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Keynote Speech • "UD for City Planning and Disaster Prevention"

UD AT THE URBAN SCALE

Wolfgang PreiserProfessor Emeritus of Architecture, University of Cincinnati

Associate, Emeritus College, Arizona State University

This is my fifth visit to this country, and I have to say I always love to come back to Japan . In themornings, when I step into the hotel elevator – and I'm from Ohio – everybody says, "Ohayo". Thatmakes me think that the Japanese are really friendly people.

Wolfgang Preiser Likes Japan (Photo: Satoshi Kose)

The focus of this presentation is on universal design at the urban scale, and I want to stress at the outset,that universal design should be a participatory process. It should involve universal design at the scale ofcommunities.

UD should aim at shared, common resources and facilities. It should aim to have local control andmanagement. In the political realm, it should aim to have a non-hierarchical structure ofdecision-making. And, universal design should include not only the actual physical designed world, butalso the virtual world. Here I am referring to the digital revolution, and all the advantages that it hasbrought to people who otherwise cannot have physical access to a variety of services, including banking,social services, internet shopping, etc.

Starting with my own ancestral home in Germany, I can tell you that this house (which is now 310years old) is universally accessible. It has many of the features I would like to talk about today. Forexample, mixed-use: there is a fashion boutique on the ground floor; there are architectural andengineering consulting firms in the middle floors; and there is residential on the top floor. The buildingis completely accessible and under historic preservation. I expect it to be there in yet another 310 years.My family name is carved above the entry gate – it's spelled a little bit differently from today – includingthe year of construction, 1696.

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Preiser Ancestral Home in Germany (Photo: Author)

Many people think that Universal Design was started in 1985 by Ronald Mace, but I maintain that theSwedes started earlier. For example, the royal palace in Stockholm, built in 1750, features the world’slargest ramp, which can easily accommodate an army of wheelchairs.

I believe I can spare you the definition of UD. Much of what my talk is based on, of course, are theSeven Principles of Universal Design, which everybody here should be familiar with.

If there is any bad example of universal design, it is the former TWA terminal at John F. KennedyAirport. Shortly after the introduction of the Americans with Disabilities Act, the ramps were put in, andthey have ruined the architecture. At the time Eero Saarinen originally designed the place, the ADAregulation did not exist. Retrofit is what we do not want. Instead, we need to plan and integrate all thefunctions with universal design criteria from the start, i.e., the Seven Principles of Universal Design,which I will illustrate as follows.

To find the details and applications of the Seven Principles of Universal Design, please refer to theUniversal Design Handbook (Fig.3) [Preiser, W.F.E. and Ostroff, E. (eds.) 2001. Universal DesignHandbook. New York: McGraw-Hill]

The Seven Principles of Universal Design

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1. Equitable Use

I think there is no more universal gadget than the cell phone (or mobile phone). It connects people, and itcan be used it in emergencies. It also is helping people in developing countries where land lines areunaffordable, and it allows them to communicate with each other, and to earn a living. Unfortunately, itcan also be used to set off roadside bombs in Iraq.

Looking at examples of what is and isn't universal design, I was stunned to see a tourist informationcenter in Edinburgh, Scotland, that was re-functioned from a cathedral, and which could not be enteredthrough the front door. I think that sends the wrong message to tourists with any kind of disability. Also,at the entry of the University of Cincinnati Medical Center, there is a sign for ‘handicapped use only’that we shouldn't really have. Everybody uses the automatic door opener. In fact, it's university policythat every building should have these, at least at main entries from the outside. People with an arm full ofbooks, somebody with a stroller, or somebody with a hand truck also use automatic door openers. So, thesignage is inappropriate, and the word “handicap” is politically totally incorrect these days.

If you think traffic lights are universal, you are wrong. In London you know that a stop light will gofrom red to orange and then green, and drivers generally follow the traffic rules. In Brazil, however,things are a bit different. If you drive around at night, you will find that people with a red light are racingthrough the intersection, and people with green lights are cautiously approaching and checking, and thenproceed. So nothing is universal about traffic lights.

2. Flexibility of Use

An example of flexible seating can be seen in the hockey arena in Columbus, Ohio, which has flexibleseating in multiple locations, and in different price categories, where a wheelchair can pull up and beparked next to fixed seating. In other words, the issue of choices for people with disabilities needs to beaddressed in stadiums and recreational facilities.

In South Africa, many poor people do not have choices where they live. What they are doing isadapting shipping containers to housing. Of course, it's sweltering hot in the summer. It has no basicfacilities. But there is no point in shipping the empty containers back, since there is nothing to ship.Therefore, the containers get used and adapted to low-income housing. You could argue that this is asmart universal design concept, isn't it?

