Domain 2: Accessible Building and Urban Design

“In my work, I often ask people to imagine what a radically inclusive future would look and feel like. Rather than making incremental changes to a built environment that has, for hundreds of years, excluded many people by design, I want us to be bold. I encourage people to ask for accessible spaces that are generated from a place of unapologetic, authentic need, unbridled creativity, and collective care.”

– Hannah Silver, disability activist and Urban Designer, Portland State University^[1]

Design is a vital means by which society expresses concretely its values of mobility, autonomy, and economic participation. The accessibility provisions of the UN CRPD emphasize as Point One that “buildings, roads, transportation and other indoor and outdoor facilities, including schools, housing, medical facilities and workplaces” must be designed and built to enable independent living and full participation. In addition to the accessibility provisions of Article 9, Article 19 of the UN CRPD outlines the right of people with disabilities to live independently in the community, with choices equal to others, including the choice of location and residence.^[2]

The journey toward an ethos of accessibility in physical design has been a long and incremental one. In the Post-War era, the University of Illinois in Urbana-Champaign had the largest college program for students with disabilities (it was also the first wheelchair-accessible campus).  Its program director, Timothy Nugent, drilled into his students the notion that the world outside of the school would be inhospitable and even hostile toward making accommodations or adaptations to meet their accessibility needs.  He was the leading influence in the 1950s and 60s for adaptive architecture, but the emphasis in this era was on design adaptations that would be acceptable and inconspicuous.^[3]

But despite considerable progress in the ensuing half century, the world is a long way from achieving the UN goal of enabling widespread independent living and full participation.  Consider, for example, that over half the world’s schools are not wheelchair accessible.  Nearly 80% of the world’s residents are unable to evacuate their premises (or would face significant difficulty doing so) in the event of a disaster such as a fire.^[4]

To further explore Domain 2: Accessible Building and Urban Design, click to explore the sub-domains below:

Urban Planning

Architecture and Building

Systems Snapshot – Accessibility Iceberg: Entering a Restaurant or Retail Establishment

Building Codes and Architectural Standards

Accessible Housing