Creating a More Equitable World through Inclusive Design

Discover the transformative impact of inclusive design with our special guest, Matteo Zallio, an inclusive design activist.  Join us as Matteo unveils the significant gap in clients' awareness and perceived value of inclusive design that often stands in the way of its adoption in the building industry.

You'll learn about the barriers that prevent inclusive design from taking root and find out how empathy and compassion can drive a better understanding of diverse needs. Matteo also introduces the Inclusive Design Canvas, a tool that helps designers integrate these principles into their work, paving the way for more equitable and accessible environments.

You can download the Inclusive Design Canvas from the University of Cambridge website.

If you want to build a more inclusive workplace that you can be proud of please visit our website to learn more.

Transcript

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Speaker 1: Welcome to the Inclusive Growth Show with Toby Mildon, future-proofing your business by creating a diverse workplace.

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Toby Mildon: Hey there. Thank you ever so much for tuning into this episode of the Inclusive Growth Podcast. I am Toby Mildon, and today I'm joined by Matteo. And Matteo is an inclusive design activist. He works in the world of academia, and he also does lots of work with businesses in bringing inclusive design to us so that we create great inclusive environments for everyone. So, Matteo, it's lovely to see you. Thanks for joining us today.

Matteo Zallio: Thank you so much, Toby. It's great to be here today, and I'm super excited to have this conversation with you.

Toby Mildon: Brilliant. Now, Matteo, would you mind introducing yourself a bit more and the work that you do as an inclusive design activist? 

Matteo Zallio: For sure, Toby, thank you for the question. And, well, in short, as you said, I'm an inclusive design activist, 'cause I'm really passionate about making technology and products and environments accessible to everyone. Now it sounds like a very difficult task, but whether it's helping teams to design inclusive, physical, or virtual reality experiences, so buildings or hybrid working experiences, or creating user-friendly digital tools, my goal is really to ensure that people of all backgrounds, culture, abilities, can benefit from the latest innovations to make their life a little bit better and a little bit easier. My background is in architecture. I worked as an architect and then later on I started doing more research in academia and in industry. And then I love also to share back, to teach, to mentor, to really bring the message of inclusive design to as many people as possible.

Matteo Zallio: And so throughout the years, I really had a lot of opportunities to live and work in different countries across Europe and the States, work on some really cool projects. I founded some startups, more recently the Metavethics Institute, which is a non-for-profit that really deals with the inclusion and ethical challenges of virtual reality and augmented reality environments. And I work for different companies and academic institutions such as Stanford and the University of Cambridge. And ultimately, throughout my journey I understood that inclusively-designed environments and products are not just a nice to have, but are really essential for creating a better, more equitable future for all. So, that's a little story about me.

Toby Mildon: Brilliant. And why do you think that there isn't a stronger demand for creating more inclusive and accessible buildings or built environment? 

Matteo Zallio: Well, this is a very interesting question because for years there has been assumptions on why we're not making enough inclusive and accessible buildings. And so at Cambridge, the research that I have done in the past few years, really shine the light on these challenges that influence how architects, how designers, how engineers, how creative people tend to design or maybe non-design inclusive and accessible buildings. So we discovered that around 10% of the survey respondents of a large-scale survey that we shared from the University of Cambridge, well, only 10% of them reported that building owners are well-informed about the benefits of designing inclusively. And also we found that more than seven out of 10 building industry professionals think that clients and building owners, don't perceive the value of inclusive design. So, this survey was really instrumental to understand the correlation between the scarcity of client's awareness of inclusive design with the lack of perceived value of inclusive design.

Matteo Zallio: So what that means, well, it means that basically the fact that people don't know about how valuable is to design for inclusion and for accessibility, it doesn't let them to understand how valuable and also how powerful an inclusively-designed building can be, not just for people with physical or sensory or cognitive disabilities, but really for everyone. So we found that as a result of this kind of biased perception, the scarcity of client's awareness, and project owner's awareness, can become the dominant driver of the insufficiency of clients request for a more inclusively designed buildings, facilities, workplaces, schools, museums and everything.

Toby Mildon: How could people make sure that they're designing spaces and products that are more inclusive and consider all aspects of human beings? 

