Investigating industry attitudes to universal design

Abstract

The general population in most countries is getting older. With increasing age comes increasing variability in physical capability and hence a greater requirement for products and services to be designed for a broader user base. However, the products to meet this market sector are not being produced to match the rate of market growth. Work-places are not generally being adequately adapted to support an increasingly elderly work-force. In response to this, the United Kingdom government has launched a series of research initiatives to encourage the uptake of Universal Design practices by industry. This paper describes the aims and goals of the IDesign project, the largest, multi-center, multi-disciplinary team funded under the latest round of these initiatives. It also discusses the findings of a workshop held to examine the attitudes of companies to the implementation of Universal Design practices.