Design for Sustainable Inclusion

This book, Design for Sustainable Inclusion, was inspired and informed by the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. These include, among others, ‘good health and well-being’, ‘reduced inequalities’ and ‘sustainable cities and communities’. Addressing this challenge requires a cross-disciplinary approach and close collaboration with many stakeholders. The Cambridge Workshop on Universal Access and Assistive Technology (CWUAAT) 2023 invited participants from a wide variety of disciplines to contribute to the discussion on this topic.

This book represents the papers presented at this conference, chosen by peer review by an international panel of currently active researchers. The chapters within the book provide a unique insight into current national and international research in the fields of inclusive design, universal access, and assistive and rehabilitative technology. The main sections of the book reflect the following key themes:

•Understanding people

•Designing for an ageing population

•Inclusive built environments

•Healthcare

•Assistive technology

•Design methods

•Education and training

We hope that this book will be useful to researchers, teachers, students and the general public who are interested in inclusive design and sustainable development.

Joy Goodman-Deane is a Senior Research Associate in the Inclusive Design group at the EDC. She gained a Ph.D. in Computing Science from Glasgow University in 2002 and worked as Research Associate there investigating the design of computer-based technology for older people. For the last 18 years, she has worked at the Engineering Design Centre (EDC) at the University of Cambridge where her research has focused on inclusive design. Her interests focus on developing tools and methods to help support designers in putting inclusive design into practice. Joy helped to develop and author the Inclusive Design Toolkit as well as tools such as the Exclusion Calculator, Cambridge impairment simulators, and digital personas.

Hua Dong is a Professor in Design at Brunel University London. Her Ph.D. research at the Department of Engineering, University of Cambridge, has laid the foundation of her research expertise in inclusive design. Hua shares her passion and expertise through keynote speeches at international conferences, initiating new courses and research programs, and academic and popular publications. She has edited 6 books on the topics of inclusive design, assistive technology and universal access and authored/co-authored 200+ papers.  Hua has extensive experience in providing specialized research consultancy to industries in the UK, Finland, and China to help designers adopt a more inclusive approach and support companies to implement inclusive practices. Hua was elected Fellow of the Design Research Society in 2019; she received the award of ‘Engineering Heroes’—the Top 50 Women in Engineering 2021 from Women’s Engineering Society in 2021. Hua had been Professor at Tongji University and Loughborough University before joining Brunel University London as Inaugural Dean of Brunel Design School.

Ann Heylighen is a Design Researcher with a background in architectural engineering. She is currently Professor of design studies and Francqui Research Professor in the Department of Architecture at KU Leuven (University of Leuven), where she co-chairs the Research[x]Design group. Her main research interests are situated at the interface of architectural design and social sciences/humanities. She is particularly interested in how insight into human diversity may expand prevailing ways of understanding and designing space. Ann was awarded several research grants, including a Starting Grant and Proof-of-Concept Grant of the European Research Council. She is Fellow of the Design Research Society, Associate Editor of Design Studies and Member of the editorial board of CoDesign and of Building Research and Information. Ann studied architectural engineering at KU Leuven and ETH Zürich. After completing her Ph.D. at KU Leuven, she conducted postdoctoral research at Harvard University and the University of California, Berkeley, and she was Visiting Professor at Sapienza—University of Rome.

Jonathan Lazar, Ph.D., LLM is a Professor in the College of Information Studies (iSchool) at the University of Maryland. Professor Lazar has authored or edited 14 books, including Accessible Technology and the Developing World (co-edited with Michael Stein), Research Methods in Human-Computer Interaction (2nd edition, co-authored with Heidi Feng and Harry Hochheiser), Ensuring Digital Accessibility Through Process and Policy (co-authored with Dan Goldstein and Anne Taylor), Disability, Human Rights, and Information Technology (co-edited with Michael Stein), Universal Usability: Designing Computer Interfaces for Diverse User Populations, and Web Usability: A User-Centered Design Approach. Professor Lazar has published over 150 refereed articles in journals, conference proceedings, and edited books, frequently serves as Adviser to U.S. government agencies, regularly provides testimony at the federal and state levels, and multiple U.S. federal regulations cite his research. At the University of Maryland iSchool, he teaches courses on human–computer interaction, user-centered design, accessibility, and legal research methods. He is Recipient of the 2021 ACM SIGCHI Academy Award, the 2020 ACM SIGACCESS Award for Outstanding Contributions to Computing and Accessibility, the 2017 University System of Maryland Board of Regents Faculty Award for Excellence in Research, and the 2016 ACM SIGCHI Social Impact Award. Dr. Lazar recently served as General Chair of the ACM ASSETS 2021 conference. At the University of Maryland, Dr. Lazar is Faculty Member in the Human-Computer Interaction Lab (HCIL) and serves as Director of the Trace Research and Development Center, one of the world's oldest research centers on technology and disability.

John Clarkson is a Professor in the Department of Engineering at the University of Cambridge and in the Faculty of Industrial Design Engineering at Delft University of Technology. He is Director of the Cambridge Engineering Design Centre and Co-Director of Cambridge Public Health. His research interests include process management, change management, healthcare design, inclusive design, and automotive design. As well as publishing over 800 papers, he has written and edited a number of books on medical equipment design, inclusive design, and process management. John is Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering and the Royal Swedish Academy of Engineering Sciences. He was elected Fellow of the Design Society in 2021 and awarded the Sir Misha Black Medal in 2018 for services to Design Education.