Language that Supports Sustainable Development: How to Write about People in Universal Design Policy

Stina Ericsson, Daniel Wojahn, Ida Sandström and Per-Olof Hedvall
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Stina Ericsson: Department of Swedish, University of Gothenburg, 405 30 Gothenburg, Sweden
Daniel Wojahn: Department of Swedish, University of Gothenburg, 405 30 Gothenburg, Sweden
Ida Sandström: Department of Architecture and Built Environment, Lund University, 221 00 Lund, Sweden
Per-Olof Hedvall: Department of Design Sciences, Lund University, 221 00 Lund, Sweden

Sustainability, 2020, vol. 12, issue 22, 1-20

Abstract: Universal Design (UD) is a design approach that recognises and anticipates diversity as a fundamental human condition. UD is also frequently referred to in relation to the social dimension of sustainable development. Central to both UD and sustainability is the way “everyone,” as the target of UD and sustainability goals, is understood. The purpose of the study is to identify how UD’s “everyone” is conceptualised in Swedish UD policy and to provide a set of recommendations for how to categorise people with regards to UD. A qualitative text analysis is used, which investigates semiotic modes in relation to the content, form, and social relations of texts. Based on the analysis, two challenges for UD policy are identified: (i) how to convey that UD is design for everyone, and (ii) how to move away from a thought pattern of norm and deviation. Seven recommendations for how to approach categorisations of people in UD policy are formulated. We argue that an adoption of UD has the potential to bring about sustainable living environments for all, if integrated with social, economic, environmental, and spatial dimensions of development, but that in order for this to succeed, careful attention needs to be paid to how UD is conceptualised, and a radically different way of categorising people is necessary.

Keywords: Universal Design; categorisation; sustainability; language; policy; recommendations; disability (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
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