ALL URBAN DESIGN SHOULD BE HUMAN-CENTERED

UNIVERSAL DESIGN IS THE PATH TO ACHIEVING IT

Call me the Universal Design Evangelist.

The Pied Piper of inclusion for all. 

Jane Jacobs biographer Jenna Lang once dubbed me “the Jane Jacobs of Universal Design.”

I was a direct caregiver to a person who battled chronic pain, dozens of surgeries and used a power wheelchair for mobility.

I might not be able to stamp plans like an architect or engineer – but for 35 years, I saw first-hand the humiliation of using a wheelchair ramp in an unlit back alley – at a brand new building that should have featured access at the main entrance.

 

ALL URBAN DESIGN SHOULD BE HUMAN-CENTERED

UNIVERSAL DESIGN IS THE PATH TO ACHIEVING IT

I get architects who say “it’s a fire house, no wheelchair user will work there” when the very same architecture firm has repurposed an old firehouse into a senior center, day care or even two-level restaurant – where wheelchair access is needed on all floors.

For that matter, if the second floor of a fire house couldn’t be reached by elevator – a decorated, retired, disabled firefighter could not visit his/her old workmates, or give a lecture on evacuation technique best practices for people with disabilities.

ALL URBAN DESIGN SHOULD BE HUMAN-CENTERED

UNIVERSAL DESIGN IS THE PATH TO ACHIEVING IT

Today, even more than a third of a century after the adoption of the ADA, I still encounter affordable housing developers trying to pass on the cost of accessible units – to the people with disabilities who could not afford to make the modifications in ten lifetimes.

I must deal with traffic engineers that are aghast at the idea of a road diet – taking away a lane of speeding, dangerous traffic and using that space to widen sidewalks to enhance safe mobility – for wheelchair users and all pedestrians.

 

 

 

 

 

 

ALL URBAN DESIGN SHOULD BE HUMAN-CENTERED

UNIVERSAL DESIGN IS THE PATH TO ACHIEVING IT

My Miami City Hall job also allowed me to hold some city and private sector leaders’ feat to the fire – guaranteeing the ADA was met and exceeded.

I remember catching a horrible barrier created in the drawings for a brand new sky bridge that would serve tens of thousands.

A well-meaning city department head told me not to worry, it would surely be corrected “because everything has to be ADA.”

I replied that people have to be kept in line. 

My analogy: murder, assault, robbery, burglary and fraud are illegal – but lots of people break the rules if we do not police them.

UNIVERSAL DESIGN MYTHS BUSTED:

FACTS THAT FOSTER INCLUSION

I’m so proud to be one of the featured speakers for the inclusive webinar hosted by the Starkloff Disability Institute.

Register for the FREE event today.

Then visit Zoom on April 10 2025 to hear me bust some Universal Design Myths.

https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_CZXwv25VSoG_YSvPSPmMFQ?t=1739485035944

ALL URBAN DESIGN SHOULD BE HUMAN-CENTERED

UNIVERSAL DESIGN IS THE PATH TO ACHIEVING IT

Along with covering growth and development for a large and influential Midwest newspaper in the 1990s, I was the guy tapped for the disability stories – including deciphering the new Americans Disabilities Act.

The ADA, the strongest federal civil rights legislation for people with disabilities, became the law of the land in 1990.

On election day 2000, my wife and I landed in Miami.

She soon was working as an ADA coordinator for a diverse city and I was the senior urban policy advisor for the Chair of the City of Miami Commission.

After a dreadful period, Miami was booming and I was the point person to figure out whether hundreds of huge development proposals were good or bad for the city, Ta-da, once again starting meeting at 9 a.m. and working well past midnight! 

 

 

ALL URBAN DESIGN SHOULD BE HUMAN-CENTERED

UNIVERSAL DESIGN IS THE PATH TO ACHIEVING IT

When I was hired at the 35^th largest newspaper in the U.S., I found out I was starting at the bottom.

Night school board and town council meetings in the hinterlands.

I was promoted (sentenced?) to the City of Columbus Development Commission – a board that met well into the wee hours – too late to beat deadline for the morning paper.

I also married young, to a person who used a wheelchair for mobility.

The combination of learning about how “planning nerds” and developers operated + my spouse’s mobility needs + my deep human empathy gained through watching my mom’s tortured days – forged my career.