Many health care facility owners hold the assumption, that new design and construction offer little to no financial returns. In a recent Cornell study published in Health Environments Research and Design Journal, the opposite of this assumption is proving to be true.
Universal Design (UD) is an approach to design that increases the potential for developing a better quality of life for a wide range of individuals. It is a design process that enables and empowers a diverse population by improving human performance, health and wellness, and social participation (Steinfeld and Maisel, 2012). It creates products, systems, and environments to be as usable as possible by as many people as possible regardless of age, ability or situation.
