Simon Drolsbach, Priya Nair en Louisa van den Brink talking to Faezeh Mohammedi and the public about inclusive design (picture by openresearch)
The session came about after the speakers of two separately scheduled sessions - one on inclusive design and the other on designing for urban wildlife - decided, due to circumstances, to put their heads together on the spot. The result was a fluid dialogue in which it became clear that the design for all can include all species.
When, after some deliberation, we were seated around the long table, the principles of inclusive design were presented to us by program manager Faezeh Mohammadi (Pakhuis de Zwijger). Based on the lessons learned from the Designing Cities for All debate series. she explains to us that one of them means that you can only achieve inclusiveness in a city if you consider this in advance, in your design.
Choices and context
Inclusiveness must be interpreted broadly, and at the same time choices must be made: when you design a certain place in a city for one person, you exclude another. At the same time, another place can be designed more for the other person. Context is very important: what works in one place does not always work in another.
The latter is recognized by the public. "I have onces worked abroad on placing bus shelters on a street map, but there was no timetable for the buses," says someone from the audience. Another listener also recognizes the importance of context. "It is difficult to design something from your office for a place in the city that you cannot 'feel' for yourself.
Faezeh Mohammadi (Pakhuis de Zwijger) in conversation about inclusive design at the AMS Conference 2024 (pic by openresearch)
An infrastructure for hedgehogs
“For the inclusion of animals, the emphatic side is even more difficult, as Louisa van den Brink (urban designer), Simon Drolsbach (urban mobility expert) and Priya Nair (ecologist) from Witteveen+Bos show when they take over the screen. Based on a photo of a small bicycle shed, we are told that, contrary to what we think, this place is a favorite spot for many hedgehogs. But design for animals is about much more than a bicycle shed.
Using hedgehogs as an example, the consultants show that we also need to think about infrastructure in the city, so that they can safely move from one hedgehog-friendly place to another. According to the consultants, the problem is often that there is little data about animals, which means they are not included in design processes. Ecologists also often don't have place at the design table, or come into the process quite late.
Someone from the audience wants to know about policies in Dutch cities regarding animal-friendly design. "I come from South Africa and the sentiment there is that we really don't want more animals in the city," he explains. When someone remarks that the animals come into town just the same, he nods, but the remark is well understood by the presenters:"Its different when the species you're addressing is a bit more dangerous than a hedgehog."
Perhaps the trick, then, is to be able to design an inclusive city that also reduces conflict between humans and animals. And humans and humans, for that matter.