This book is a collection of papers from the Seventh International Conference on Universal Design, UD2024, organized by the Norwegian Directorate for Children, Youth, and Family Affairs (Bufdir) on behalf of the Norwegian Ministry of Culture and Equality.

The UD conference series is one of the largest and most cross-disciplinary conferences on universal design. Past events have been held in a number of European countries: UD2012 (Oslo, Norway), UD2014 (Lund, Sweden), UD2016 (York, UK), UDHEIT2018 (Dublin, Ireland), UD2021 (Helsinki, Finland), and UD2022 (Brescia, Italy).

The United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD) emphasises the concept of “universal design”. This concept is central to the convention’s goal of ensuring social inclusion for persons with disabilities. Organisations, such as the European Disability Forum (EDF), advocate using the term universal design to align with the UNCRPD.

Universal design, inclusive design, design for all, innovation for all, and accessibility are concepts aimed at making products, environments, and services usable and accessible for diverse users, regardless of ability, age, or background. While these terms imply common goals, they each offer distinct approaches to creating inclusive solutions. Additional approaches, such as barrier-free design, user-sensitive inclusive design, countering design exclusion, ability-based design, and universal usability, provide further insights into designing for diverse user groups.

Although the conference uses the term universal design, it welcomes researchers and practitioners from the various disciplines designing for diverse user groups in the hope that this will result in a wider spectrum of viewpoints, and will help to unite our forces to advance the field.

Through keynotes, academic paper, practical project and poster presentations, workshops, field trips, panels, and knowledge exchange, the conference aims to highlight best practice, disseminate recent research, and foster collaboration across sectors, disciplines, and nations to further advance universal design. By integrating knowledge and perspectives from users, practitioners, researchers, experts and policy makers, the goal is to provide designers and innovators with insights which will help them to create products, environments, and services that are accessible, usable, and beneficial to all individuals, regardless of their abilities or backgrounds.

The papers in this collection have undergone a thorough review process, detailed below. Topics covered include product and service design, systems development within both the private and public sectors, and various disciplines. The collection illustrates a continuation of the development and research within areas like theory, policy approaches, standards, co-creation, user involvement, community engagement, design methods and tools. There are also papers about universal design in education, architecture, the built environment, urban planning, navigation, and transport. Key themes attracting more attention include: measuring the costs and benefits of universal design, universal design dilemmas, health and wellbeing, tourism and cultural heritage, and emerging technologies like virtual and extended reality, as well as artificial intelligence.

The conference proceedings are accompanied by a conference compendium containing extended abstracts which describe practical presentations and work not selected for inclusion in these proceedings. We hope that both collections will serve as a valuable resource for users, disability and minority group advocates, policymakers, practitioners, and researchers, facilitating the exchange of ideas, best practice and knowledge, as well as identifying knowledge gaps.

Looking ahead, there are still many open issues within the field; areas needing further research, and emerging areas that require research. Society is facing important challenges that will require a combined effort and mutual understanding in the present and near future, such as climate change and pandemics. How can we address such societal issues in a way that includes everyone? What are the implications of the various solutions proposed for vulnerable groups? Rapid changes in society and the environment, the rise in certain health challenges and the proliferation of new technologies, highlight the need for ongoing dialogue and collaboration, the exchange of experiences, and continued research. We believe that this collection of papers reflects this development to some degree. Understanding people in all their diversity remains crucial, meaning that more research from the perspective of intersectionality is needed, as is addressing the needs of people with allergies, chronic diseases, invisible disabilities, and mental health conditions. As this collection demonstrates, co-design, community engagement, and user involvement continue to be foundational aspects of universal design and similar approaches.

There is also growing recognition of the fact that the concepts and knowledge within universal design are crucial for achieving the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) outlined in Agenda 2030. Consideration of the knowledge already produced, and promoting more research within this field are both essential if we are to ensure good health and well-being and promote quality education, decent working conditions and economic growth, reducing inequalities, and enabling sustainable cities and communities.

Universal design must continue to be promoted within mainstream design and development, and approaches to facilitate this must be explored. We hope that this collection will inspire you, as we continue our work in this challenging and evolving field.

Kristin S. Fuglerud

Juan Carlos Torrado Vidal

Wolfgang Leister