Search

Globally, designing cities to meet diverse community needs and improve well-being is becoming increasingly essential and challenging. At the foremost of this challenge is inclusive design (ID), which considers all individuals, is a key aspect, coinciding with a growing focus on public open spaces (POS), particularly after the outbreak of COVID-19. The pandemic and its aftermath led people to use POS to fulfill physical and recreational activities, revealing a lack of ID understanding for diverse abilities. Thus, there is a need to consider different design aspects of POS such as ease of accessibility, inclusiveness, and social interaction to maintain a wellbeing-oriented City design. From the previous, this paper aims to understand ID in POS and address design aspects in order to make cities more resilient under the mandate of Goal 11 of the sustainable development goals (SDGs). The paper follows three main phases: theoretical, identifying the research problem and framework; analytical, reviewing existing literature on universal and inclusive design (UID) strategies in POS; and empirical, analyzing a disability-friendly public beach in Alexandria as a case. The aim is to bridge the gap between design and user needs, proposing strategies and recommendations for future urban interventions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]