Complexity and consultation -: Inclusive design in public transportation projects

The paper examines user engagement during development within large-scale public transport projects. This engagement is directly related to how accessibility and inclusive design are realised. The long design chain of public transport development processes, predominantly outsourced, and the diversity of actors involved present a difficulty in comparison with simpler design processes. Simpler cases are those where the commissioner, designer and implementer are part of the same organisation (as is the case with the Stuttgart metro system, for example) or where the product is relatively simple (consumer goods). The lead times in public transport are long and the feedback from consumer to commissioner must follow a longer path than in conventional product design. User-engagement can be hard to maintain and to follow up in public transport design. The paper’s finding is that special problems arise because public transport is composed of a greater range of designed elements in a process dispersed spatially and over time. To resolve these problems, inclusive design processes must be adapted to function within an environment with multiple parameters operating at several levels.