ADEQUACY OF OGUN STATE BUILDING DEVELOPMENT REGULATORY LEGISLATION IN PROMOTING UNIVERSAL DESIGN PRACTICE IN NIGERIA

Universal design (UD) is a design strategy that targets producing designs that are usable to everyone to the greatest possible extent, without having to result to adaptation or specialised design. The birth of UD in the field of architecture has brought about a paradigm shift from designing for a mystic average, to a more holistic design method that provides for the needs of everyone from the planning and design stage. Some studies have however found that in some societies, people with disabilities (PWDs) are generally marginalised in the development of the built environment as a result of accessibility and usability provisions not suitable for them. To this end, there is a need for building development legislation to have adequate provisions that can guarantee the promotion of UD practice. Consequently, this study investigated the UD related provisions in the building development regulatory legislation in Ogun State, Nigeria and examined their adequacy for promoting UD practice in Nigeria. This was done with a view to finding ways of improving social inclusion of PWDs in the main stream of the society in conformity with best global practice. The study is a document review that adopted qualitative research approaches to gather and analyse data. The result was presented using descriptive approach with the aid of a table for easy understanding. The result indicated that some UD related provisions exist in the development legislation in use in the study area. However, the said provisions were discovered not to be sufficient for the design and development of environments that are fully inclusive in nature as demanded by UD ideology, due to several inadequacies. The adequacy of the development legislation in promoting UD practice is adjudged to be substantially limited. Among the key recommendations of the study is a comprehensive review of the development Regulation to eliminate grey areas identified as possible hinderances that can prevent it from encouraging the promotion of UD practice in Nigeria.