Inclusion by Design Equality, Diversity and the Built Environment 5642 A4:Layout 1 21/11/08 09:30 Page 2
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5642_A4:Layout 1 20/11/08 10:43 Page 1 Inclusion by design Equality, diversity and the built environment 5642_A4:Layout 1 21/11/08 09:30 Page 2 Published in 2008 by the Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment. CABE is the government’s advisor on architecture, urban design and public space. As a public body, we encourage policymakers to create places that work for people. We help local planners apply national design policy and advise developers and architects, persuading them to put people’s needs first. We show public sector clients how to commission projects that meet the needs of their users. And we seek to inspire the public to demand more from their buildings and spaces. Advising, influencing and inspiring, we work to create well-designed, welcoming places. Cover photo: Barking Town Centre, © Tim Soar Printed by Seacourt Ltd on Revive recycled paper, using the waterless offset printing process (0 per cent water and 0 per cent isopropyl alcohol or harmful substitutes), 100 per cent renewable energy and vegetable oil-based inks. Seacourt Ltd holds EMAS and ISO 14001 environmental accreditations. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, copied or transmitted without the prior written consent of the publisher except that the material may be photocopied for non-commercial purposes without permission from the publisher. This document is available in alternative formats on request from the publisher. 5642_A4:Layout 1 20/11/08 10:43 Page 3 Inclusion by design The quality of buildings and spaces has a strong influence on the quality of people’s lives . Decisions about the design, planning and management of places can enhance or restrict a sense of belonging. They can increase or reduce feelings of security, stretch or limit boundaries, promote or reduce mobility, and improve or damage health. They can remove real and imagined barriers between communities and foster understanding and generosity of spirit. Even though accessibility has improved over the last decade, and planning policy has shifted, with investment providing new facilities to once-excluded communities, the fact remains that poor and disadvantaged people are far more likely to live in poor quality environments. Social , cultural and economic inequalities are still being literally built into new places , and planners and designers need to examine more closely the impact of their decisions. 5642_A4:Layout 1 20/11/08 10:43 Page 4 From access For me or not for me? to inclusion Why people experience the same place differently The built environment can People experience the built contribute to a more equal, inclusive environment differently according to and cohesive society if the places who they are – their social, cultural where we live, the facilities we and economic background. The full use and our neighbourhoods and diversity of this experience needs to meeting places are designed be considered if all users are to be to be accessible and inclusive. comfortable and feel that a particular space or place belongs to them. In this briefing we look at a broad meaning of inclusion – not just In this briefing, we feature comments access – starting with what an from four different perspectives – inhospitable built environment the Women’s Design Service, looks and feels like, and the GALOP, the Stephen Lawrence unintended social, cultural and Charitable Trust and from a mental economic inequalities that follow. health consultant – that vividly illustrate what this means. Being able to live well in my “ home environment is essential So long as women earn on to my mental and physical well- “ average half of what men do, form being. Yet those of us most at the majority of carers for elderly risk of a breakdown in our relations and still do most of the mental health and well-being housework and shopping, there is are much more likely to live in a whole range of issues related to squalid housing amid constant planning, transport, urban design, noise, and in an environment and housing provision which will where we are subjected to impact differently on the sexes. harassment and abuse. Quiet, So long as women continue to books, natural beauty, green, be victims of sexual harassment, open space – these are all domestic violence and rape they essential for me. It’s not just will have a radically different about the environments we build experience of what constitutes but also about how we inhabit safety in homes, towns and public them – with kindness, good spaces. Women live longer than manners and a real respect for men, which has consequences for each other. poverty in older age, disability and ” frailty, loneliness and isolation. Debby Klein This, in turn, has implications for Mental health service user the design of lifetime homes and and consultant neighbourhoods.” Wendy Davis Women’s Design Service www.wds.org 5642_210x210:Layout 1 20/11/08 10:43 Page 1 Vauxhall Cross interchange: Vauxhall Cross bus interchange a central bus station with pedestrian movement brought into a single, simplified area at one of London’s busiest junctions. Wide footpaths and surface finishes help visually © Raf Makda/VIEW impaired people and wheelchair users. Better lighting and CCTV have improved security 5642_210x210:Layout 1 21/11/08 10:34 Page 2 Getting around Getting around is about much more than accessible buses and trains. It is as important to have well-designed and well-managed streets that don’t act as a barrier to movement. Inclusive design means designing for transport that is dignified, accessible, affordable, safe and easy to use. It means: a chill-proof shelter a shelter with secure seating a shelter with a talking countdown system a shelter with an emergency phone a safe and comfortable place to wait a bus with a ramp a bus that is safe from crime at night a neighbourhood that works for people regardless of their age. Inclusive transport design creates an way for everyone to get around. 5642_A4:Layout 1 20/11/08 10:43 Page 5 1 2 The location and The management design of a place and use of a place The location and design of places The management and use of places have a profound effect on how have a significant effect on whether people benefit from them. The issues we find them friendly and welcoming, here are about about technical, and whether they generate a sense geographical and physical access, of belonging. and usability. This idea is more subjective and The location and design of a place, less well researched, but not without its facilities, and equipment inside plenty of anecdotal evidence. may fail to take into account minority cultural or religious requirements The ambiance of a place — such as space for prayer and a combination of its design, washing facilities or numbers of management, and use — is more rooms. The impact of bad design likely to have an impact on groups is more likely to be felt by disabled that experience exclusion in other people and older people, people walks of life, such as lesbians and from minority cultures and faiths, gay men, women, disabled people, carers with young children, and people from minority religions and therefore has a disproportionate cultures and from deprived social effect on women. There is a backgrounds. It may be about the considerable amount of research design of the space, about the and good practice advice about attitude of staff, the furnishings, designing environments that facilities, the type of events held are inclusive.1 in the place – the programming – or quite simply: are there other Location often results from people like me here? investment decisions made at a local, regional or even national scale. This is where involvement of groups The decentralisation of healthcare not usually included in the design services, for instance, is very and planning process can really welcome but the quality of public make a difference. transport links to the new helath centres can still have an impact on how easy they are to use for people without a car. The physical and technical access to a place and its usability do remain vital design issues. Despite advances in anti-discrimination legislation, policy and best practice guidance, 1 For instance, see recent many buildings are, beyond their work by Dr Gemma Burgess (2008) Planning, entrances, still difficult for disabled Regeneration and the people to use with dignity and ease. Gender Equality Duty – why does gender matter? It illustrates how ‘trip chains’, the multiple journeys such as those between work, childcare and the shops affect women disproportionately and are not catered for by traditional planning policy. Advice on inclusive design includes CABE’s The principles of inclusive design (available from www.cabe.org.uk). 5642_A4:Layout 1 20/11/08 14:04 Page 6 The links between economic inequality and the built environment It is well documented that the living in poverty are always more poorest people in the UK tend likely to get a disproportionate share to live in the least healthy of environmental hazards and so environments, with the greatest have more to gain from interventions likelihood of environmental hazards to promote environmental equity. such as flooding and pollution. They are, consequently, less safe Adapting to a changing climate will and less healthy.2 be particularly challenging to older people and those who live in poor In the UK, there are still 13 million quality housing who are less able people living in poverty.3 The poor to make their homes resilient to 2 Environmental problems are more likely to be in households extreme weather events and are and service provision in led by women, in black and minority more vulnerable to the impacts of deprived and more affluent 9, 10 11 neighbourhoods, Joseph ethnic communities, and to be flooding and heatwaves.