identifies key methodological issues for economic analyses of costs and effect... more Purpose This paper identifies key methodological issues for economic analyses of costs and effectiveness of Assistive Technology (AT) systems based on the International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF). Following the biopsychosocial model of the ICF, the paper explores the consequences for cost-effectiveness analyses of AT systems when a user centred approach is taken. In so doing, the paper questions the fiction of neutrality in economic analyses and discusses the distinction between weak and strong objectivity.
Australian cities are facing a higher density future. With metropolitan planning strategies in pl... more Australian cities are facing a higher density future. With metropolitan planning strategies in place or under development across much of metropolitan Australia that promote compact city outcomes, the development of higher density housing, particularly in the form of apartments, is becoming a major feature of our housing markets. In Sydney and Melbourne this form of housing has already become a major component in the housing provision. This paper sets out a novel approach to the delineation of the component groups that underpin the demand profile for private market higher density housing in these two cities. One of the distinctive features of this market is its spatial fragmentation, with pockets of apartments and attached housing highly associated with areas which have been zoned for this kind of dwelling, or where redevelopment of older housing predates the introduction of higher density zoning, as well as the three dimensional nature of the housing. It is therefore difficult to apply traditional two dimensional spatial analysis approaches to delineating the sub-structure of the consumption of higher density housing. Rather than base subgroup definition in terms of the simple geographical delineation of exclusive contiguous sub-areas, this approach uses the concept of spatially discontinuous housing markets to unpack the structure of the current demand for flats and apartments in Sydney and Melbourne. The analysis is based on special ABS Census 2006 collector district level data for households living in apartment dwellings. A particular innovation is the use of GIS methods to display the spatial interpenetration of a range of different consumption groups within the higher density population, thus avoiding the problem of ecological fallacy common in earlier approaches. The paper therefore offers new insights into the different profiles of demand for higher density housing in Australia's two largest cities at a time when planning policies and markets are delivering greater numbers of this form of housing.
Designing products and environments to be useable by the majority of people is the underpinning c... more Designing products and environments to be useable by the majority of people is the underpinning concept of universal design. In some aspects, however, universal design fails to meet some of its own principles. This has resulted in a lack of understanding of the concept, which in turn, has allowed the terms “accessibility” and “disability” to inhabit the language of universal design. This means universal design is now bounded by concepts of accessibility, regulations and disability rights, rather than the intellectual challenges inherent in designing for the whole of the population bell curve. The universal design movement recognises that making headway is proving difficult and is seeking ways to improve its position. Market research, however, indicates universal design is now branded as a disability product and this has implications for consumers, practitioners, and for the universal design movement in general. Discussed are the influence of terminology on the direction and percepti...
Transforming our World Through Design, Diversity and Education, 2018
The universal design movement arrived in Australia well before the turn of the century. A handful... more The universal design movement arrived in Australia well before the turn of the century. A handful of individuals, often working as lone voices, are doing their best to incorporate the concepts into their everyday work and promote the concepts more widely. As is often the case elsewhere, the term "universal design" is misunderstood and confused with special and separate designs for people with disability rather than inclusion for everyone. Compliance to legislated disability access standards has created further confusion and as a consequence many myths about universal design have emerged. Such myths have held back the implementation and understanding of universal design and inclusive practice. Australian governments at all levels have shown little interest in promoting universal design principles, save for a casual mention of the term in policy documents. This is in spite of changes to disability and ageing policies promoting more autonomy and independence for individuals. When political leadership is absent, leadership often defaults to the community, or to be precise, to a handful of people with a passion for the cause. In 2013 a chance meeting of two unrelated individuals set the wheels in motion to establish a centre for universal design in Australia. This paper charts the development and progress of the organisation through volunteer effort, harnessing community support, maintaining international connections, using social media, and establishing a resource-rich website and newsletter
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Papers by Jane Bringolf