The Planning Development & Infrastructure Act provides the foundation for so much more than simply development assessment in South Australia. A key area of its operation relates to universal design to ensure accessibility for people of all physical abilities.
One of the first initiatives to respond to this part of the PDI Act has been the “Accessible Destinations” Universal Design training program. Piloted by the Southern and Hills Local Government Associated, the program sought to increase the capacity of local government staff to create a more accessible and inclusive public realm.
A training day of presentations, panel discussion, case studies and interactive urban design exercises confirmed the need for Universal Design and how it can be applied. Interactive public realm walk-throughs in each council area led by a disability access consultant highlighted challenges for access, embedded the learnings and identified best practice solutions.
The program was a multi-disciplinary collaboration between social planning, urban design and disability access practitioners. A key feature of the program was the involvement of people with lived experience of disability in the project governance and delivery of training.
Evaluation of the pilot program showed a significant increase in the knowledge and confidence of participants about Universal Design. This makes the potential application of this project state-wide even more exciting.
Winner of a PIA SA Award late last year, our Zoe Hambour is excited about delivering the findings of this project at the upcoming PIA State Conference on 17 June.