Matteo Zallio: Well, Toby, this is a really challenging question, and I would say, there is no right or wrong answer here, but let's imagine that you don't have anyone in your circle of friends with enough knowledge of inclusive design or accessibility or designing for accessibility. Sometimes it's important that people really understand the value of designing for inclusion and designing for accessibility, through empathy and compassion. So basically, you understand about the value of what you do, the value of designing more inclusive spaces, because you actually have a firsthand experience, you really are understanding how a non-inclusive space can really impact the use, the comfort, the well-being of people that are actually using that space. So, through our research we have created a series of tools that goes beyond meeting basic accessibility standards. Ultimately these tools really are about allowing designers, architects, engineers, creators, but also general contractors or facility managers, so everyone, to understand and to have empathy about the diverse needs and experiences of all individuals. Ultimately, because it's not about what 1, 2, 3, or a group of people can share with you when you have a project brief or when you have a meeting or when you're running a session with them.

Matteo Zallio: It's not about only a few people's needs, but it is trying to map out the wide variety of needs that a wide variety of people might have. So at the core of this approach, there is the recognition that each person has a unique story, a set of capabilities, desires, and the life journey. And there is an opportunity for designers to tap into their empathy, to put themselves in the shoes of those that they are designing for. Ultimately, because they have to truly understand the perspectives of potentially every single occupant of these buildings, either physical or digital or virtual, something I've been working as well a lot on these more virtual environments. An example is using templates such as the Inclusive Design Canvas, to really infuse these principles of empathy and compassion to the design process. The Inclusive Design Canvas is a tool that we have created at the University of Cambridge to support designers to prompt how to consider diverse users, and diverse user journeys and capabilities and needs to foster a more holistic approach to design.

Matteo Zallio: So it's about asking the right questions, mapping them out, and by using the canvas, have all of these inputs laid out in a way that can really help to create a design process that is more inclusive and more seamless. On the other hand, there is also an opportunity to assess and understand how good our design is, how inclusive it is, how comfortable it is, how it caters for well-being. And so in that end, we developed another tool to help designers and facility managers and building owners, to really assess how good the design is and to identify what are the pockets, what are the points of exclusion that actually can be used as a catalyst, as an opportunity to make the design better. So these are just some of the tools that we have developed. But out there, there are... There is a variety of tools that can be used, but I think the focus is really on creating a sense of empathy, so then people can put themself into the shoes of those they are designing for.

Toby Mildon: Yeah. I really like your use of empathy here because it is about understanding the experience of the built environment from somebody else's perspective. And the podcast episodes that we've done around inclusive leadership, empathy is one of those key traits that comes out as being critical to being an inclusive manager or an inclusive leader within the organisation. So it is really important. And you've mentioned the canvas that you've created at the University of Cambridge. First of all, how could somebody get access to that canvas? Is it publicly available? And then secondly, what are some of your favourite tools or resources that you would recommend that could support somebody in inclusive design? 

Matteo Zallio: Absolutely. Yeah, the Inclusive Design Canvas is available on our website at the Inclusive Design Group from the Engineering Design Centre at the University of Cambridge website. You can download it for free. It's a PDF, or it can be used on one of the online collaboration tools where you can brainstorm with Post-its, everything that you are doing or designing for. So yeah, you can download either a PDF, print it and stick it on your wall and start running sessions with your team or with your customers, or you can just use the online collaboration tools. I think, in terms of resources and tools, there are many available out there, and it's really about what is the use and what is the goal that you want to achieve by using these tools. And I wanna give an example because, sometimes post occupancy, it's really something that is considered to be truly useful and purposely needed to assess how a building performs. But sometimes tools like surveys or assessments that are commonly used to gauge employee satisfaction, for example, or running co-design workshops or interviews or observation can be really, truly important.

Matteo Zallio: But it's hard to measure the social return on investment of inclusive design by using just some of these tools or some of these resources. And so, in order to be better at that and really promote inclusive design because we can actually measure the social return on investment, which is really hard, we have done a lot of research to understand what are the metrics, what is the correlation between what we do to make a building more inclusive, and what is the social return on investment for the people, for the employees, for the company, and for the project owners, for example. So, to do that we have created, as I mentioned before, another tool that is really about measuring and assessing the social return on investment, because we can understand how good and inclusive our building, our office, our museum, or our school or our hospital is. So it's really the idea tool that we have at the University of Cambridge, is a foundational model that helps teams to collect attitudinal data on the perception that people have of inclusion, of diversity, of equity, of accessibility, in a specific workplace.

