Built Environment Design Toward an Inclusive Society: How Can We Improve the Existing Infrastructure in Cities?

Built environment design has responded to the needs of the users. However, industrialization, urbanization and drastic change in technologies revealed a widened gap between users’ abilities and required ability level. Quite a large portion of population has been excluded from using the built environment, in larger cities. Those excluded and suffer most include seniors and people with disabilities. We have tried to fill the gap, but the efforts have usually lagged behind. Besides, such efforts were a bit of compromise, partly due to existing hardships of infrastructures. Should such compromises be acceptable, or should we struggle to ask more efforts toward better design for fuller inclusion? This presentation examines the state-of-the-art in Tokyo, which will host the 2020 Olympics and Paralympics Games. The discussion compares the historical background, conditions of existing infrastructures, people’s perceptions toward inclusion, and global trends including UN Convention of Rights of People with Disabilities.