A Holistic Civil Engineering Approach to Accessibility: Addressing Systemic Barriers in the Built Environment

Abstract

Civil engineers have many responsibilities to the public, among them designing safe, efficient, and reliable structures and infrastructure. But what is the responsibility of civil engineers towards ensuring that intended users can use these structures and infrastructure without encountering barriers? This research looks at the intersection of universal design (UD) and civil engineering to find if civil engineering students should learn about accessibility and UD during their undergraduate education and if civil engineering professionals should be held accountable when barriers are designed and constructed into the built environment. To answer these questions a survey was distributed to 222 building design professionals to gather their opinion and experience on the subject. Results show that civil engineers have limited knowledge of UD and accessibility requirements in the built environment and that they overwhelmingly believe that students should learn about these subjects during their civil engineering education. Furthermore, most participants agree that civil engineers do have a responsibility to ensure that the built environment is accessible to everyone. Based on the survey results, it is recommended to integrate a course about accessibility and UD in civil engineering curriculums. The curriculums of undergraduate civil engineering programs at Canadian universities were analyzed and it was found that no course discussing these subjects currently exists, but that there is space to implement them in a broader “social impacts of civil engineering” course. It is recommended that the CEAB recognizes accessibility and UD as useful and necessary subjects of education for civil engineering students. Finally, case studies of recent accessibility assessments of buildings are presented. It was found that while progress is being made in designing and constructing accessible structures, many are still not meeting all possible UD recommendations. The participation of professional civil engineers who have learned about accessibility and UD during their civil engineering education could improve the outcome of these projects. The findings of this thesis indicate that it is time to acknowledge civil engineers’ responsibility towards society and the need for a consistent approach to education about its social impacts, in particular about accessibility and universal design.