Right from the start - methods for coocreating universal design

Important results from the project

The project has met both aim and overall objective; to put universal design into practice, where the users of the areas being designed are included in the process already in the planning stage. In the project, Östersund municipality, Mid Sweden University and Parasport Sveriges work together to plan and implement new and extensions according to the principle of universal design, with the following objectives: Develop a collaboration model for implementing the principle of universal design in practice at municipal level.000XBRX

Expected long term effects

The result of the project is a collaboration model that we have chosen to call DEMA - Participation method for usability. This is now in the municipality´s Technical Handbook and will be used in future investment projects for which the Culture and Leisure Administration is responsible. The long-term goal will be better accessibility to facilities and arenas for all citizens in the municipality.

Approach and implementation

The project has worked based on the plan that was developed in the project application. Unfortunately, Covid-19 has meant that parts of the project had to be carried out digitally, which was not optimal for the group of reference persons who were involved in the project. The plan also included a link to planned investments in the municipality. For reasons of economy, several of these were de-prioritized, which led to the work in the project having to be revised along the way. One experience is that there can be a risk in linking project to line operations, which then change.