08/07/2004

Archived item. This item is published here for historical reasons. The information below may be out of date.

Mayor Robert Dowds to officially launch “Life Time Design Seminar” at County Hall, Tallaght, on Wednesday 14^th July @ 9.30am. entitled:-

Sustainability Through Innovation.

“A world accessible to people with diverse capabilities, contributing to Architecture and Urban Planning a richness of experience that stimulates the space we inhabit an initiative for the South Dublin County Council Tenth Anniversary Celebrations”

The time has come to erase the imaginary dividing line separating people of various abilities and to look at ourselves as people with a wide range of capabilities always changing in time, and space.

Taking this principle seriously means altering the way in which we conceive planning and architecture:

- Design for all: Our built environment should be so created that all individuals can take advantage of it equally. People of[s1] [s1] diverse capabilities [s2] [s2]can no longer be thought of as ‘special cases’, and should not be restricted to special access ways to reach their destinations, nor should they be referred to special utilitarian rooms. All people should be able to live together and be treated with equal respect within the same designed space.[s3] [s3]

- Smart architecture for all: The built environment of the future requires a continual search for both passive and active responses to the differing needs of its inhabitants in order to effectively balance out their diverse capabilities and behavioural restrictions. Rather than focusing on what is considered ‘normal’ as a basis for our building norms and regulations, we should pay heed to what today are the individual needs of each.

- Stimulating environments for all: Any built environment should be able to do more than just satisfy a mechanical function. It should also serve as a sensory and aesthetic stimulation for all its users: citizens with limited abilities or limited sensory perception and orientation [s4] [s4]should be able to experience identification, beauty and harmony.

(S4) With

(S2) Access needs

(S3) This value is at the core of the social inclusion ethos.

(S4) Mobility or sensory impairments

The Seminar will be of interest to a broad range of Design Team disciplines notably those responsible for policy development and design innovation in the fields of planning, housing, energy supply, environment, health, social inclusion and construction service skills

Issued on behalf of the Council by Head of Corporate Services Benny Hickey

benny.hickey@sdublincoco.ie