How Can We Increase the Implementation of Universal Design in Housing?Joanne Quinn, University of New South Wales, PhD candidate, University of New South Wales, Australia Universal design is recognized as a benefit to the design of housing for all users. However, despite the success of several demonstration houses and individual developments in various countries, universal design still has far more potential for implementation in the housing market worldwide. Some of the issues affecting the implementation of universal design could include the inconsistency in universal design guidelines, limited reference data for universal design features and compliance by builders to universal design practices. Guidelines and regulations for housing access lack consistency between different countries and even between different states. This variation in requirements can present a difficulty to policy makers and the design industry when selecting appropriate housing features. For instance, in Australia an open-plan shower in a universally designed bathroom should measure 1200mm x 1200mm (Queensland Department of Housing, 2000) while Universal Design in Housing (Mace, 1998) specifies a shower at least 5' x 3' (approx. 1500mm x 900mm). Similarly, many other features vary widely between regions, such as doorway clearances, circulation space for wheelchairs and bathroom layouts. Though cultural variations could account for some of these differences between countries, there are many instances of conflicting requirements between design specifications within a common region. Most of the universal design regulations and guidelines for housing do not include the reference data on which their features and dimensional requirements are based. Without this data, housing designers and policy makers do not have the necessary information to select the most appropriate specification from the various guides for their users' requirements and they cannot verify that the needs of their users have been considered in the development of the guide: features that are intended for wheelchair users may not have considered use by the mobile but frail elderly, and some features have not considered children as users. The absence of this reference data also makes it difficult to ensure that the specified housing features continue to accurately reflect user needs over time. For instance, it is important to know if the specification for minimum doorway clearances are based on the passage of the largest wheelchair, as this specification would need to be modified should there be a marked increase in wheelchair sizes. The house building trades are becoming more knowledgeable about universal design due to universal design advocacy groups and the success of universal design demonstration houses and programs. However, the experiences in some universal design demonstration houses, where despite the involvement of architects, planners and other specialists in universal design, fittings or fixtures have been installed, supplied or built incorrectly from the plans, suggests that compliance in the house building trades needs to be addressed. We need to aim for building compliance with universal design principles for all house designers and owners who will often not have the expertise in universal design of universal housing design professionals. This session examines some of the issues that could be affecting the implementation of universal design in housing. It will incorporate a review of the contrasting guidelines for universal design across different states and countries. It will then propose and examine some of the options for addressing these issues, which will be discussed with colleagues in the forum: standardization of common user requirements, referencing usability data in design guides and educational tools for house owners, designers, manufacturers and builders. The forum group will be encouraged to contribute experiences from their own regions that will assist us all to transform theory into practice: effectively implementing universal design in housing across the world. ReferencesMace, R. M. (1998). Universal Design in Housing. Retrieved 27 February, 2003, from http://www.adaptiveenvironments.org/examples/article3.php?f=4 Queensland Department of Housing. (2000). Residential Design Manual: The Requirements - Issue 1, Houses, 3.3 Bathroom (universal). Retrieved 2 June, 2003, from http://www.housing.qld.gov.au/builders/smart_housing/practice/rdm_requirements/houses/house_33.htm |