Design for Inclusion. Differences and Similarities between DfA and UD in the Field of Sailing Yacht Design

Abstract

In the last decades, some design methods based on the inclusion's principles have been developed. The most important are: Design for All (DfA), Inclusive Design (ID) and Universal Design (UD). They have been employed in a wide range of sectors, also in the nautical one, and, in particular, in the design development of small sailboats (less than 10 meters long). In this contribution we will show the first result of a Ph.D. research developed in the Architectural Department of Chieti-Pescara (Italy) aiming at defining the design guidelines of an inclusive small sailboat. To obtain this, two of the principal disciplines of “Design for Inclusion” (UD and DfA) have been compared. Thanks to this comparison, a “comparative table” was developed, based on UD Performance Measures and DfA requirements, useful to analyze small sailboats. It will be used in the future phase of the research, in order to understand what are the weaknesses and strengths of the small sailing boat according to “Design for Inclusion” theory. In fact, thanks to this comparative table, it is possible to verify what are the boat elements that satisfy all UD and DfA requirements and what are those to be improved.