Another example of flexibility is a place for parking in the daytime, and at night we switch on thelights and play tennis. Isn’t that an interesting choice or possibility?

The mixed-use JR Tower features a Building Directory for the Visually Impaired.Diagram: Kohn, Pedersen, Fox, Architects

3. Simple and Intuitive Use

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Which way should one go, when the arrows on signs point in 2 opposite directions? I saw a hilariousexample of such a confusing sign on the island of Santorini, in Greece, which I thought was hilarious.Signage is a critical part of universal design at the larger, urban design scale.

For me, the only successful example of a building directory for the visually impaired is at the JRTower, above the Nagoya main railroad station. Even if this directory doesn't work perfectly, it is theidea being inclusive, i.e., that there are some other users of the built environment who have disabilities,and that they need assistance, just like everybody else who uses building directories.

In Cincinnati, there are quite a number of examples of contemporary architecture by so-called‘signature architects’. Zaha Hadid’s, Contemporary Art Center, right downtown across from theperforming arts center by Cesar Pelli, has some remarkable features. The staircase is hard to use becausethe steps are all wiggly and crooked. It would be kind of scary to go up that staircase, which is also verylong. But then she created what she calls an “urban carpet”, where the concrete floor transitions into avertical wall. As soon as this was built, skateboarders wanted to practice on this wall. Of course, themuseum didn't like it. So they placed concrete seats there to discourage the skateboarders from using thearea. And there is another function: if you are visually impaired, your white cane can detect this obstacleand you don't run into the underside of the staircase.

4. Perceptible Information

Signage and giving information at the appropriate time in an understandable manner is really important.This needs to be done in continuous fashion, so that you have guidance from the origination point to thedestination. A bad example is an elevator control panel from the Barrett Cancer Center in Cincinnati.Patients are already very stressed when arriving there, and having to see the physician. Imagine you getinto the elevator, and you wonder, what are all these blank buttons for? What is going on there? Well,they had planned to add three more stories in the future, but that may never happen. Then they havebuttons that say 2F and 2R. Who knows what that means? Actually it means front and rear, but if youdon't know what the front door is, and I'm the rear door, you are really not helpful. People regularly exiton the wrong side, and there is no reference to anything outside, or cardinal directions. People get lostand enter the treatment areas, or the exam room areas from the wrong side, and forget to check in at thereception.

Elevator signage is really important. The Children's Hospital in Cincinnati has some of the finest inthe country. It is, as many hospitals, an accumulation of many phases of hospital construction andparking structures. It's extremely confusing to find your way.

Color Coded Building Directory at Children’s in Cincinnati. (Photo: Robert Probst)

One of my colleagues from the School of Design, Robert Probst, devised a color coding scheme and

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building directory (Fig. 5) which ties together the different phases and wings of Children’s Hospitaltogether. You have probably seen many hospitals, where they put colored lines on the floors, trying toguide you to the correct destination or department. Sometimes, for guidance they put color codedballoons on the walls, and there are all kinds of methods to do this. The longer-term stay bed wing of thiscomplex uses an ecology theme. There is a huge mural in the entry hall. That is followed through at thedifferent floor levels, using different animals and colors and color coding. This was done even in thefloor materials, in order to signal a theme that children can relate to and remember.

5. Tolerance for Error

I will now discuss an example that will surprise you: toilets or bathrooms. I am talking about bathrooms,because there are many important to resolve. Can they be unisex? Do people take different amounts oftime using them? Does that create a problem? Is the bathroom for both, male or female gender, pluspeople who are using wheelchairs? A good example is a unisex toilet at a medical office building forKaiser Permanente (a Health Maintenance Organization), one of the biggest in the United States. Whatthey did, very smartly, was to build a new prototype medical office building, they used it for one year,and then evaluated it very carefully. Afterwards, they made all the necessary modifications, andreplicated the improved prototype in other locations.

Then there is an example from Japan, from the Obayashi Corporation in Tokyo, where a little greendot signifies a bathroom or toilet. There is not any verbal signage, nor any pictogram, or a wheelchairsymbol. If one can educate the visitors, as well as the regular users of a building, then that this is what thegreen dot means: bathrooms. Once inside the bathroom lobby, you don't really know whether one isallowed to go in here or not. But if the red light is on, that means the bathroom is occupied. This is a verysubtle approach to universal design. More of this kind of thinking should be applied in situations otherthan bathrooms. Of course, once you are inside the bathroom, you encounter a toilet fixture by Toto,which features an array of options that are bewildering to most Americans. I would say it has too manyprogram choices, but it is obviously a multifunction gadget that has been very successful here in Japan.

