Accessibility design for urban development

Research shows that increased knowledge of norm criticism among those who work with urban planning and new working methods are keys to building attractive, non-excluding and sustainable cities.

“Our research on inclusive urban design focuses on more than just functional variation. We include social sustainability and question traditions and structures that normalize certain choices and exclude others. It is also important to think about the consequences of planning cities in a certain way, based on the different conditions that people have”, says Åsa Wikberg Nilsson, Associate Professor in Industrial Design at Luleå University of Technology.

Five principles that complement the law

The researchers reviewed the Planning and Building Act and found that the existing regulation lack important perspectives in order to achieve non-excluding urban planning. Therefore, it is not possible to lean only against the law. The researchers therefore present a new design handbook with five principles and methods that question social norms and ensure that more perspectives are taken into consideration during the planning design process.

“The goal is to work with education, processes and tools for inclusive urban design in order to integrate social sustainability at all levels of urban planning. There is a great need for more role model who work with norm criticism in urban planning”, says Åsa Wikberg Nilsson.