Perspective from Germany

There are many differences between the worlds of the young and old, the healthy and the ill, of people with and without disabilities and last but not least the people with different culture backgrounds. One topic in the field of design, however, forms the basis of what they all have in common: well-designed products, properly planned architecture and services designed to meet specific needs.

The significance of the tasks described with the words universal design has not yet been sufficiently commu­nicated for the general public to truly understand and see what it is all about. It has not yet touched many different areas of society. universal design is the Nº 1 challenge to the field of design for the next decades! Germany has a long history of developing and evalu-ating products, architecture and services in the light of their demographic impact. There is much more that still needs to be done to transform this potential into future-proof, commercially viable and results-oriented strategies.

Fundament of universal design in Germany

The signatories of the Weimar Declaration* hereby state that:

• universal design places the main focus on people.
• universal design is not only a design topic.
• universal design is an interdisciplinary task.
• universal design is open to all users.
• universal design creates service systems.
• universal design is a process, not a standard.
• universal design promotes social inclusion.
• universal design deals with questions concerning the future.
• universal design is a mindset and a responsibility.
• universal design must be firmly anchored in the education system, early and continually.universal design undertakes to enlighten the worlds of politics and industry.
• universal design secures and promotes economic growth.

* The Weimar declaration was verbalized by 85 universal design experts as a central result of the 1st national universal design conference at the Bauhaus University Weimar in November 2009 (during the celebration year "90 years Bauhaus")