6. Low Physical Effort

We all know what that means, especially at the urban scale where one has to overcome distances,inclines, rough surface materials, etc. In my teaching universal design seminars, we go into the field andevaluate new and old buildings on our campus, and in the entire city, for that matter. For example: if therequired automatic door opener button is not close to the door, by the time a wheelchair user reaches thedoor, it is already closing again. This is a frequently made design mistake. I believe in testing andevaluation of any kind of design according to some specified performance criteria.

In looking at the scale of home design, some new elevators by Daytona are on the market that areworking on the suction principle, and not the traditional hydraulic post that extends upward. They takeup much less space, and they cost almost half of what a traditional elevator costs. These are nowavailable for wheelchair use, and they are 53 inches in diameter. I think that is a viable option when youwant to stay in your home and you need to use a wheelchair. You can modify that home to be able toaccess the second floor.

Returning to the scale of a university campus, the University of Cincinnati campus is very hilly, andthat can be a nightmare for wheelchair users. In many cases, the transition from one level to, let's say, aplaza, is the height of two stories. A lot of effort is required to travel up all those endless ramps,especially if the wheelchair is not motorized. People in that situation like to use the elevators in thebuildings to overcome the height difference. But what do they find? In the evening, at 7:00 pm, manybuildings get locked, and wheelchair users are basically stuck, and they have to travel long distances tocover what could be a very short trip to their destination.

Moving on to urban mass transportation in South America, in some cities including Quito, Ecuador,you find a low-cost rapid urban transit system using trolley buses and elevated platforms that are at thesame level as the bus floor. If you are ambulatory or in a wheelchair, you enter, pay, use your magneticcard, or whatever, and you are already on the level of the bus floor. It is a very efficient way to enter orempty the bus, or to transfer to another bus on the other side of the platform. They have specially

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reserved rapid transit lanes in those cities. It's the next best thing to a subway, which they cannot affordto build.

We all know the London taxis. They are certainly the most accessible in the world, not just because ofthe ramps which are required in all new taxis, but also the amount of space that you have inside, for lotsof suitcases, a stroller, or a wheelchair. It's a very flexible and adaptable system, and I wish many othercities in the world would adopt those taxis.

7. Size and Space

Implied in this Principle are dimensional characteristics of the built environment. In Cincinnati a team ofstudents evaluated a grocery store, and the wheelchair user couldn't even reach the assistance call buttonat the service counter. What does that say about the store? The customer has to shout through the glasscounter, and hopefully somebody behind it will see her. Now, that same chain, Kroger, (they are thelargest grocer in the United States), has wonderful bank branches in each store. There is one window thatis low, so you can roll up next to it and transact with the bank teller.

Here is a quote from Time Magazine, and it is about the UD use of Segways.

“My daughter-in-law has multiple sclerosis and uses a Segway in the house.She had a car adapted for ease in getting her Segway into the back of her stationwagon. She told me that it has made her life more fulfilling. Now she can takethe dog for a walk, go shopping, eat with her friends, and in general she is muchmore mobile”.

The Segway was developed in America, with certain limitations. We probably have all heard ofrecent software glitches, where they had to recall thousands of Segways because for some people, theywould stop when the battery ran out of power, and would flip over. The rider would fall and they hadinjuries and litigation. It is a very interesting, and very innovative gadget.

(Photo: Jay Yocis, University of Cincinnati)

Now I will digress and discuss universal design for dogs. Dogs are part of our ecology, if you will, of

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people's social environment. We have to be concerned about them too. In Germany they have reallysmart dogs. They can read signs, and they look this way, but they know that the official dog toilet is theother way. German dogs will obey, and they go there. My dog would never do that. He goes where hewants to go.

Pictured here is Hans, a very famous dog. He was run over by a car, he cannot use his hind legs, andhe serves patients with wheels instead. I saw him on the Jay Leno Show, a nightly entertainment show byNBC, where Hans was running around the stage and greeting people. A working dog, Hans is doingsomething positive for Alzheimer's patients by allowing them to give love and affection to him.

Hans, whose Hind Legs Were Replaced by Wheels.(Photo: Jay Yocis, University of Cincinnati)

UD should apply to all creatures, and another example is a new invention for small dogs in thedashboard of cars. The dog has his own air conditioning blowing on him. And when one considersanimal rights, Sweden is perhaps the most progressive country in the world. I actually had a project withthe Swedish Department of Agriculture, which was about evaluating farm structures, so that they wouldbe more "humane” for the animals. For example, cows who are tethered to concrete walls and floors, getsores and infections. It is very important to develop better structures for farm animals like horses, cows,sheep, chickens, and the like.

