Applying inclusive design principles to eco-town developments

Leading housing and planning charity, the Town and Country Planning Association (TCPA), have today published new guidance, endorsed by Government, on applying inclusive design principles to eco-town developments. The TCPA believes that the eco-towns programme presents a rare opportunity to build new settlements that are designed to provide all inhabitants – regardless of age, disability, faith or gender – with places where homes are responsive to individual need and are located within easy access of employment, services and leisure.

David Bonnett lead author of the Inclusive Design Worksheet said:
“Inclusive design is a ‘cross-cutting’ consideration which helps to ensure that we do not unintentionally create barriers or obstacles which prevent people from going about their normal daily lives and being part of their communities. This consideration is as vital at a strategic level as at any other, and applies equally to all key decision-makers in the design and construction of eco-towns.”

“One of the challenges facing developers of eco-towns is to recognise the fundamental nature of inclusive design to meet the needs and expectations of an increasingly diverse society by thinking afresh about how our towns are designed. This Worksheet is intended to help practitioners to meet these goals and create a new settlement where everybody is included.”

The benefits of inclusive design and its impact on the design of eco-towns can be
summarised as:

• Inclusive – so that everyone can use the environments created safely, easily and with dignity.
• Responsive – taking account of what people say they need and want.
• Flexible – so that different people can use the built environment in different ways.
• Convenient – so that everyone can use the built environment without too much effort or separation.
• Accommodating – for all people, regardless of their age, gender, mobility, ethnicity or circumstances.
• Welcoming – with no disabling barriers that might exclude some people.
• Realistic – offering more than one solution to help balance everyone’s needs and recognising that one solution may not work for all.

TCPA Policy and Projects manager Graham Nickson added:
"Delivering eco-developments – led by the eco-towns programme – is fundamentally right in addressing the massive challenges that both demographic and climate change pose to development. The TCPA is immensely proud to have worked with a range of other charities setting higher standards than ever before in British planning for new development. These new standards, published with Government support, mean that the drive to make development both environmentally robust and socially just, moves step forward.”

Produced by the TCPA in collaboration with Communities and Local Government (CLG), the inclusive design worksheet was developed through a series of roundtable meetings and consultation where experts from the Greater London Authority; Centre for Accessible Environments, Oxford Brookes University; the Royal National Institute for the Blind and individual experts provided useful insight and practical experience of best practice in developing inclusive design strategies.

The Inclusive Design Worksheet is the seventh eco-town Worksheet, following on from transport, community development, water cycle management, green infrastructure, economy and towards zero waste Worksheets. Other Worksheet topics currently being developed include biodiversity, housing, and energy. Once they are all published, the Worksheets will together represent a comprehensive set of policy and planning guidance on the range of subject areas to be addressed and the standards to be met when planning an eco-town.

These Worksheets are best practice guidance being made available as a resource for planning and designing eco-towns. The TCPA believes that only eco-town proposals that have the potential to meet the highest standards demanded should be given the go-ahead.