Author:

Keywords:

C3/19/032#55510259, collaboration, inclusive design, user/experts

Abstract:

Rights to accessibility are encoded in policies that govern architecture and other design domains. Studies show, however, that even well-considered legislative measures are insufficient to ensure inclusively designed environments. In this context the potential of user/expertise remains understudied. We therefore investigate how architects experience collaborating with user/experts, and how they understand and use their advice. We focus on collaboration with the Accessibility Advisory Council in Leuven, Belgium, which is largely composed of people with a mobility or sensory impairment and/or autism. Besides observing how architects discuss design projects with the Council, we interviewed architects and analyzed relevant (design) documents. Our analysis shows that architects experience the collaboration with user/experts as instructive, and their advice as complementary to accessibility legislation. User/experts are good at explaining what their needs are and why or how they matter; architects become convinced to apply their recommendations. They become convinced to take into account certain groups they have knowledge about (e.g. people in wheelchairs); for other groups they become convinced to do something, but have insufficient knowledge (e.g. blind people); yet other groups are largely unknown to them (e.g. people with autism or a hearing impairment). Collaborating with user/experts also affects how the architects understand inclusive design; they realize that its meaning is much broader than (wheelchair) accessibility. Moreover, beyond the projects discussed with the Council, they integrate user/expert advice also into other projects. Our study offers architects without experience of collaborating with user/experts a nuanced insight into its added value and its challenges.