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.

ALL URBAN DESIGN SHOULD BE HUMAN-CENTERED

UNIVERSAL DESIGN IS THE PATH TO ACHIEVING IT

My non MLB dream was to become an author. 

My mom battled with severe mental illness her entire adult life.

During my upbringing in the exurbs of northeast Ohio, she was institutionalized and put on heavy medication regimens.

I figured her first born son could tell her stories as a way of casting off the 1970s middle class suburban stigma of seeing psychologists, psychiatrists and spending time in a mental health ward.

I graduated with a degree in journalism, covering the losingest major college football team in the nation while at Kent State. I was on my way to being a pro sports beat writer.

 

ALL URBAN DESIGN SHOULD BE HUMAN-CENTERED

UNIVERSAL DESIGN IS THE PATH TO ACHIEVING IT

Call me the accidental urbanist.

I never dreamed I would be speaking around the world and the U.S. on Universal Design and how to make cities better and more inclusive for all people – especially those with disabilities.

My first dream was to be a major league baseball player.

Let’s just say if there really were deals with the devil, I’d have played third base for the Cleveland Guardians for a decade and my soul would have been headed to a very hot and uncomfortable place.

When it turned out I was not so great at hitting a baseball, I figured I’d be a sportswriter covering a major league team.

My dad worked in the back shop of the Akron Beacon Journal, so I figured he could help me get a foot in the door and soon I’d be writing about walk-off home runs and near no-hitters.

ALL URBAN DESIGN SHOULD BE HUMAN-CENTERED

UNIVERSAL DESIGN IS THE PATH TO ACHIEVING IT

Steve Wright is an award-winning Universal Design consultant, writer, public policy expert and advocate for people with disabilities who Jane Jacobs biographer Jenna Lang once dubbed “the Jane Jacobs of Universal Design.” 

He created and taught a groundbreaking Universal Design course University of Miami and has lectured on the subject nationally and globally.

Along with conducting Universal Design workshops for dozens of clients, he has published thousands of articles on planning for an inclusive built environment. 

Wright has worked at some of the nation’s leading urban design, architecture and mobility engineering firms.

Wright is featured the nation’s preeminent expert in design and public policy to increase quality of life for people who use wheelchairs for mobility in “Mark – A Call to Action.”

The 90-minute disability positive documentary by an Emmy-winning producer-director premiered in Tokyo to a host of U.S. State Department Officials and renowned Japanese disability advocates.

Wright is an acclaimed visual artist who has exhibited fine art photographs from his urban work in Tokyo, Istanbul, Paris, Barcelona, Marrakech, Cairo, Lisbon, London, Buenos Aires, Rio de Janeiro, Samarkand, Montevideo, Bogota, Mexico City, Prague, Medellin and countless major cities in North America.

 

 

 

ALL URBAN DESIGN SHOULD BE HUMAN-CENTERED

UNIVERSAL DESIGN IS THE PATH TO ACHIEVING IT

This isn’t just about compliance with the ADA; it’s about envisioning spaces where everyone can live, work, and thrive without barriers.

Steve Wright, a universal design expert, calls for raising the bar beyond minimal standards.

From accessible sidewalks to universally designed housing and transit, the built environment should prioritize usability and safety for everyone, including seniors and people with disabilities.

Universal Design improves quality of life for all. 

Features like ramps, wide sidewalks, and step-free entrances don’t just aid wheelchair users—they benefit parents with strollers, elderly pedestrians, and delivery professionals.

The CDC reports that one in four people will experience a disability at some point, and yet, under 1% of U.S. housing is fully accessible. 

Investing in inclusive design now yields long-term health, economic, and social benefits, making cities stronger, healthier, and more connected for future generations.

LISBON, PORTUGAL

 UNIVERSAL DESIGN -- BLESSED BY THE HEAVENS

I’ve always said Universal Design is sustainable, durable, flexible and valuable.

Here, at Museu Calouste Gulbenkian in Lisbon Portugal, the heavens light the way to the ramp of access for all.