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46
Workshop 3
Department of Systems Engineering
Kyoto University, Japan, 1-3 March 2006
Context
Kyoto University was founded in
1897, the second university to be
established in Japan, and educates
the country’s ruling elite. This
workshop was organised by the
Symbiotic Systems Laboratory
in the Department of Systems
Science whose research focus is
the relationships between humans,
artefacts and their environments
and the development of systems
design methodologies. The Lab
collaborated with Tanpopo no Ie
(Dandelion House), a national disability
arts network which also runs
a residential centre with studios in
Nara, the ancient capital of Japan.
Universal design is wellestablished
in Japan as evidenced
by the activities of the International
Association of Universal Design
(IAUD), a 140 member-strong network
of Japan’s leading companies
that is organising the 2nd International
Conference on Universal
Design in Kyoto in October 2006.
Many companies have in-house
universal design divisions and do
extensive user testing and research
to ensure an inclusive product range.
Leading names like Panasonic and
Toyota showcase them in permanent
exhibition spaces in Tokyo.
With the business rationale
based firmly on the demographics
of ageing markets, the challenge
for Japanese manufacturers is to
widen the appeal of universallydesigned
products, which are
commonly viewed as being for
older or disabled people alone.
The aim of both workshops in
Japan was to show how one could
combine ergonomics with mainstream
styling to develop desirable
and inclusive products that would
appeal to a broader spectrum
of consumers.
Participants
Graduate systems engineering
students from Kyoto University;
design, media and social welfare
studies students from other universities
in the Kansai and Chubu