Co-designing Software and Co-building Inclusive Territories: Experimentation on a Campus as a Decisive Space for Empowerment

Abstract

The mobilization of all expertises (scientists, IT developers, users with various profiles) and the co-design of a digital application on the “Cité Scientifique” campus (University of Lille) aims at the co-construction of an innovative digital tool for datavisualization and interactive mapping as a vector for optimizing spaces, mobility, equality, and inclusion of all populations. The design process, like the ITC tool itself, must increase and combine the skills of groups as individuals, and improve their interactions with spaces. The final goal is to allow the dissemination of the tool within civil society with a constantly increasing demand and users awaiting solutions. GEVU (Global Evaluation and Visualization of Uses) is a multimodal assistive ICT device to empower people. It is the outcome of a new participatory method with end users. Everybody, especially people with sensory, cognitive, motor, balance and spatial impairments, can use the software. The specifications allow to: generate an «Accessibility Performance Audit» in a guided and simplified way according to the four major types of impairments (visual, motor, mental and auditory); map the accessibility levels and barriers; find technical solutions and evaluate the costs of the installations and prioritize the actions to be carried out in the short, medium and long term; generate accessibility reports in relation to legal and usage indices.