Vancouver Canada bans doorknobs on new buildings ... and it makes sense [View all]

[underpants]

(Newser) – Vancouver is taking the lead in getting rid of something that many people didn't realize was problematic: the lowly doorknob. The city has already replaced knobs with levers—which are much easier for elderly or people with disabilities to operate—in public buildings, and the city's building code will require all new housing to be built with door levers starting in March, reports the Vancouver Sun, which notes that changes made in the city often spread to building codes across the country. Water faucets will have to take the shape of levers, not knobs, as well.

The move is based on the concept of "universal design," which aims to make spaces usable for as many people as possible, a University of British Columbia professor explains. "A really simple version is the cut curbs on every corner," he says. "That helps elderly people, people with visual impairments, moms with strollers.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/11/20/vancouver-bans-doorknobs_n_4309510.html

The city, the only one in Canada that is allowed to set its own building codes, decreed the changes in its Accessible Housing Bylaw in September. As of March 2014, all new buildings built in the city will have to include levers rather than doorknobs.

Vancouver's ban on doorknobs is based around the city's adoption of the concept of universal design, Jeff Lee wrote in The Vancouver Sun this weekend. “The old model was adaptation, or adapted design," Tim Stainton, a professor and director of the School of Social Work at the University of B.C., told Lee. "You took a space and you adapted for use of the person with a disability. What universal design says is let’s turn it around and let’s just build everything so it is as usable by the largest segments of the population as possible.”

You should also consider how many examples of universal design have subtly crept into your everyday life; curb cuts, sidewalk ramps, low-floor buses, even things like closed-captioning for television. In fact, the city's proposals go far beyond simple doorknobs, with things like wider doorways, lower light switches, and higher power outlets. Making things accessible for everyone makes sense to almost everyone.

http://www.businessinsider.com/why-vancouvers-ban-on-doorknobs-makes-sense-2013-11