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Inclusive design cannot be learned once and for all

According to Elena Kuperstokh, Director of Development and Communications at the Vera Hospice Foundation, an accessible environment starts in our heads by observing and asking what can be made more convenient right here.

“For many people, the concepts of 'inclusive' and 'accessible' only apply to people with illnesses, and an 'inclusive environment' is supposed to look like a good hospital: everything white, sterile, everyone sitting or lying flat. But we're actually talking about spaces for life and socialization of different people,” explains Elena.

Zhanna Egorova, a specialist of the Committee for Architecture and Urban Planning of the Moscow Region, believes that in order to develop an accessible environment it is necessary to create focus groups, which could include people with disabilities, young mothers, and the elderly. Their expertise and recommendations can be used in the construction and design of territories.

“The concept of an inclusive environment includes not only the issue of accessibility. It is a form of interaction, communication in society, readiness to accept people with different abilities and needs,” says Tatiana Parayeva, representative of the developer MR Group.

According to her, MR Group considers accessibility in a broad sense and includes in this concept not only freedom of movement, but also opportunities, for example, to get an education or to spend free time in a useful way. Parayeva believes that for a quality result, it is important that the client, architect and management company are “ideological partners”.

Denis Roza, founder and board member of the Russian Public Association of Designers “Perspektiva”, has been engaged in educational projects in the field of universal design for more than 20 years, involving people with disabilities in the creation of programs and ideas for competitions. According to surveys conducted in the organization, more than half of the young architects trained at Perspektiva use these approaches in their current work and teaching practice.

However, according to Anna Shapiro, chief architect at Ed Architecture, inclusive design and universal design cannot be learned once and for all: “Every project is a study of how and by what methods it is possible to create a comfortable and practical object. It is important to keep up to date with new technological solutions and to constantly review projects from the perspective of those who will use them.”

*Material prepared by the charity foundation “Club of Do-gooders” following the International Congress of Young Architects and Designers.