Inclusive Design Criteria and Policies
As long disparities exist, they will restrict and confine groups of people, limiting their ability to make choices about how and where they live, perpetuating inequity and cutting the social connections that define vibrant and thriving cities. We need a way of objectifying criteria of success, some common points of reference so independent observers and evaluators can arrive at conclusions about what needs to happen as we plan and design cities.As planners, designers, developers and managers, how can we overcome:
- Neighborhoods with vastly different qualities of life;
- Fundamentally unequal access to education and jobs;
- Virtually impassable physical barriers that cut through many disadvantaged urban neighborhoods; and
- Environmental disasters like toxic waste sites, a lack of parks and open space, and rivers that no longer resemble anything ever seen in nature?
As long as these disparities exist, they will restrict and confine groups of people, limiting their ability to make choices about how and where they live, perpetuating inequity and cutting the social connections that define vibrant and thriving cities. We need a way of objectifying criteria of success, some common points of reference so independent observers and evaluators can arrive at conclusions about what needs to happen as we plan and design cities.
Inclusive Design CriteriaFunctionalityInclusive Policy Framework
Context Sensitivity
Equitable ImpactEconomic Development
Housing and Neighborhoods
Education
Access and Mobility
Habitat Protection and a Safe Public Realm
Community Facilities and Gathering Spaces
Cultural Meaning
Inclusive Design Criteria
Successful inclusive design projects support our unique physical, social, cultural and economic needs with clear philosophies, strategies and tactics. From the outset, these projects aim for inclusiveness in all phases. They push the boundaries of creativity and innovation, energizing and regenerating a community. They result in functional, high-quality and aesthetically pleasing environments that manage impacts and add value to cities, providing residents with opportunities and choices to thrive and reach their full potential.
We propose three criteria that can help us systematically analyze how well environments incorporate ecological principles, and how people are affected by and can shape development projects.1. Functionality
2. Housing and NeighborhoodsDesigns are functionally based, incorporating the physical inclusiveness of universal design, which supports the unique physical needs of all types of people, and makes places and programs accessible to the widest possible audience. Universal design assumes that humans have a diverse range of abilities, that this range is ordinary, not unique, and that the range is dynamic; will change during our lifespan. Friendly, accessible and easy-to-use environments benefit everyone: a mother holding a baby, a very short or tall person, a senior with low stamina or a visual impairment, or a child with a broken leg.
Successful projects support the functional needs of their users such as health, safety and sustenance. There must be good transportation and communication, access to goods and services, and everything must be available to all inhabitants regardless of age, income, power or rank. It is sized and positioned correctly, or, as Lynch says, the form and capacity of spaces, channels and equipment in a settlement match the pattern and quantity of actions that people customarily engage in. There must be a match between the environment and cultural constructs such as values and vision. And finally, communities must be able to influence and manage the space and activities themselves.
2. Context Sensitivity
Inclusive design translates the vision of an inclusive city into the physical; it enables people across the entire economic and social spectrum to participate in and receive value from the project.
The first step is helping the client and the community understand and take an active role in early strategy and project planning. The critical thinking about the real source of a problem and potential solutions is participatory, involving the entire community in hands-on planning and leveraging resources. The projects are always context-driven, emerging from the needs, assets and culture of the communities and the environment in which they exist. With extensive participation, communities then feel strong ownership and commitment to the project.
Successful designs are aesthetically pleasing and in harmony with the surrounding community fabric; people want to live and work there. They provide a sense of place that people identify with and an environmental consciousness that respects our stewardship of the earth.
People can grasp and understand the design; it's navigable. In the organizational sense, the project leaves the community with the capacity to accomplish more than before the project was started. The process of doing the project provides people with the tools they need to manage or control their environment.
3. Equitable Impacts
Every project has consequences, both intended and unintended. Successful projects mitigate the social and human impacts, especially on the most vulnerable members of society.
