"Accessible Housing considers the role and significance of house builders in influencing the design and construction of accessible housing that can meet the needs of disabled people. Its primary focus is the speculative house building process, and the construction of private (for sale) dwellings. The book describes and evaluates the socio-institutional political, and technical relations that underpin the design and construction of housing. These, so it is argued, shape builders' reluctance to design and construct housing that is flexible to accommodate variations in bodily needs and performance." -- Book jacket.
Paralyzed Veterans of America has revised and expanded the first edition of Accessible Home Design. Color photographs illustrate attractive and innovative accessibility projects. Graphics from the previous edition have been revised for better clarity and supplemented by new color drawings. The book's scope has been expanded to address not only a home's interior and exterior spaces but also many of the more detailed elements. In additon, advice for planning a design, construction contracting and oversight, building permits, and project financing have all been updated to meet today's standard.
"The idea of the accessible home has evolved beyond grab-bars and ramps to one where accessibility is built into the design, making living in the house easier both for people with disabilities and those without disabilities, young and old"--
Improved housing conditions can save lives, prevent disease, increase quality of life, reduce poverty, and help mitigate climate change. Housing is becoming increasingly important to health in light of urban growth, ageing populations and climate change. The WHO Housing and health guidelines bring together the most recent evidence to provide practical recommendations to reduce the health burden due to unsafe and substandard housing. Based on newly commissioned systematic reviews, the guidelines provide recommendations relevant to inadequate living space (crowding), low and high indoor temperatures, injury hazards in the home, and accessibility of housing for people with functional impairments. In addition, the guidelines identify and summarize existing WHO guidelines and recommendations related to housing, with respect to water quality, air quality, neighbourhood noise, asbestos, lead, tobacco smoke and radon. The guidelines take a comprehensive, intersectoral perspective on the issue of housing and health and highlight co-benefits of interventions addressing several risk factors at the same time. The WHO Housing and health guidelines aim at informing housing policies and regulations at the national, regional and local level and are further relevant in the daily activities of implementing actors who are directly involved in the construction, maintenance and demolition of housing in ways that influence human health and safety. The guidelines therefore emphasize the importance of collaboration between the health and other sectors and joint efforts across all government levels to promote healthy housing. The guidelines' implementation at country-level will in particular contribute to the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals on health (SDG 3) and sustainable cities (SDG 11). WHO will support Member States in adapting the guidelines to national contexts and priorities to ensure safe and healthy housing for all.
The Fair Housing Act Design Manual: A Manual to Assist Designers and Builders in Meeting the Accessibility Requirements of The Fair Housing Act provides clear and helpful guidance about ways to design and construct housing which complies with the Fair Housing Act. The manual provides direct information about the accessibility requirements of the Act, which must be incorporated into the design, and construction of multifamily housing covered by the Act. It carries out two statutory responsibilities: (1) to provide clear statement of HUD's interpretation of the accessibility requirements of the Act so that readers may know what actions on their part will provide them with a "safe harbor"; and (2) to provide guidance in the form of recommendations which, although not binding meet the Department's obligation to provide technical assistance on alternative accessibility approaches which will comply with the Act, but may exceed its minimal requirements. The latter information allows housing providers to choose among alternative and also provides persons with disabilities with information on accessible design approaches. The Manual clarifies what are requirements under the Act and what are HUD's technical assistance recommendations. The portions describing the requirements are clearly differentiated from the technical assistance recommendations.
A history of design that is often overlooked—until we need it Have you ever hit the big blue button to activate automatic doors? Have you ever used an ergonomic kitchen tool? Have you ever used curb cuts to roll a stroller across an intersection? If you have, then you’ve benefited from accessible design—design for people with physical, sensory, and cognitive disabilities. These ubiquitous touchstones of modern life were once anything but. Disability advocates fought tirelessly to ensure that the needs of people with disabilities became a standard part of public design thinking. That fight took many forms worldwide, but in the United States it became a civil rights issue; activists used design to make an argument about the place of people with disabilities in public life. In the aftermath of World War II, with injured veterans returning home and the polio epidemic reaching the Oval Office, the needs of people with disabilities came forcibly into the public eye as they never had before. The US became the first country to enact federal accessibility laws, beginning with the Architectural Barriers Act in 1968 and continuing through the landmark Americans with Disabilities Act in 1990, bringing about a wholesale rethinking of our built environment. This progression wasn’t straightforward or easy. Early legislation and design efforts were often haphazard or poorly implemented, with decidedly mixed results. Political resistance to accommodating the needs of people with disabilities was strong; so, too, was resistance among architectural and industrial designers, for whom accessible design wasn’t “real” design. Bess Williamson provides an extraordinary look at everyday design, marrying accessibility with aesthetic, to provide an insight into a world in which we are all active participants, but often passive onlookers. Richly detailed, with stories of politics and innovation, Williamson’s Accessible America takes us through this important history, showing how American ideas of individualism and rights came to shape the material world, often with unexpected consequences.
