At Caddis Collaborative, we are keenly interested in the actively evolving field of human-centered design. Whether we’re thinking about what neuroscience teaches us about how design choices affect the human experience of the built environment or whether we’re designing for particular groups of people, we’re curious about what we’re learning and we’re starting to apply these principles to our projects.

From Clare Cooper Marcus and Wendy Sarkissian’s foundational book Housing As If People Mattered: Site Design Guidelines for the Planning of Medium-Density Family Housing to Bill Caplan’s Buildings Are for People: Human Ecological Design, we’ve read and studied widely. We continue to be excited about emerging ideas.

When you’re designing for humans, where do you begin? Finding out what the people in the community are like is a good first step, and designing to their experience is the next good step. If they have different abilities, for whatever reason, then those differences should inform the design. If they have experienced past trauma, then strategies for helping them navigate that trauma and thrive despite that trauma should inform the design. If they’re three feet tall and six years old, that should inform the design.

The built environment – housing, public buildings, and the grounds on which housing and public buildings are situated – can all be designed to support these groups of people. Doing so allows us to open up what’s possible in their narrative by starting with what they experience and who they are as human beings. Thus, rather than being constrained by their differences or their perceived challenges, they can instead live in an environment that supports their thriving. The goal, says the Colorado Housing and Finance Authority, is to allow everyone to lead a person-centered life in which they “can direct their own lives and access various tools as needed to reach their life goals.”

What results when we design thoughtfully for particular populations is that this intentional design benefits everyone in the community. In this way, human-centered and inclusive design meets john a. powell’s theory of “targeted universalism.” According to powell, a professor of law at the University of California-Berkeley, “targeted universalism sets universal goals for the general population that are accomplished through targeted approaches based on the needs of different groups…. Targeted universal policies deepen our sense of belonging by working toward a shared goal while also offering a deeper understanding of equity by calling attention to how people are situated differently.” Our universal goal is a built environment that promotes belonging, social cohesion, and human connectedness.

We are keenly aware of the need for such connectedness given the recent health advisory from the U.S. Surgeon General, Vivek Murthy. The advisory calls attention to the nation’s “epidemic of loneliness and isolation,” an epidemic that he says “has been an underappreciated public health crisis that has harmed individual and societal health.” The Surgeon General says:

Our relationships are a source of healing and well-being hiding in plain sight – one that can help us live healthier, more fulfilled, and more productive lives. . . . We must prioritize building social connection the same way we have prioritized other critical public health issues such as tobacco, obesity, and substance use disorders. Together, we can build a country that’s healthier, more resilient, less lonely, and more connected.

Importantly, the advisory identifies housing and the built environment as areas we can change to combat loneliness and increase social connection. We see these principles emerging throughout the field. Mark Lakeman’s video on how to “turn your neighborhood into a village” is a great example, and we are heartened by the good work going on at nonprofits around the country, including Healthy Places by Design. In our own work, we designed Silver Sage Village with particular attention to the need for social connection in a senior cohousing community.

In this series on human-centered design, we offer four areas in which we’re thinking about design that works for everyone:

• “Neuroscience and Architecture: What Science Teaches Us about Designing Buildings for Mental Health and Well-Being”
• “Designing for Adults with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities”
• “Ideas at Play: How Adults Can Design for Children”
• “Trauma-Informed Design: Inclusive Buildings for All”

Using good universal design and learning from the intended community allows us to create approaches that work for everyone. Targeted universalism works.

We’re excited to work toward what could be and to push the context forward to a more inclusive, belonging way of being and living. Activist and author Courtney Martin says, “Our charge is not to ‘save the world,’ after all; it is to live in it, flawed and fierce, loving and humble.” We couldn’t agree more – and design that works for everyone is a great step forward to living in this world.