Case studies: UD from three perspectives

Exploring universal design across various societies enables a richer understanding of practices shaped by diverse contexts in Europe and Asia, allowing for meaningful insights into their successes and shortcomings.

Transformation—France

Extending the public space to the online sphere with wide accessibility to communication and service.

The case of France illustrates the importance placed on making information accessible to all. Through a range of government sites, a large resource of guidelines is freely accessible, aimed at both professionals and users. One of these key initiatives is the online platform ‘AccessLibre’, which lists the level of accessibility of all public spaces and shares this information as widely as possible online (AccessLibre, La Plateforme Collaborative de l’accessibilité, n.d.). This government start-up, launched by the French Ministry of Ecological Transition, aims to create a collaborative digital service that guides and includes all users, while giving visibility to universally designed public spaces and privately owned public spaces (e.g., restaurants, museums, city halls, etc.). 

Developing tools for sensory, psychological, and mental impairments.

Other important actions involve the inclusion of mental and psychological disabilities in various ways. Among the guidelines shared, the FALC method is a principle applied in public speeches and posters. FALC method is “a content design method created in 2009 under the impetus of the Inclusion Europe association” (info.gouv, n.d.). The aim of this method is to employ inclusive semantics and language that is easy for everyone to understand, particularly by promoting the use of simple vocabulary and concise sentences, without the use of metaphors. This method is particularly inclusive for people with neurodevelopmental disorders such as autism spectrum disorder. In addition, a proposition of law was introduced in September 2019 to introduce ‘silent hours’ in French supermarkets, requiring interruption-free sounds in the store and dimmed lights for an hour per day during opening hours. This suggestion, which was unfortunately not successful in its pilot phase, explores a way to transform daily-use public spaces into flexible areas that cater to individuals' varying sensitivities. 

The case of Paris—building a continuity in the built environment: A pedestrian-oriented design

The Parisian strategy of pedestrian planning (Un «plan piéton» pour piétonniser massivement Paris, n.d.) directly integrates universal design principles (named universal accessibility) to massively upgrade access and comfort to the streets by giving priority to ground-floor services that are directly connected to the streets and creating unobstructed views to help people navigate easily. The challenge is also to ensure that streets and transport systems are equally accessible, particularly by ensuring sufficient length of the bus stop for users to go in and out of the bus, adapting the height of sidewalks to the bus ground height, and even relocating or removing street furniture to not encroach on the mobility of all. This policy aims to create an uninterrupted space, also limiting gaps between one place and another, thereby achieving door-to-door continuity (Apur, 2020).

Adaptation—Japan

As the Japanese lifespan and population ratio of individuals aged 65 and above increase (Kose, 2021), Japan faces a pressing need to refurbish existing facilities to accommodate the evolving demographic. They also need to adapt their public policies and attitudes towards disabilities and age-related disabilities.

Modifying the existing design environment—enhancing local initiatives

Research into the case of Japan highlights the importance of evaluating and adapting existing solutions. Through local ordinance schemes, local authorities can require their own standards of accessibility performance and enable them to innovate in terms of universally designed development. Initially, the scheme was intended to take earthquake measures and was later expanded to integrate the needs of people with disabilities in buildings and public spaces.  This axis of policy allows for new initiatives and re-examination of the existing spaces to find adjustments on existing structures (Dobashi & Ohmori, 2018). As an example, we can cite railways in Tokyo showing that rearrangement of the existing infrastructure can allow a smoother guidance in the built space where “different trains travelling in the same direction but to different destinations use the same platform, letting people change trains easily [...]’ (Kimura, 2006).

Implementing service design in the economic market as a convincing approach

Through economic initiatives, the Japanese market has developed a range of products and services based on universal design principles. Kyoyohin, whose model of everyday life products and goods (Herwig, 2012), could be extended to another scale of design for the daily environment. Moreover, the standardization of UD principles in the product markets was a starting point for further policy. An examination of Japanese accomplishments reveals that they are most effective when introduced into the market with economic incentives. Perhaps the best policy is to combine them with legal enforcement (Kose, 2011). This is an opportunity to browse a shared approach between policies and private players, which will eventually be extended to other spheres of public products and spaces.

Process—Sweden

The case of Sweden opens up our thinking towards a country where universal design is a long-term development strategy implemented from the very beginning of policy-making. In this case, the notion of UD is rather “a guiding principle from the beginning” (Erdtman et al., 2021). In the case of Sweden, this allows some of these principles to be questioned and evolve. They believe that UD must evolve in response to its context and serve as a starting point for innovation.

Co-creation: Allowing a flexible practice with a collaborative approach

The Swedish case suggests a more collaborative approach to the making of the practice and process. Beyond policy, it implies a realistic need-based process where users' experiences and practitioners share their perspectives to develop realistic designs in a multidisciplinary approach. “[I]ntersectional collaboration involves different groups and perspectives in cross-boundary processes, not in separate tracks” (Erdtman, 2024). Moreover, the concept of ‘co-creation’ implies that solution and discussion are the starting point of innovation and solution-finding, not a confrontation. That highlights, as well, a notion of UD’s strategy emerging from experience rather than theoretical concepts.

Beyond categories: Relying on the personal experience of each individual

Swedish researchers are exploring another dimension of universal design practice, where responses, whether in the built environment or services, must address the individual beyond their disabilities. This implies that each individual cannot be understood solely in terms of their impairment, and that other factors must be taken into account. This means, for example, that a group of people who share the same disability do not necessarily share the same needs, as other factors such as age, gender, or multiple disabilities change their personal experience. “This means that the experiences of disabled people should not be regarded as bound to specific impairments. Their user stories should not be categorised according to impairments” (Erdtman, 2024). This interpretation suggests that the scope of inclusivity should be broadened to include a more personal understanding and less normative responses. “The concept and practice of UD must be continually updated and contextualized to offer relevant and practical potential” (Erdtman et al., 2022).