American Access

Author: Valerie Fletcher

Topic(s): Outdoor Spaces, Universal Design, ADA

Media: Article

Availability: There is also a PDF version of this article available for download: American Access (PDF)

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Valerie Fletcher, Executive Director of the Institute for Human Centered Design (Boston, USA) outlines the principle of inclusive design and illustrates how it has led to the creation of genuinely inclusive spaces.

As is true of the UK’s Disability Discrimination Act, the US has framed accessibility in terms of civil rights. The first US federal requirements date from the 1973 Rehabilitation Act. Its language is similar to the 1964 Civil Rights Act, which prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, colour or national origin though this only applied to entities that received some portion of federal funds.

It was the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) in 1990, that ensured the requirements applied to nearly all existing facilities and to all new public and private construction projects.

These new obligations required detailed guidance and this has come in recent years from the US Access Board (www.access-board.gov). The USAB was created as a federal agency in 1973 to develop guidelines by bringing together the expertise of professionals and consumer groups.

Over the years, it has defined the minimum requirements for accessibility and generated expanded guidance for specific areas like public rights of way, trails, recreation areas and research on best practice and materials.

In 2002 the USAB published guidelines that address access for persons with disabilities to a variety of recreation settings and in 2003, detailed guidance on certain types of recreational facilities was issued. These guidelines, which supplement the board’s ADA Accessibility Guidelines, specify access to amusement rides, boating facilities, fishing piers and platforms, golf courses, miniature golf courses, sports facilities, and swimming pools, wading pools and spas. The exhaustive process brought much-needed clarity regarding requirements and ownership.

Beyond Minimum Requirements

Guidelines are most likely to generate change if accompanied by educationand continued research. For the past decade, the National Park Service and Indiana University have come together to form the National Center on Accessibility (www.ncaonline.org). It offers comprehensive research services, technical assistance and education to public and private entities across the US.

The NCA endorses universal or inclusive design as opposed to minimum legal compliance. Inclusive design is a framework for the design of places, things and information to be usable by the widest range of people operating in the widest range of situations, without special or separate design. More simply, it’s human-centred design with everyone in mind.

The American Society of Landscape Architects (www.asla.org) has alsoembraced universal design. It makes this clear in a policy statement saying: "The response to accessibility requirements is often merely standard driven, resulting in segregated facilities not meeting the level of aesthetics of other site features and lacking creativity and flexibility, thereby paradoxically limiting opportunities for both the disabled and able bodied. Through the application of the principles of universal design, barriers can beremoved from existing facilities andnew barrier-free facilities can be constructed so that accessible features are an expected part of every place, and become an interwoven part of every facility, enhancing opportunities for the full range of users."

WHO Classification

The idea that design should anticipate a wide range of human diversity aligns with the World Health Organisation’s (WHO) new classification system which acknowledges that every human being can experience a decrease in health, and thereby experience some disability. WHO’s new system recognises disability as a universal human experience and shifts the focus from the person to the interaction of the person in the environment. The environment can either exacerbate or minimise the experience of disability.

A successful design should not only work well for people with functional limitations but should enhance everyone’s experience. Whether or not the designer knows or uses the language of inclusive or universal design, good design incorporates it.

As should be expected, over 30 years the US has built up a wealth of information about designing public space that works for everyone. There are some brilliant practitioners and some model public policies. People with disabilities and older people have high expectations that they should be able to participate fully in any facet of public space that they choose to enjoy.

Improving Attitudes

There remains a long way to go. It iscommon for public and private entitiesto have a "just tell me what I have to do" attitude – with predictable results. Academic programmes and professional development give short shrift to accessor inclusive design. It would be reasonable and mutually beneficial tointegrate human-centreed design into a growing appetite for sustainable design solutions, but it’s rare to date.

What could be better than setting uplocal campaigns to encourage children, older people and ordinary community residents to work together on projectsfor great green spaces, that will welcome everyone and treat them all to the experience of delight.

Inclusive Design Best Practice

The following are a selection of American places and designers where the principle of inclusive design has been used to good effect:

• A small half hectare urban park created in 1991 in Boston, Massachusetts offers an excellent example of seamless integration that welcomes all comers. Norman B. Leventhal Park, designed by Halvorson Design Partnership, offers a set of rich texturesand varied experiences for a small space, and subtle, but effective, detail like opening the grass lawn to prams or other mobility aids by curving the granite curbs to create openings.

• Another Boston example is Piers Park, a public park designed by Marion Pressley of Pressley Associates. This derelict but historical site corrected a long-standing barrier to a newly clean Boston Harbour for residents of this largely immigrant community. It also compensated the community for the loss of Olmstead Park to airport expansion manyyears before. The 2.6ha parcel of land was sensitively designed in close collaboration withan 18-member neighbourhood advisory committee to work for all visitors while embracing the challenges of adaptive re-use, direct water access and respect for its important role in Boston’s history. Three distinct zones deliver a diverse range of active and passive choices for children, adults and seniors including open space, seating, sailing, exercise, playgrounds and pavilions, imbued with cultural and historical design details.

• Michael van Valkenburgh has recently been awardedthe 2003 National Design Award in Environmental Design by the Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum. His designs are characterised by an emphasis on user experience and integrate art into landscape. His Allegheny Riverfront Park in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania has helped to rejuvenate anabandoned waterfront.

• Moore Iacofano Goltsman (MIG) is a Berkeley, California firm that designs inventive children’s outdoor spaces, by working with the community togather information about local expectations andneeds. Its attention to multi-sensory experience, use of state-of-the-art materials and respect for the value of risk in play for all children make its parks magnets.

• On the West Coast, Yerba Buena Center is an 35ha mixed-use urban development that includes a park which reflects a commitment to inclusive design. Gerald McCue and Associates addressed a challenging sloped site by making the elevation a means to provide distinct experiences across the site, from children’s water play to quiet areas for people from the adjacent Asian community to practise tai chi outdoors. A mixed granite paver walkway with jewellery-like railings and an adjacent waterfall is the route between levels everyone uses.

• Van Valkenburgh andAssociates tackled an urbanspace challenge at the New School for Social Research in New York City, by creating access througha tiny courtyard with birch trees, a lit sculptural bench and a curved walkway.

This article was originally published in the February 2004 issue of Green Places .

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