Marunouchi Building, Tokyo (Photo: Mitsubishi)

Yet another example from Japan, is the Marunouchi Building across from Tokyo Station (Fig.8). It isvery respectful of the history and context of that environment. The new tower is inserted into the historicshell of the original building. Tens of thousands of people coming through Tokyo station every day onbusiness, seeking the opportunity to shop and eat, and to do all the things that most people enjoy. Theconcept of mixed-use is very smart, and Mitsubishi will slowly redevelop the entire district surrounding

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Tokyo station. The building accommodates different mixed uses. In addition to what we mentioned,there is office use, and there are shops and restaurants. There are viewing platforms, free to the public.There is a huge atrium. It's a public space for exhibitions, and for concerts. So in other words, in thecorporate environment, you have space given over to the public. And this is to me, a model of how themixed-use environments could be created.

The buildings are all connected underground through passages and plazas. Thus, one of the things Iam suggesting to further universal design at the urban scale are horizontal movement systems, whetherthey are skywalks, arcades, underground connectors and plazas, or street level movement on sidewalks.They act as real inducements for pedestrian traffic. Calling them universally designed means to allowmovement throughout the city without having to compete with automobiles.

Thinking about North America, most people live in suburban environments these days. There is nowa popular movement to create town centers. for these vast suburban housing developments. The centersprovide everything you need for shopping, for entertainment, and other services.

New Town Center. (Photo: Jay Yocis, University of Cincinnati)

On the other hand, downtown Cincinnati has global headquarters Procter & Gamble's, this is the world'slargest consumer goods company. They have a beautiful park outside the building, yet it is fenced offwith chain-link fencing, and they don't want people to use this park. You wonder, why have the park atall? They don't want the homeless people to sleep or hang out there and to present an untidy image ofProcter & Gamble. One can easily see that there is a conflict in values.

Shown here is a very nice idea which was recently completed: the unique tree house is accessible bywheelchair. It was built in the Cincinnati area by local architects, with local funding support andvolunteers.

Wheelchair Accessible Treehouse (Source: Cincinnati Enquirer)

In teaching my students, we undertake live testing and evaluation exercises, for example assessingelevators in a new university building. We do this on a regular basis, and I think it teaches the students alot.

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I my various publications, there are conceptual frameworks for the evaluation of built environments.Conventional design criteria, as opposed to the Seven Principles of Universal Design, should relate tothings like zoning codes and standards, as well as the Life Safety Code. We have to relate universaldesign to the regulatory mechanisms that we have, and not just lofty ideals.

The most developed part in the application of universal design is home design, and the Center forUniversal Design developed a guidebook for the purpose. I assisted a family in Cincinnati before thebuilders started, in getting some universal design features incorporated: no threshold in the entrance;open floor plans with a minimum of doorways; hard floor surfaces; slide-out kitchen cabinets; a loweredkitchen island; roll-in shower and closets, etc. It ended up being successful. However, the parents couldnever visit the upstairs because of their severe disabilities. Once the children were out of the house, theybuilt their "dream home”, i.e., a single level house, and applied the lessons learned from their first house.

From a theoretical perspective, these three slides demonstrate that we have experienced a major shiftin how business and the world works. In the past, we had the Newtonian fixed, hierarchical, top/down,mechanical model of producing things. However, now we have the living model, which basicallyfollowed Einstein's discovery of the theory of relativity. For example, in music, there are various waysthis is manifesting itself: classical music as opposed to improvisational music, i.e., jazz and blues. Wehave moved from extractive industries to manufacturing, and more recently, to knowledge-based serviceindustries.

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From Fixed to Living Systems, Petzinger, T. 1999. A New Model for the Nature of Business:It’s Alive! The Wall Street Journal, February 26.

So knowledge and creativity are the key drivers of today's technologically advanced countries. Theproducers used to be dictating your choices, like the famous Ford T model, where they said you can haveit in any color as long as it's black. That was not a lot of choice.

Nowadays, consumers dictate what is being produced. You can have a mass-produced car with 1,500variations. This is the amazing thing today. Therefore, feedback from consumers about the things youare designing, whether it is a product, a home, or an urban environment, is absolutely critical in theevolution and in making continuous quality improvement and progress towards the future.

In summary, I am proposing mixed -use zoning, districts and adaptable buildings. I am proposingpeople movement and universal design principles applied to the urban structures and systems. One detailis to figure out realistic distances pedestrians will tolerate in order to avoid automobile use as much aspossible.

In closing, I want to remind you that emergency and disaster preparedness (see Fig. 14, from the SanFrancisco earthquake in 1906) need to be considered in the context of universal design, which will be thefocus of the next speaker’s presentation.

Preiser is done with His Presentation. (Photo: Jay Yocis, University of Cincinnati)