Designers' Knowledge Building in (Universal) Design Processes

Abstract

The social, academic and political field embraces Inclusive Design (ID), Design for All (DfA) or Universal Design (UD) more and more as a strategy to move towards a more sustainable and inclusive world. The increasingly aging population, demographic changes as well as a drive for equal opportunities for everyone result in a continuous search for architecture that supports a diversity of people in their actions and experiences. However, although there already exists a firm knowledge base on UD, it does not filter down sufficiently to practitioners in daily design practice. In addition, many designers who have the ambition to adopt a UD strategy experience difficulties in doing so. In this respect, little is known about the ways in which architects actually build knowledge on UD throughout the design process and which kinds of knowledge are important for architects to design more inclusive buildings. Therefore, the main goal of this Ph.D. research is to gain more insight into the process of building knowledge on UD in order to better support architects throughout the design process. This thesis is divided into four main themes. Each theme sheds light on the research subject from a different perspective and searches for answers on specific subquestions related to the main research goal. A first main theme, “Universal Designing in current design practice”, offers a global as well as a local perspective on important aspects that influence designers’ adoption of UD as a design strategy throughout the design process. It is found that the design process is not experienced as inclusive for the designers themselves. Different aspects are discussed that challenge designers to continuously build knowledge on UD throughout the design process. In a second main theme, “Identifying knowledge on Universal Design”, the nature of UD knowledge is examined from different perspectives through a literature review. Different knowledge types have been identified, which are essential for designers to build knowledge on UD. In addition, three bodies of information from which architects can learn are described in terms of their available resources as well as their uptake in practice. In addition, it is argued how a specific vocabulary is missing in order to effectively and efficiently describe as well as analyse the highly dynamic and individual process of building knowledge on UD. A model from the domain of Knowledge Management is suggested to provide this. Finally, design artefacts are discussed from the perspective of important ‘artefacts of knowing’. They are not only central elements in the process of designing, they also tend to be central in the process of building knowledge between designers and key UD stakeholders. In a third main theme, “Unravelling a design context in which Universal Design knowledge can be built”, three empirical studies are conducted, applying three different research approaches: (1) a multiple-case study approach, (2) an experimental study, and (3) action research. The first study offers a wider overall perspective on the design context in which designers can learn from diverse users. The other two studies have a more specific research focus, concentrating on the actual process of transferring knowledge on UD to designers through direct and indirect user contact. As such, rich research data can be obtained and our research subject can be examined from different perspectives. A final theme “Building knowledge on architects’ UD knowledge building process”, is based on a cross analysis of theory and empirical studies from all chapters. Here, we reflect on the main findings with a focus on (1) the nature of knowledge on UD and (2) ways architects could be better supported when building knowledge throughout UD processes. Recommendations are formulated, which can offer architects more support throughout a UD process and which can make the design process more inclusive for architects themselves. In addition, we reflect on practical implications that influence the process of UD knowledge building in architects’ daily design practice. In conclusion, future research avenues and final thoughts are discussed.