Camilla Ryhl

A Danish report entitled “Accessibility – challenges, concepts and strategies” gives Norway top marks for among other things its political orientation in this sphere. The reports compares measures relating to universal design and accessibility in Australia, Denmark, Norway and the USA.

According to the Danish report, the concept of universal design has been effectively integrated into Norwegian thinking over the course of the past ten years. The report has been authored by architect, senior researcher and project manager Camilla Ryhl, who – perhaps not entirely coincidentally – chose to feature a photo from Norway’s new opera house in Oslo on the cover of the report.

Published by the Danish Building Research Institute, Aalborg University, the report seeks to provide clearer delimitation of the concepts and terminology as well as implementation strategies in the area of universal design both in relation to one another and in a Danish context. Among other things it also discusses the obligations associated with the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.

The success in introducing principles of universal design in Norway is attributed in part to the focus on life-cycle housing, in part to the Norwegian model of the welfare state, and in part to the tradition of sectoral thinking in Norway. As the report states:

“The Norwegians have been working toward the official objective of a universally designed society for ten years. Key actors have consistently focused their efforts on bringing universal design thinking up to the highest level, and the result is evident in the parallel development of central legislative and building regulatory documents. It is all coming together, and it will be interesting indeed to see the results that emerge from a process that is being viewed with great interest and respect within the international universal design movement.”

The report emphasises the fact that in Norway, universal design efforts are part of an official political objective. It also points out that Norwegian architects define the universal design concept as a professional vision and line of thought.
“As a manifestation of this political quantum leap in user definition and the underlying view of humanity, efforts have been targeted toward awareness campaigns and dissemination activities. In addition to the academically-specific educational programmes there have been national information campaigns designed to increase knowledge and understanding among the general population of the concept of universal design,” the report goes on to state.

Contributors to the report from Norway were Tone Rønnevig, National Office of Building Technology and Administration, Norway; Olav Rand Bringa, formerly Ministry of the Environment, now Ministry of Children and Equality; Jon Christoffersen, SINTEF Byggforsk; and Einar Lund, Ministry of the Environment.