The Wheelchair Housing Design Guide explains how to design and detail a home that is fully manageable by wheelchair users and maximises their independence. This fully-updated, activity-based guide discusses design considerations, requirements and recommendations for various activities carried out within the home; provides design solutions and good practice examples of how to comply with the building accessibility regulations and Building Regulations Part M; reflects and promotes the values and principles of existing strategies for social inclusion, and promotes the long-term cost benefits of designing to wheelchair accessibility standards.
“All too often,” wrote disabled architect Ronald Mace, “designers don’t take the needs of disabled and elderly people into account.” Building Access investigates twentieth-century strategies for designing the world with disability in mind. Commonly understood in terms of curb cuts, automatic doors, Braille signs, and flexible kitchens, Universal Design purported to create a built environment for everyone, not only the average citizen. But who counts as “everyone,” Aimi Hamraie asks, and how can designers know? Blending technoscience studies and design history with critical disability, race, and feminist theories, Building Access interrogates the historical, cultural, and theoretical contexts for these questions, offering a groundbreaking critical history of Universal Design. Hamraie reveals that the twentieth-century shift from “design for the average” to “design for all” took place through liberal political, economic, and scientific structures concerned with defining the disabled user and designing in its name. Tracing the co-evolution of accessible design for disabled veterans, a radical disability maker movement, disability rights law, and strategies for diversifying the architecture profession, Hamraie shows that Universal Design was not just an approach to creating new products or spaces, but also a sustained, understated activist movement challenging dominant understandings of disability in architecture, medicine, and society. Illustrated with a wealth of rare archival materials, Building Access brings together scientific, social, and political histories in what is not only the pioneering critical account of Universal Design but also a deep engagement with the politics of knowing, making, and belonging in twentieth-century United States.
This book deals with important issues related to urban housing in South Asia. It analyses various aspects of housing, including spatial and temporal requirements and needs, as well as the challenges of implementing housing projects, such as financial feasibility of estate development projects and housing design. Finally, it discusses the socio-economic and environmental impacts of the rapid urban housing development in South Asia. Written by experts from various disciplines, the book presents several case studies that address issues such as housing provision; legislative, financial and technical support; access to employment opportunities and markets; the cumulative impact on gentrification; exclusion and spatial equity; and the economic, social and environmental sustainability of urban tissue. Researchers, housing planners, and policy makers will find this book a valuable resource in meeting the demand for affordable and sustainable housing and overcoming housing shortages in developing countries
A much-needed reference to the latest thinking in universal design Universal Design: Creating Inclusive Environments offers a comprehensive survey of best practices and innovative solutions in universal design. Written by top thinkers at the Center for Inclusive Design and Environmental Access (IDeA), it demonstrates the difference between universal design and accessibility and identifies its relationship to sustainable design and active living. Hundreds of examples from all areas of design illustrate the practical application of this growing field. Complete, in-depth coverage includes: • The evolution of universal design, from its roots in the disability rights movement to present-day trends • How universal design can address the needs of an aging population without specialization or adaptation to reduce the need for expensive and hard-to-find specialized products and services • Design practices for human performance, health and wellness, and social participation • Strategies for urban and landscape design, housing, interior design, product design, and transportation Destined to become the standard professional reference on the subject, Universal Design: Creating Inclusive Environments is an invaluable resource for architects, interior designers, urban planners, landscape architects, product designers, and anyone with an interest in how we access, use, and enjoy the environment.