Matteo Zallio: So basically with this tool, there is really an opportunity to finally understand, hey, we can measure the perception that every single individual has about inclusion, but also have more holistic views of how good and how good the building is, and how the return on investment on what we created, what we did, what we designed, has been successful and has been actually positive for our company or our organisation. So, again, there are multiple tools. What we did was really focusing on creating tools to support the design phase, but also support the understanding phase, understanding what we did and how we did with our designs. And, again, I think that by fostering a more inclusive and equitable workplace or building or facility, ultimately we can increase the sense of happiness, the sense of satisfaction, and ultimately, as you mentioned before, managers can also have a better return on their investment because they can improve, have people to improve productivity and reduce turnover rates. And so, ultimately they can also enhance their brand reputation. So that's about it. Yeah.

Toby Mildon: That's really cool. And it's probably a perfect segue into my next question, which is, what does inclusive growth mean to you? 

Matteo Zallio: Well, inclusive growth, this brings back to me to something we spoke earlier on at the start of this podcast, when we mentioned about making workplaces inclusive and accessible, that guarantee principles of equity and diversity for all. I think inclusive growth is, to me means creating a world where everyone has equal opportunities to participate, to contribute, and to thrive. And just think for a moment about how this hybrid working pattern that grew exponentially since the pandemic is really leading to not equal opportunities for a lot of employees. If you are working in the office and you're with your team, you can have different opportunities to talk to some people or maybe to share your ideas with a manager, versus a person that is working remotely and is just taking part to the meetings online. So basically, there can be a bias towards those people that can work in-person in the office versus people who are just having opportunities to join meetings online. This is a question that we have to raise because while we wanna make sure that people have equal opportunities to participate and contribute to the work they do by being at home or by being in the office.

Matteo Zallio: On the other hand, we have to make sure that who is in the office doesn't have a specific advantage against somebody that is not able, or have the opportunity to go to the office. So I think it's really about breaking down some barriers and ensuring that no one is left behind regardless of their background or abilities or circumstances as well. So I think inclusive growth is about making sure that there is social cohesion. And for example, talking about workplaces, either you are in the office or either you're at home, you have both opportunities that are equal to be represented, to have opportunities to grow, to flourish, to go ahead with your career by leveraging, one, the opportunities to work from home and maybe care about your family or everything else that you have to do at home, but also make sure that you can enjoy the time in-person with your colleagues and feel valued, respected, and empowered to reach your full potential. I think inclusive growth is really about creating these equal opportunities both in the physical world as well as in the virtual or hybrid world where we currently live.

Toby Mildon: Yeah. And we're seeing the merging of the physical and the virtual, aren't we, as well through augmented reality, virtual reality, and there will come a day when we have implants as well to help us interact with the physical environment as well, I imagine. Thanks ever so much for sharing all of your insights today. If the person listening to us right now wants to contact you, maybe continue the conversation offline and perhaps they want to access the resources or the toolkits that you mentioned, what's the best way of them doing that? 

Matteo Zallio: Well, if you're inspired by this conversation today and you wanna learn more about inclusive design, how to make workplaces and buildings more inclusive, but also how you wanna think about virtual or hybrid workplaces and environments, well, you can look for me on LinkedIn, Matteo Zallio, or you can check my website matteozallio.com or the University of Cambridge website as well, so you can find resources, articles, academic papers, and case studies to delve deeper into the topic.

Toby Mildon: Brilliant. And I'll just spell your website out. So it's M-A-T-T-E-O-Z-A-L-L-I-O.com, if you want to reach out to Matteo through his website.

Matteo Zallio: Thank you, Toby. It was great to talk to you today and with all the listeners, and I'm really hoping we can work together towards creating more inclusive and equitable places and products and services, and in general, a more equitable world for all.

Toby Mildon: Brilliant. Thanks. Yeah, we're definitely on the same mission, so I look forward to collaborating with you a bit on that further. And thank you for tuning into this episode with Matteo and myself today. Hopefully you've taken away some inspiration about building inclusive environments. If the resources that Matteo has created at the University of Cambridge sound useful for you, please do access it through the University of Cambridge website, which you can... And you can download them for free. I think that's a great free resource that's available to you. And as Matteo says, if you want to continue the conversation offline about inclusive design, creating inclusive built environments and also inclusive digital environments, then please do reach out to him through LinkedIn as well. So, until the next time, thanks ever so much for tuning into this episode, and I look forward to seeing you on the next episode, which will be coming up very soon. Until then, take good care of yourself. Bye-bye.

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Speaker 1: Thank you for listening to the Inclusive Growth Show. For further information and resources from Toby and his team, head on over to our website at mildon.co.uk.

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