Be more human: how we can make better choices every day, about inclusion (and exclusion)

This week, I have been thinking a lot about being human, and "humanity" as a concept that helps me explain to others what matters to me, and how I try to think about solving social problems.

Why design matters

The concept is really simple: design changes people's lives.

The only question is: how aware or (consciously unaware) are designers, builders and (policy)makers of the human impact of what they have made?

By design, I do mean: everything we build, physical or conceptual (like social policy)

• landscapes and buildings
• cups and bottles
• clothing
• job application forms
• taxation policy
• democratic systems

By extension, the more people a design will impact, the more important (in human terms) that design is. (Again, whether or not the designer, builder or maker has given any thought to what the impact will be, for other people.)

Better design for humans: Why regulation matters

We do recognise this, in how we organise and regulate society.

We also recognise that designers and builders are very good at making new things, but they are not necessary good at recognising human impacts.

This is because people are driven to make new things because they are interested in art, or in making money, or in making something they enjoy, or in getting a promotion, or in solving a specific problem...

...but they are not necessarily interested in mapping human impacts of what they have made.

This is why we have regulation - we want to encourage dreamers, designers, builders and makers to do their thing, but government regulations also give us (people as consumers, subjects or objects of designed things) protection and a safety net that reduces the risk that those things will injure or harm us.

For example, here in the UK I can rely on these things:

• The food I buy in a licensed restaurant or shop will not poison me.
• The brakes of the approaching car will work, if I step out into the crosswalk in front of it.
• The angry man across the street probably is not carrying a gun.

We also have to hope that regulators know who we are (as individuals) and have our best interests at heart when they go do their job.

That is something that we can't necessarily rely on in the UK because this is a very big job, regulators are also only human, and we live in a democracy which means that democratic processes* also have something to do with how regulators do their job - what powers they have, how they are appointed and what they are told to focus on.

*Democracies are good for lots of reasons, but they are not generally good at protecting minorities or people who are marginalised and disenfranchised (meaning they do not, or cannot vote).

Better design for humans: Why user experience matters

We don't have to wait for state intervention, of course, we can also DIY better design by being thoughtful about involving a wide range of people in the design and testing process of the things we build.

This is, of course, more costly and requires the designer and maker to actually value and prioritise doing things this way.

So, when someone tells you they have made something great, you could help make that design better, by asking: great for what? Great for who?

And we can also ask government to be better at universal design of universal services.

That is the aim of modern accountability mechanisms like the Public Sector Equality Duty, which requires Scottish public authorities to assess the equality impact of policies and decisions that they make (for humans) - as well as a driver for accountability bodies like the First Minister's National Advisory Council on Women and Girls to continue to press for recognition of the gender impacts of government policymaking and for disabled people's organisations (DPOs) like Inclusion Scotland and Glasgow Disability Alliance to continue to press for disabled people to be designers and builders in all places that affect them.

🚌 Making better choices: Putting people first in universal public services

Here's something I saw in Manchester yesterday, and that I loved:

A Manchester city centre free bus stopped to let me cross the road. I wasn't at a crosswalk (although I should have been). The driver didn't have to stop; he just did it. He waved me on, and smiled.

I'd like to think that the driver knows he delivers a public service, and his job is to think of and help everyone he comes across, in his day. He doesn't collect money. He doesn't check people's ID to determine their eligibility to get on the bus: their age, or whether they live in Manchester or are just visiting, or whether they are migrant. He just lets people on and off the bus.

This is pretty cool, and it reduces barriers for LOTS of people. But more importantly, it can be used by anyone at all, regardless of whether or not they need to use it. This is a freedom-expanding and life-expanding universal public service for humans.

Like libraries. And public schools. And city parks and national parks.

More like this, please 🚌🚌🚌

Thanks so much for reading again this week, and I'd love to hear your thoughts on places where we get this right, and places where there is so much more to do!

I'm doing some thinking and writing on this topic this week - universal public services and universal design - so really welcome feedback, because I really believe that no individual human can (or should) be the sole architect of anything that has to do with all of us! 🫶🏽