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The Importance of Human-Centered Design in Smart Cities

The Importance of Human-Centered Design in Smart Cities

How Human-Centered Design Helps Smart Cities Reach Their Goals Smart cities are becoming increasingly popular across the globe, with many cities introducing technology-driven initiatives to improve the standard of living for its citizens. As technology is becoming an ever-growing part of our daily lives, cities are turning to human-centered design to make sure that their technological initiatives are able to…

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Smart City Development and the Needs of the Elderly

Smart City Development and the Needs of the Elderly

As cities around the world move into an era of Smart city planning and implementation, one of the key challenges is meeting the needs of an increasingly aging population.

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How Can Cities Improve the Quality of Life of Disabled People?

How Can Cities Improve the Quality of Life of Disabled People?

The need to design inclusive cities is becoming increasingly clear across the globe. However, not all urban models being designed today meet this objective, particularly regarding disability.

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Urban Air Mobility Must Incorporate The Needs Of Disabled Citizens

Urban Air Mobility Must Incorporate The Needs Of Disabled Citizens

Urban Air Mobility must incorporate the needs of disabled citizens if the promise – and full market value – of advanced air mobility and urban air mobility systems are to be fully realized.

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Creating an Accessible Society Thanks to Inclusive Design

Creating an Accessible Society thanks to Inclusive Design

What’s better than a society which caters to the needs of all its citizens? Inclusive design offers a wide range of possibilities for cities to help them create an accessible and barrier-free society in several areas whether it concerns the services they provide such as public transportation but also in their architecture with buildings and parks. In addition, culture happens…

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How Well Are We Ensuring Contactless Fare Payment Is Accessible and Equitable for Everyone?

How well are we ensuring that contactless fare payment is accessible and equitable?

How Well Are We Ensuring Contactless Fare Payment Is Accessible and Equitable for Everyone? Considering equity and accessibility issues from the beginning will help ensure all travellers have barrier-free access to these new systems.

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4 Urban Planning Fails We Need to Correct

4 Urban Planning Fails We Need to Correct in 2020

When urban planners envision their work for the 21st century, many often say it’ll begin with fixing the shortcomings put in place in the 20th century. However, the question remains whether professionals can make those changes quickly enough to avoid the worst consequences of their mistakes. Here are four urban planning fails that should be near the top of the list as professionals assess what to address first.

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How Architecture Changes for the Deaf

How Architecture Changes for the Deaf

We live in a world built for people who hear. But what would our man-made world look like if it were designed for those who don’t hear? Gallaudet University in Washington, DC is a school for the Deaf and hard of hearing. And they are redesigning entire buildings based on the sensory experience of those who don’t hear. They’ve only…

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Smart Cities Could Give The Blind A New Outlook On Urban Life

Smart Cities Could Give The Blind A New Outlook On Urban Life

Traveling to work, meeting friends for a catch up or just doing some shopping are often taken for granted by people with no known disabilities. For the visually impaired, these seemingly simple things can be a serious challenge. But imagine a city equipped with technology that enables the visually impaired to recognise people, places or even bank notes, helping them…

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How Can Shopping Malls Be Accessible to People with Disabilities?

How Can Shopping Malls Be Accessible to People with Disabilities? – Inclusive City Maker

Over 116 000 shopping malls are spread in the United States of America and generate each year around 5 trillion dollars. But are they accessible for people with disabilities?

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Age-Friendly Smart Cities

Growing Older in the City: Age-Friendly Smart Cities

As many city environments are still designed to support an able-bodied working population, older people risk being excluded from the social and economic life of the city, especially when they lose functional ability. Age-friendly urban environments are therefore essential to enable a good quality of life across the life course, including the ability to age healthy and actively, with dignity,…

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A Functional and Inclusive City’s Response to the COVID-19 Pandemic

A Functional and Inclusive City’s Response to the COVID-19 Pandemic

Simultaneously a health crisis, social crisis, and economic crisis, COVID-19 is laying bare how well cities are planned and managed. Its impact is showing the extent to which each city is able to function – or not – especially during times of crisis.

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Aging Population Needs Walkable, Bikeable Cities

Aging Population Needs Walkable, Bikeable Cities

Seniors have the most to gain from pedestrian and cycling improvements—yet they often feel threatened by changes that provide alternatives to driving. Here are ways to include seniors in active transportation planning. The first time someone accused me of being “ableist” I was shocked. I was advocating ways to make downtown more walkable, including pedestrianizing some streets. I view walkability…

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The Experiences of People with Disabilities and Urban Safety

The Experiences of People with Disabilities and Urban Safety

Creating safe and secure urban spaces is a core concern for city managers, urban planners and policy workers. Safety is a slippery concept to pin down, not least because it is a subjective experience. It incorporates our perceptions of places and memories, but also norms in society about who is expected to use spaces in the city, and who is…

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The Challenge Of Redesigning Cities To Adapt To An Ageing Population

The challenge of redesigning cities to adapt to an ageing population

Age-friendly cities are those that design and adapt their communities so they are suitable for everyone, regardless of age or abilities. That is, barrier-free, inclusive and cohesive cities, designed for diversity.

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Accessibility & Inclusion For All

Accessibility & Inclusion For All

One billion people in the world today live with a disability, both in visible or invisible form. They are amongst the most vulnerable and marginalised in the world. How can we design a truly inclusive world that recognises the value and worth of people living with a disability? Source: http://www.weforum.org/

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City Planners Must Practice Everyone-Based Design

City Planners Must Practice Everyone-Based Design

I was once a live-in aide to a woman with multiple sclerosis named Marin. She was a 54-year-old Jewish hippie with a purple streak through her curly cloud of hair. She dyed the right ear of Jake, her white-furred poodle, to match. This was a conversation piece. Some people shied away from talking to her when she motored through town…

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Accessible and Inclusive Design Is Good for Business

A jubilant business woman at work, sitting in her wheelchair, smiling, and raising her hands and arms into the air

The European Commission estimates that 80 million EU citizens live with a disability, with this figure expected to increase to 120 million by 2020 due to the region’s ageing population. In 2010, when it accepted the UN’s Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, the EU committed to ensuring the social and occupational integration of those living with disabilities.…

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‘People Aren’t Disabled, Their City Is’: Inside Europe’s Most Accessible City

‘People Aren’t Disabled, Their City Is’: Inside Europe’s Most Accessible City

When I arrived at Breda station last month to find out why this Dutch city was recently named the winner of the 2019 Access City award, I did something I have not done while travelling in a long time. Instead of taking a taxi, I independently pushed the two kilometres to the hotel, to see whether lack of access for…

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