MY ACCLAIMED STREET PHOTOGRAPHY WILL BE FEATURED IN A WILEY PRESS BOOK

THE ART OF THE NEW URBANISM VOLUME 2 (2010-2025)

I am honored to learn that my urban/architectural photography will be featured in The Art of the New Urbanism Volume 2 by Wiley Press.

The book is by James Dougherty, Charles C. Bohl & Victor Dover, with a forward by David Csont.

The lavish, full color coffee table book is the result of a collaboration between the University of Miami School of Architecture (UMSoA), the Congress for the New Urbanism (CNU) and Dover, Kohl & Partners Town Planning.

I created a Universal Design course at the UMSoA, have published with the CNU and have collaborated with DKP.

Publication in the Wiley book is gratifying, because an independent expert jury selected my photography from an extraordinary number of high-quality images.

This marks the 10th publication in the past 5 years that has featured my writing, photography or art.

REST IN PEACE LEON KRIER

LEGENDAY 

Leon Krier -- world renowned architectural theorist and innovator in traditional architecture and urbanism – died at age 79 earlier this month.

I have had the privilege of lecturing on Universal Design at the University of Miami School of Architecture building that he designed.

I spoke to Krier about my vison for Universal Design.

I later created/taught a full Universal Design course in a traditional building footsteps away from his U-SoA Jorge M. Perez Architecture Center.

Krier was a prominent critic of modernist architecture and an advocate of New Urbanism.

THE FUTURE OF DEVELOPMENT

 INCLUDES ACCESSIBLE/AFFORDABLE HOUSING FOR PEOPLE WITH DISABILITIES

Hats off to Dr. Charles Bohl of MRED+U Program at the University of Miami School of Architecture for hosting Manager, Housing Development Tom Hospod (in person) + Co-Founder CEO Micaela Connery (via Zoom) of The Kelsey.

The Kelsey is a California-based nonprofit developer bringing accessible and affordable dwelling units to market.

With its inclusive design standards, the Kelsey has a global reach in the U.S.

Developers and disciplines that work with them need to learn about the value of inclusive housing.

I was honored to be introduced as the creator of an innovative Universal Design course and a journalist who has covered how The Kelsey has delivered affordable/accessible housing to the challenging San Francisco-San Jose area.

Tom Hospod shared how funding was done.

I capped off the program saying accessible housing is a growing market share to capture.

Fact: 1 in 4 people experience some level of disability and soon, more people will be older than 65 than younger than 18 in the U.S.

ACCESSIBILITY CULTIVATING ACCESSIBLE ARCHITECTURE FOR ALL:

AN INTERVIEW WITH STEVE WRIGHT BY HAWA ALLARAKHIA, M.ED.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR Hawa Allarakhia has a Master in Education from the University of South Florida and is currently a doctoral candidate at USF. 

She is studying Program Development with a research interest in Disability Services with a graduate certificate in Academic Advising. 

She holds the positions of Graduate Assistant in the Office of Research, on the Sarasota-Manatee campus of USF. 

For questions, please contact her by email at hawa1@usf.edu

ACCESSIBILITY CULTIVATING ACCESSIBLE ARCHITECTURE FOR ALL:

AN INTERVIEW WITH STEVE WRIGHT BY HAWA ALLARAKHIA, M.ED.

Q How did you incorporate the experiences and challenges faced by individuals with invisible disabilities?

A This was spoken about in class, and it was featured in some of the assigned materials for reading/video viewing/social media following outside of class (and graded via required journal entries on these subjects).

ACCESSIBILITY CULTIVATING ACCESSIBLE ARCHITECTURE FOR ALL:

AN INTERVIEW WITH STEVE WRIGHT BY HAWA ALLARAKHIA, M.ED.

Q How did you incorporate the experiences and challenges faced by individuals with temporary disabilities?

A In each of our 15 course sessions, we explained that disability is not some remote, outlier issue … that it is not just a person with a spinal cord injury. 

We explained how universal design supports aging in place. 

We also underscored, frequently, the truth that barrier-free design is NOT simply for people with disabilities. 

That it makes the public realm and interior of spaces easier to live in for children, elderly, and all people. 

And that it can be beautiful and sustainable design.

ACCESSIBILITY CULTIVATING ACCESSIBLE ARCHITECTURE FOR ALL:

AN INTERVIEW WITH STEVE WRIGHT BY HAWA ALLARAKHIA, M.ED.

Q How did you incorporate the experiences and challenges faced by individuals with physical disabilities?

A One of the team teachers uses a wheelchair for mobility. 

Also, we had guest lectures from nationally prominent architect Karen Braitmayer and designer Ileana Rodriguez — each of whom use wheelchairs for mobility. 

