Design to Meet the Needs of All

With major demographic change forecasting fewer children and more senior citizens, a greater awareness of the needs of the physically disabled and fostering environments that meet the needs of all is becoming more and more of a challenge. Shizuoka Prefecture is approaching this through the concept of Universal Design. This philosophy considers everyone’s needs and, as much as possible, creates environments that integrate rather than separate people of different abilities. To that end, Shizuoka established a Universal Design Promotion Headquarters in 1999, and is promoting cooperation between municipalities, businesses and individuals to achieve these goals.

• Design to Meet the Needs of All
• Promoting the Concept
• Easier Access to Public Buildings and Facilities
• Incorporating the Concept into Products and Signs

• Universal Design in Shizuoka Prefecture

Promoting the concept to school children is an important task.

Promoting the Concept

Shizuoka has already achieved good results in promoting its Universal Design efforts, with awareness of the existence and goals of the project growing annually in surveys. It is important to raise awareness of this project in the business world due to product development and support considerations. Children are another major target group for education, so that they may grow up considering Universal Design an integral part of daily life. The same applies to the elderly who can contribute more to life in Shizuoka if they have better access and support. Efforts to increase awareness are broad-based, including publications, seminars, workshops for children, and Internet-based activities. The prefecture also holds an annual Universal Design Idea Competition and has exhibited some of the products developed for universal design overseas.

Easier Access to Public Buildings and Facilities

Shizuoka has already come a considerable way in implementing its Universal Design concept into everyday life. For example, buses and other public transport vehicles now feature wide, low entrances for easier entry, more bus shelters have been set up with seating at different heights, and finer gratings on roads have eliminated risks to people using canes, wheelchairs or high heels. Large restrooms are convenient not only for those in wheelchairs but also nursing mothers and those carrying bulky shopping. Public telephones have been redesigned so they are easier to use for everyone, with lower positioning, added volume control and larger slots for inserting multiple coins at once.

Easy-to-recognize signs inside the Prefectual Hospital

Incorporating the Concept into Products and Signs

In an effort to spread the concept of Universal Design into as many aspects of life as possible, Shizuoka Prefecture’s Industrial Technology Centers work with private-sector companies to develop products in the spirit of Universal Design. One example is cooperation with furniture makers to develop Japanese-style furniture that is easier for the elderly to use. The concept is also integrated into areas such as signage, and signs at prefectural hospitals have been made easier to see and read. The prefecture has even revised the design of its official envelopes so that everyone including the elderly, physically disabled, and foreigners with limited understanding of Japanese, can quickly grasp their provenance and purpose.

New barrier-free design is incorporated into Prefectual Government’s official envelopes.