Cities for aged and disabled also be designed

Help Age India has written to Prme Minister Narendra Modi seeking the need to create or design cities for aged and disabled persons, on the line of Smart City, its CEO, Mathew Cherian said today.
Chairing a sesson on "How Universal Design can improve quality of life for the underprivileged sections of society in India," on the inaugural day of two-day conference +Universal Design and Development,+ here, Cherian said that majority of the designers and architects were designing and creating projects keeping in mind the 'normal and affluent' people of the society.
Immediately after the announcement by the Government of creation 100 Smart Cities across India, Help Age India had writtern a letter to prime minister on the need for such cities for aged and disabled persons, and not only for smart people.

Similarly, in tune with universal design, the finance minister has allocated Rs 300 crore in the budget for assisted devices for the benefit of such persons, he said adding.
That there was the need for p roducts, which were really meant for elderly and specially challenged people.
Stressing for an inclusive design, Prof Jim Sandhu, Prof Emeritus, Northumbria University, UK, said that this meant designing, developing and marketing mainstream products, service systems and environments to be usable by the broadest range of users.
The conference is jointly being organised by D J Academy of Design here, and British Council of India, where 200 delegates and a few speakers from abroad are participating.

The idea of Universal Design, although nascent in India, has been practiced globally for many years and strong powerful forward thinking economies which have democratic laws and equality for all the citizens have embraced Universal Design in a big way, Sanjay Jayavarthanavelu, Chairman, Governing Council of the Academy said.