Resonance across Critical Users: An Invitation to Approach Diversityin Architectural Design Qualitatively

Abstract

The demand for an inclusive society responding to diverse needs and ways of being poses a major challenge for designers. Approaches such as Universal Design, Inclusive Design, or Design for All intend to respond to this challenge. However, the uptake of these approaches has been limited in architectural practice; they are often critiqued for being prescriptive, disregarding individual differences, or lacking adequate formats to inform designers about the latter. Inspired by these critiques, we see potential in focusing not on what sets people apart (their particularities), but rather on similarities or overlaps, i.e. resonances, across them, and how these can help designers address the challenge in inclusive designing. Considering resonances through a critical user lens aims to foster awareness not just of that design can enable or disable aspects of everyday life, or of how many people are affected—thus
approaching diversity in quantitative terms—but also of how important these aspects are. In other words, it highlights the extent to which design affects people’s vital activities, thereby approaching diversity qualitatively. Moreover, we see possibilities in making resonances explicit as a way to increase the capacity of designers to empathize with experiences of the disabled community, and further abandon the idea that disability is something that affects “others.”