Universal Design Blog

From user to citizen: Universal Design, belonging and the legacy of King Harald V The death of King Harald V on 28 August 2026 marks a long period in Norway’s inclusive history. His reign coincided with profound social change. Norway became more diverse, ideas about equality and participation evolved, and Universal Design moved from a relatively specialist concept concerned with accessibility to a principle embedded across legislation, public policy and planning. King Harald did not create Norway’s Universal Design policies, nor was he responsible for their implementation. But looking back following his death, there is an interesting alignment between the direction Norway took through Universal Design and the inclusive understanding of Norwegian society that Harald increasingly articulated during his reign. Both, in different ways, were concerned with a similar question: Who gets to belong in the ordinary life of a society? From accessibility to Universal Design Like many countries, No...

  In August 2025, I attended a workshop in Melbourne called Decolonising Research Methods, led by Dr Bhiamie Williamson from National Indigenous Disaster Resilience (NIDR) at Monash University.  National Indigenous Disaster Resilience - Monash Arts The workshop was mostly attended by academics, but I wasn’t there as a researcher; I was interested in how some of the ideas Bhiamie was exploring might apply to my work in disaster preparedness and community resilience.  One activity in particular has stayed with me. Bhiamie introduced us to the idea of “same but different”. He explained this as a deeply Indigenous understanding, and as a way of exploring positionality. At first it might sound obvious - of course people are both similar and different. But the exercise that followed revealed how much complexity sits inside that simple idea.  Same but Different - a group activity In groups of about 15 people, we were given a large sheet of butcher’s paper and asked to disc...