Barriers and drivers of universal design adoption among practicing architects in Flanders

Abstract

Universal design (UD) is widely promoted as a strategy for creating environments that can be used and experienced by diverse users without requiring adaptation. Despite the growing availability of UD guidance, its integration into routine architectural practice remains inconsistent. This study investigates how practicing architects in Flanders, Belgium, perceive the key barriers and drivers influencing the decision to adopt UD at the beginning of the design process. A questionnaire survey was administered between January and June 2015 to architects attending five professional seminars organized by the Flemish architects' association (Netwerk Architecten Vlaanderen), including two UD-focused sessions and three non-UD sessions. The instrument combined closed-ended items and open-ended prompts to examine architects' prior experience with inclusive projects, perceived obstacles to initiating UDing, and motivations for adoption (Ielegems, et al., 2019). Of 396 distributed questionnaires, 127 valid responses were analyzed (32% response rate). Nearly half of respondents (48%) reported having worked on at least one inclusive project, with an average involvement of approximately 3.8 projects, suggesting that UD is applied selectively rather than as a standard approach. A majority (57%) reported barriers to adopting UD, with budget constraints and skeptical stakeholder attitudes-especially clients- emerging as the most challenging. Architects with UD experience reported fewer barriers overall, particularly regarding how to start UD processes and how to translate UD knowledge into design decisions, while stakeholder resistance remained persistent. Respondents also emphasized the lack of clear, structured, design-relevant UD information and the perceived complexity of integrating UD alongside multiple regulatory and contextual constraints. Among architects reporting no barriers, adoption was primarily driven by personal values, perceived improvements in architectural quality, and social responsibility. The findings indicate that strengthening client and stakeholder understanding, providing practical and stage-specific UD guidance, and improving coherence across regulatory requirements are critical to advancing UD as a routine architectural design strategy.