By George T. Hague

The city of Davis and The New Home Company can be justly proud of the recent groundbreaking for The Cannery. This will be a more livable, safer, more socially interactive community because it is being created around the principles of universal design.

Universal design strengthens housing policy, enables human interaction within the community and reinforces the functionality of land use and open space. It results in “easy-living” housing suitable for people of all ages and lifestyles. Universal design meets the needs of all potential home occupants, and it relieves city policy of the need to include special provisions for senior citizens or the disabled in new construction.

Some are unclear about distinctions between universal design and provisions of the Americans With Disabilities Act.
President George H.W. Bush signed the ADA in 1991. It is focused on removing architectural barriers in public places and public buildings for a specific group, i.e., those with disabilities.

Ron Mace, an architect at the University of South Carolina, is generally credited with developing universal design seven years earlier, in 1984. It is intended to produce a living environment of products, places and systems with no need for adaptation or special accommodations, i.e., with no barriers to remove.

The Cannery design — following these principles — will benefit to the community as a whole. A universally designed home enhances self-reliance and social engagement. It reduces the need for legislation such as the ADA and other publicly funded programs targeted at people with special needs.
The current design of our “built environment” affects a person pushing a baby stroller in the same manner as it does a caretaker pushing a person in a wheelchair. The built environment affects a person laden with luggage or bags of groceries in the same manner as it does one with little ability to use their arms.

When the environment is built around universal design, a more livable, safer, healthier living experience is created for everyone. Many examples of universal design are already in place:
* In the home: You will find a universal grip on newer kitchen utensils and garden tools. A can opener that can be operated with one hand is now readily available on supermarket shelves.
* In the office: Universal design principles applied to resolve back injuries caused by office furniture resulted in the Herman Miller Airon chair.
* In the community: Curb cuts, step-less entries, zero-threshold doorways and automatic doors in supermarkets and office buildings are now taken for granted as essential elements serving the needs of all users.
* In home construction: Universal design, such as at The Cannery, includes a step-less pathway from the street to the home, a zero-threshold entry, 32-inch-wide doors, 42-inch-wide hallways as well as larger bathrooms, and if site characteristics permit, a bedroom and bath on the first floor.

It also may include variable-height countertops and pull-down shelves in kitchen cabinets. It enables homeowners to remain in their homes throughout life’s challenges and to age in place in their own community.
Mace would be proud of The Cannery. It is the fruition of the dynamic, sustainable, socially interactive, barrier-free community he envisioned so many years ago.

— George T. Hague is a Davis resident.

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