ACCESSIBILITY CULTIVATING ACCESSIBLE ARCHITECTURE FOR ALL:

AN INTERVIEW WITH STEVE WRIGHT BY HAWA ALLARAKHIA, M.ED.

Q How did you incorporate the experiences and challenges faced by individuals with social and psychological disabilities?

A We had an expert presenter from the Center for Autism & Related Disabilities (CARD).

ACCESSIBILITY CULTIVATING ACCESSIBLE ARCHITECTURE FOR ALL:

AN INTERVIEW WITH STEVE WRIGHT BY HAWA ALLARAKHIA, M.ED.

Q How did you incorporate the experiences and challenges faced by individuals with visual disabilities into the course?

A We had a guest lecture, via Zoom, from renowned expert Peter Slatin and had a live in-class presentation by a trainer from Lighthouse for the Blind.

ACCESSIBILITY CULTIVATING ACCESSIBLE ARCHITECTURE FOR ALL:

AN INTERVIEW WITH STEVE WRIGHT BY HAWA ALLARAKHIA, M.ED. 

Q How did you incorporate the experiences and challenges faced by individuals with hearing-related disabilities into the course?

A We had a guest lecture, via Zoom, from renowned expert Jeffrey Mansfield (via interpreter) of Deaf Space.

ACCESSIBILITY CULTIVATING ACCESSIBLE ARCHITECTURE FOR ALL:

AN INTERVIEW WITH STEVE WRIGHT BY HAWA ALLARAKHIA, M.ED.

Q Did you design the course with a disability model in mind, i.e., medical, social, or moral?

A The model was certainly not medical or moral. 

So I suppose it was social. 

Basically, a lot of architects (not just students in the field) think the ADA is some kind of building code that can be waived or reduced by variance. 

I taught that it is basic civil rights protection under federal law. I also opened eyes by sharing that the UN has identified more than 1 billion people with disabilities on earth, and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) numbers say one in four of us will experience a disability in our lifetimes. 

Those numbers speak to a market for design that accommodates all.

ACCESSIBILITY CULTIVATING ACCESSIBLE ARCHITECTURE FOR ALL:

AN INTERVIEW WITH STEVE WRIGHT BY HAWA ALLARAKHIA, M.ED.

Q What impact do you believe a course about universal design will have on students with disabilities across higher education?

A A few of the students said they would dedicate/refocus their careers on design for all. 

A few, in all candor, seemed to reject the ADA and universal design as something constricting or even “woke” — their words.

Overall, I think it opened minds. 

ACCESSIBILITY CULTIVATING ACCESSIBLE ARCHITECTURE FOR ALL:

AN INTERVIEW WITH STEVE WRIGHT BY HAWA ALLARAKHIA, M.ED. 

Q How did you approach the University of Miami-School of Architecture about offering a course on universal design?

A approached the Dean of the School of Architecture and cultivated a friendship with him.

I performed editorial content services for the SoA and kept pitching ideas for a course.

ACCESSIBILITY CULTIVATING ACCESSIBLE ARCHITECTURE FOR ALL:

AN INTERVIEW WITH STEVE WRIGHT BY HAWA ALLARAKHIA, M.ED.

Q Can you provide some background on the inspiration to develop a Universal Design course that focuses on architecture and cultivating a built environment that is accessible to all?

A I have been a journalist for nearly 40 years, and all of that time I have covered both the built environment and the rights/needs of marginalized people.

Combing those into a survey course that educated future architects/urban designers on universal design was a natural progression.

I have worked with town planners and as an urban designer. 

I frequently lecture on access for all at the American Planning Association.

ACCESSIBILITY CULTIVATING ACCESSIBLE ARCHITECTURE FOR ALL:

AN INTERVIEW WITH STEVE WRIGHT BY HAWA ALLARAKHIA, M.ED.

At the University of Miami, students studying architecture now have the opportunity to learn about incorporating accessibility by taking a first-of-its-kind class about universal design. 

Steve Wright, the instructor of the course, discusses how he integrated the experiences and needs of a wide variety of individuals with disabilities into the course.

 

DISABILITY COMPLIANCE

 FOR HIGHER EDUCATION

Proud to find out my thoughts on Universal Design for architects and urban designers will appear in a feature article in the prestigious publication Disability Compliance for Higher Education, by Wiley, a legacy publisher.

My Q&A with Hawa Allarakhia, who is a person with a disability, will appear in a future issue.

I created and team taught a groundbreaking course on Universal Design at the University of Miami School of Architecture.

Graduate and undergraduate students took the first-of-its kind survey course on design for all in the context of streets, transit, mobility, hospitality, healthcare, retail, restaurant, parks, office buildings, mixed-use and much more.

