MRelay—Ageing Ableism and Architecture: Part I

Our buildings, interiors and urban landscapes are navigated daily by people with greatly differing access needs—and they often fail many. Our collective awareness of accessibility is increasing, but what do we really mean when we talk about designing inclusive spaces and places? How can we work to overcome ingrained and everyday ableism, from our cultural institutions to our civic spaces and workplaces? Introduce yourself to this line-up of designers, professionals and activists as they talked about the opportunities and pitfalls when working to make our cities more accessible. Hosted by Alan Pert, director of Melbourne School of Design and director of NORD (Northern Office for Research by Design), speakers included Margherita Coppolino, an inclusion officer and president of the National Ethnic Disability Alliance; disability and LGBTIQ rights activist, writer and educator Jax Jacki Brown; Celeste Carnegie, Indigenous STEAM program producer at Museum of Applied Arts & Sciences; Anthony Clarke, director of BLOXAS, a practice for empathic and experimental architecture; Jane Caught of Sibling Architecture, a collaborative practice that works across a range of scales and sectors, always with an emphasis on the civic; and architect, artist and educator Tania Davidge of OoPLA, a practice that draws attention to the spaces we use every day. This event was supported by VicHealth.