Universal design report
by Amelia Starr—2003/4 Churchill Fellow
Living in a quality-designed home that is accessible, affordable, and attractive is a central theme in our lives and essential to our sense of well being and community. In reality, we build and buy our ‘dream homes’ for a ‘Peter Pan’ population—people who never get older, never have accidents or injuries, never acquire a disability or have family who are affected by disability. In designing for the modern world, we seem to have overlooked the essential human condition that our needs change over time. Today, seniors are ageing better and generally living well in their post retirement years. They are also living longer with varying levels of impairment and disability and surviving more serious illnesses and accidents. Significant trends in the causes of disability highlight the need for home dwellings to provide greater flexibility to accommodate our changing life.
Disability access consultant, Amelia Starr, in 2003 embarked on a journey to discover the planning, design and implementation of ‘universal housing’ and its influence on developing sustainable, inclusive communities.
Ms Starr's report covers the philosophy of universal design and its implementation, together with case studies in Japan, Canada, the United States of America, the United Kingdom and Norway. It also canvasses the implications on policy, legisation and practice in Australia.
Click here to download the complete report (1 Mb PDF).