I’m searching for a new team teaching companion, to be able to teach the next semester of this essential course and a top 50 design school.

 

CELEBRATING MORE THAN 3,500 BLOG POSTS

COVERING PLANNING, URBAN DESIGN, MOBILITY, TRAVEL, PHOTOGRAPHY, ADVOCACY FOR PEOPLE WITH DISABILITIES AND MORE

This blog started a decade ago.

Social media was big, but not nearly as big as it is now.

We might not even have owned a modern smart phone when we first started marrying images to words within a template on Blogger.

We have had more than 333,333 unique visitors to these pages.

We have gotten to share advocacy writing on planning, urban design and mobility from Planning Magazine, On Common Ground Magazine, Strong Towns, CNU Public Square and the Miami New Times to name a few.

We have shared disability-positive profiles and research stories from United Spinal, New Mobility, Designs 4 Living and a host of online publications.

In 2022, we have posted links to more than a half dozen podcast appearances.

We’ve also posted live from key speeches given to packed audiences at the American Planning Association National Conference in San Diego and the International Making Cities Livable event in Paris.

Each year, we post more than 400 high quality urbanism photos taken from our extensive travels to promote Universal Design.

STEVE WRIGHT AND HEIDI JOHNSON-WRIGHT DAY IN THE CITY OF CORAL GABLES

 JULY 25, 2022 – THE EVE OF THE 32^ND ANNIVERSARY OF THE ADA

We were honored for creating and team teaching a groundbreaking Universal Design Course at University of Miami School of Architecture in the Spring semester of 2022.

Thanks to Commissioners Kirk Menendez and Rhonda Anderson for co-sponsoring the legislation honoring our hard work. We appreciate Commissioner Menendez’s kind reading of our accomplishments/bios into the official City Commission meeting record:

Steve Wright, an award-winning journalist and marketer, and Heidi Johnson-Wright, a lifelong public servant and Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) expert, based the course on their three decades of expertise and advocacy. The 32nd anniversary of the ADA is tomorrow, July 26 – with a celebration at County Hall.

Johnson-Wright has used a wheelchair for mobility for 40 years and brings her practical experience as well as her 30+ years of professional expertise to the classroom. Wright is America’s go-to journalist for reporting on architecture, town planning, mobility engineering and urban policy – as they relate to people with disabilities and access for all.

The revolutionary full-credit course for graduate and undergraduate students reflected UM’s commitment to diversity, equity, inclusion and accessibility for all.

Universal Design is extremely relevant because the United Nations has identified more than one billion people in the world have disabilities.  Centers for Disease Control research has proven that one in four people in the United States will experience some form of disability.

The Wrights have published more than 1,000 articles on best practices for planning, architecture, transportation engineering and urban design for people with disabilities.

They have lectured at national conferences across the United States and in Europe. This year, they have combined to appear on more than one dozen podcasts focusing on better housing, mobility, jobs, parks and quality of life for people with disabilities.

The Wrights donated 100 percent of their School of Architecture professor pay toward further outreach and education to support Universal Design on a global scale. Funds support travel and related expenses supporting pro bono presentations on “design for all” at major conferences and conventions.

STANDING ON THE SHOULDERS OF GIANTS

UNIVERSAL DESIGN AND ILEANA RODRIGUEZ OF I DESIGN ACCESS

Ileana Rodriguez is Principal at I Design Access, LLC and an international architectural design consultant for major infrastructure projects with a focus on inclusive design.

We were gratified to have her as a guest lecturer, via Zoom, to our groundbreaking Universal Design course. We co-created and teach-teach the first-of-its-kind class at the University of Miami School of Architecture.

She works for clients such as the International Paralympic Committee, national sports organizations and a variety of architecture firms.

Her projects have taken place in Europe, Asia and the Americas.

The Cuban-born, Miami-raised Rodriguez is a Paralympic swimmer and former member of the USA Team for the London 2012 Games.

We look forward to future collaborations with Ileana.

STANDING ON THE SHOULDERS OF GIANTS

UNIVERSAL DESIGN AND PETER SLATIN OF THE SLATIN GROUP

Peter Slatin is the founder and president of Slatin Group LLC, which provides education and training to the hospitality and tourism industry on service to consumers with disabilities.

As a longtime advocate for disability rights and accessibility, he has spoken internationally on Universal Design and access issues.

We were pleased to have him as a guest lecturer, via Zoom, to our groundbreaking Universal Design course.

We co-created and teach-teach the first-of-its-kind class at the University of Miami School of Architecture

Slatin is a graduate of the Colorado Center for the Blind, an acclaimed educational organization affiliated with the National Federation of the Blind.

We look forward to future collaborations with Peter.