The International Conferences for UD

Universal Design (UD) is the creation of designs for equipment, buildings, and the immediate living environment that can be used by as many people as possible irrespective of age, gender, race, culture, customs, nationality, or ability.　
The first international conference for Universal Design held in Yokohama in November 2002 was a great success and the participants at that conference issued the International Universal Design Declaration in Japan 2002. This declaration proposed that the creation of social environments which respect and support the dignity of humans be called Universal Design and stated that to realize this, there is an urgent need to establish user-centered systems applicable to all aspects of society. This proposal as it stands became the founding purpose of IAUD, which was established one year later.

More than a year has passed since the outbreak of the new coronavirus, but there is no sign of convergence yet, and it will take four to five years for herd immunity to be acquired through vaccine development and natural infection, according to some experts. However, it is too reluctant and irresponsible to think that there is nothing we can do but to wait.

According to a study at Colombia University in the USA, it is revealed that new coronavirus will become inactivated in terms of contagious trait and toxic effect by a few-minutes-irradiation of ultraviolet radiation with a wavelength of 222mn, which is harmless to human body. Some Japanese companies are now trying to develop this light source. In addition, research reports have shown that the coronavirus will become inactivated after 4 hours of being on the surface of copper and photocatalysts such as titanium oxide have antiviral effects.

At this online international conference, the theme is "Design for the Coronavirus Infection Prevention", and by using innovation and design thinking based on those scientific findings, we will consider measures to actively eradicate the coronavirus that threatens the survival of humankind.

We ask for the wide range of support and cooperation of people from various positions, and for their active participation.