Inclusive Urban Design

This is the first book to address the design needs of older people in the outdoor environment. It provides information on design principles essential to built environment professionals who want to provide for all users of urban space and who wish to achieve sustainability in their designs. Part one examines the changing experiences of people in the outdoor environment as they age and discusses existing outdoor environments and the aspects and features that help or hinder older people from using and enjoying them. Part two presents the six design principles for ‘streets for life’ and their many individual components. Using photographs and line drawings, a range of design features are presented at all scales of the outdoor environment from street layouts and building form to signs and detail. Part three expands on the concept of ‘streets for life’ as the ultimate goal of inclusive urban design. These are outdoor environments that people are able to confidently understand, navigate and use, regardless of age or circumstance, and represent truly sustainable inclusive communities.

This is a unique text providing both design guidance and policy direction for the provision and design of public toilets covering city-wide, district-level and site-specific principles. It highlights the role of urban design in reversing the trend of inadequate toilet provision, and sets out guidelines for design which meets both user need and provider requirements. Greed presents the fundamental principle that toilets should not be dealt with in isolation from mainstream urban policy, but that they should be seen as a serious core component in both strategic urban policy and local area design. She argues toilets are valuable townscape features in their own right as manifestation civic pride and good urban design - essential architectural components which add to the quality and viability of an area. Although a range of design guidance on toilets exists there is still considerable dissatisfaction with the end product in terms of building design, levels of provision, location, safety, layout, DDA requirements and accessibility. By outlining user demands and provider constraints, Greed shows that it is essential for architects to have an informed understanding and practical knowledge of toilet issues when working with public and private sector providers. Examples of toilet architecture from other countries, and policies from different cultural settings, are included for comparative purposes to invigorate UK perspectives.

This Open Access book is an anthropological urban study of the Emirate of Dubai, its institutions, and their evolution. It provides a contemporary history of disability in city planning from a non-Western perspective and explores the cultural context for its positioning. Three insights inform the author’s approach. First, disability research, much like other urban or social issues, must be situated in a particular place. Second, access and inclusion forms a key part of both local and global planning issues. Third, a 21st century planning education should take access and inclusion into consideration by applying a disability lens to the empirical, methodological, and theoretical advances of the field. By bridging theory and practice, this book provides new insights on inclusive city planning and comparative urban theory. This book should be read as part of a larger struggle to define and assert access; it’s a story of how equity and justice are central themes in building the cities of the future and of today.

Streets Reconsidered is a fundamental rethinking of America's streets. It explores the future of streets and what America's roadways could be if they were designed for living, instead of just driving. The book includes: detailed design guidelines, fully illustrated, four color case studies of successful streets from around the world, a new paradigm of streets designed to promote human functions, turning new design ideas into a series of best practices that can be applied to any community. What would streets look like if they accommodated people of all ages and abilities, promoted healthy urban living, social interaction and business, the movement of people and goods and regeneration of the environment? Streets Reconsidered pushes beyond the current standards, focusing on the planning, design and construction of streets as a method for improving our built environment for everyone. The book is organized by the functions of a street: mobility, way finding, commerce, social gathering, events and programming, play and recreation, urban agriculture, green infrastructure and image and identity. Streets Reconsidered is the essential resource for city planners, urban designers, developers, architects, landscape architects, policymakers and community members who share a passion for great urban, human spaces.

Inclusive Urban Development in the Global South emphasizes the importance of the neighbourhood in urban development planning, with case studies aimed at transforming current intervention practices towards more inclusive and just means of engagement with individuals and communities. The chapters explore how diversity of gender, class, race and ethnicity, citizenship status, age, ability, and sexuality is taken (or not taken) into account and approached in the planning and implementation of development policy and interventions in poor urban areas. The book employs a practical perspective on the deployment of theoretical critiques of intersectionality and diversity in development practice through case studies examining issues such as water and sanitation planning in Dhaka, indigenous rights to the city in Bolivia, post-colonial planning in Hong Kong, land reform in Zimbabwe, and many more. The book focuses on radical alternatives with the potential to foster urban transformations for planning and development communities working around the world.

This tool kit presents an integrated approach to inclusive urban development and was prepared for ADB staff and their partners to engage in inclusive urban development programming and implementation as an integral component of ADB’s lending programs. It presents methods to gather required information on a particular context and location for inclusive urban development; to decide priorities; and to plan, design, and implement inclusive urban projects. The operational focus is provided by practical guidelines and criteria for inclusive urban development projects and is designed to stimulate innovation in the solution and approaches that define inclusive urban development projects.

As suburban expansion declines, cities have become essential economic, cultural and social hubs of global connectivity. This book is about urban revitalization across North America, in cities including San Francisco, Toronto, Boston, Vancouver, New York and Seattle. Infrastructure projects including the High Line and Big Dig are explored alongside urban neighborhood creation and regeneration projects such as Hunters Point in San Francisco and Regent Park in Toronto. Today, these urban regeneration projects have evolved in the context of unprecedented neoliberal public policy and soaring real estate prices. Consequently, they make a complex contribution to urban inequality and poverty trends in many of these cities, including the suburbanization of immigrant settlement and rising inequality. (Re)Generating Inclusive Cities wrestles with challenging but important questions of urban planning, including who benefits and who loses with these urban regeneration schemes, and what policy tools can be used to mitigate harm? We propose a new way forward for understanding and promoting better urban design practices in order to build more socially just and inclusive cities and to ultimately improve the quality of urban life for all.

How do we include and represent all people in cities? As the world rapidly urbanizes, and climate change creates global winners and losers, understanding how to design cities that provide for all their citizens is of the utmost importance. Inclusive Urbanization attempts to not only provide meaningful, practical guidance to urban designers, managers, and local actors, but also create a definition of inclusion that incorporates strategies bigger than the welfare state, and tactics that bring local actors and the state into meaningful dialogue. Written by a team of experienced academics, designers, and NGO professionals, Inclusive Urbanization shows how urbanization policy and management can be used to make more inclusive, climate resilient cities, through a series of 18 case studies in South Asia. By creating a model of urban life and processes that takes into account social, spatial, cultural, regulatory and economic dimensions, the book finds a way to make both the processes and outcomes of urban design representative of all of the city’s inhabitants.

The built environment influences health and well-being in a myriad of ways. Some neighbourhoods are plagued by busy roads that are a constant source of danger, noise, and air pollution. In some cities there is inadequate green space for children to play and socialise safely. Yet, this book argues, it does not have to be this way. With focus on human health, well-being, and flourishing, this book explores the ways in which people’s lives are impacted by the built environment and how we can create, adapt, and design healthy and inclusive places. The volume explores the relationship between urban design and human flourishing and initiates broad discussions around relevant questions such as ‘What is a healthy place?’, ‘What influences our perceptions of built environment more? Is it our age or our cultural background?’. The book includes six chapters from internationally renowned authors who attempt to unpack some of the key aspects that urban designers need to consider in order to create places that enable – rather than constrain – individuals and communities to live rich fulfilling lives. This book will be of great value to students, scholars, and researchers interested in urban design, planning, and in exploring how built environment impacts health and happiness. The chapters in this book were originally published as a special issue of the Journal of Urban Design.