Universal design is defined as follows: The design of products and environments to be usable by all people, to the greatest extent possible, without need for adaptation or specialized design.
Universal design is a concept, approach, or goal to make products and the built environment universally usable by all people everywhere. It accommodates the specific needs of the elderly, people with obesity, those who are very tall or very short including children, pregnant women, and people with various functional limitations, which tend to have been traditionally ignored. Universal design is dependent on the culture of the people who will be using the specific built environment. That is, universal design may be different in each and every country because it is meant to be universally usable in that place.
Universal design is not a standard, either national or international, but it may include design factors which might ordinarily adhere to national or international standards (see Box 1). Universal design may or may not include standards, but the design must be universally acceptable and usable by the population that will use the specific piece of the built environment. Universal design does not have hard and fast rules. It is whatever the designer intends for it to be, but it must follow some general principles.
Thus, universal design, by its very nature must be participatory. The participation of effected populations will determine the consensus that must drive universal design or universal designing. As the concept of universal design has evolved, a number of general principles have emerged to guide the participatory process in reaching a universal designing consensus.
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