A successful project manages it own impact by ensuring that the design addresses the entire environment, including the externalities beyond the project area. It ensures that there are minimal or no negative impacts and, often, that the impact actually becomes a net positive. For example, transportation infrastructure projects that increase the flow of people, goods and services, are notorious for leaving residue such as a patchwork of left-over land areas, cut-up streets that disrupt social patterns and cultural resources, and increased noise and pollution. And those impacts are far more prevalent in low-income areas.
Inclusive Policy Framework
To set the stage for formulating projects that embody inclusive design, we need a broad, inclusive policy framework that guides urban area decision-making. Progressive policies require us to go beyond the traditional land use emphasis of city planning, to integrate all the elements of inclusive design. Planners must balance community good with the right to develop. In return for that right, cities must require that developers deliver certain benefits, in certain ways, in a certain amount of time.
Each project must be critically examined:
- Is this contributing to a real neighborhood?
- Has the community been involved; does the project actually fulfill the community's vision?
- Does it respect social and cultural preferences?
- Does it enhance community connections?
- Is it environmentally sustainable?
- Will it allow all residents to improve economically?
- Does it mitigate its own impacts?
- Is it truly inclusive?
We need ensure that cities provide seven elements.
1. Economic Development
Opportunities for everyone to participate fully in the economy of the city, with access to a variety of quality jobs. Land use decisions must encourage locally owned, neighborhood-serving businesses and focus on catalyst projects that generate investment and stimulate further development. Cities must insist that new developments hire locally first, develop local vendors and develop courses at colleges or high schools to train community members. New or expanding companies must provide a net gain to the community, both in terms of numbers of jobs and quality of jobs (wages, choices, opportunities for advancement and ability to spend earnings in the community). Cities can explore the use of zoning overlays, square footage caps, business improvement districts, parking assessments, and other creative, stimulating policies.
Safe neighborhoods with a range of housing types and price levels to accommodate diverse socio-economic backgrounds and lifestyle choices. Cities can modernize housing and building codes to focus more on health, safety and community quality of life. They can also adopt in lieu fees, tax credits, Individual Development Accounts, developer incentives, zoning changes and public infrastructure development to stimulate private investmentóensuring a mix of affordable and market rate housing in scale with the surrounding neighborhoods.
3. Education
Full access to quality education choices. The physical condition of a school does have an impact on a child's ability to learn, and defines the social and economic characteristics of a neighborhood. Developers can contribute to renovation, although not in return for usable open space. Cities need to build schools near where children live, explore shared use between schools, parks and community facilities, maintain those facilities, and put their full weight behind any bonds or taxes needed to properly fund them.
4. Access and Mobility
Viable, multimodal and interconnected public transit systems. Cities can create incentives to promote transit and disincentives to discourage single occupancy car commuting. They can promote transportation demand management measures and funding policies that favor transit.
5. Habitat Protection and a Safe Public Realm
Connected, safe, functional and green connections. Cities can reintroduce the human scale to create pedestrian-friendly and bike-friendly streets that reactivate the public realm. They can reintegrate land uses, rather than maintaining separation.
6. Community Facilities and Gathering Spaces.
Well-maintained and usable open space. Gathering spaces are virtually the only urban places where people of all socio-economic levels have equal access. Parks and open space are key tools for improved air and water quality and preserving rivers, wetlands and urban forests. In return for development rights, cities can ask for park impact fees, open space, pocket parks and plazas, green roofs, and private green space (property frontages). Cities should consider changing operating procedures to allow capital improvement dollars to be used for landscaping and maintenance and promote expanded roles for private citizens and community groups in maintenance.
7. Cultural Meaning
Spaces and places to create and display social and cultural rituals and symbols that have meaning for all residents. Public events, such as street fairs and parades, contribute to vibrant neighborhood life. Cities can incorporate one-percent set-asides for arts, provide space for grassroots and community organizations in non-traditional settings and create arts districts, including culinary arts.
