Universal Design in Majority World Contexts

Universal Design (UD) seeks to promote equality by increasing accessibility and usability within products, services and systems so as to include as many categories of end-users as possible. UD can potentially impact such diverse issues as health, transportation, inclusive education, sports and recreation, entertainment, social welfare, inclusive employment, transgenerational/lifespan housing, inclusive tourism, accessibility, safety, and ecological concerns on sustainability. UD is an emerging discipline in developing countries whose potential as a catalyst for positive social change is yet to be fully appreciated. This book thus offers a useful discussion on the various challenges and opportunities associated with efforts to mainstream UD in majority world contexts. By interrogating the efficacy of UD-thinking, key actors including policy makers, students, practitioners, researchers, and educators within the diverse sub-disciplines of architecture, design, disability studies, ergonomics/human factors engineering, human-computer interaction (HCI)/usability studies and urban planning can promote greater social equity and cohesion through their design interventions.