Edward Steinfeld

University at Buffalo, The State University of New York | SUNY Buffalo · Department of Architecture

The purpose of this study was to assess the safety of interactive stairway designs by comparing the user's behaviour and the incidence of unsafe stair use on two interactive stairways with a stairway made of conventional material. The Stairway Observation Checklist (SOC) for recording observations of stair users was developed. Observations were con...

The concept of “Smart City” has been proposed by governments, the business community, advocacy groups, and research institutions as a means to solve common urban problems and improve the quality of life for citizens. Although a Smart City has the potential to change our cities for the better, it also may unintentionally reinforce existing inequalit...

Design challenges in wheelchair securement for fixed-route, large accessible transit vehicles (LATVs) often create difficulties for passengers who use wheelchairs and operational inefficiencies for public transit agencies. Recent innovations in wheelchair securement technology for LATVs may reduce these challenges. This study explored the usability...

There is a growing understanding of the widespread societal benefits of a universal design (UD). To achieve these benefits, architectural professionals must have the knowledge and skills to implement UD in practice. This paper investigates UD in the context of recent architectural education. It traces changing attitudes in the culture of architectu...

Background: Low ridership of public transit buses among wheeled mobility device users suggests the need to identify vehicle design conditions that are either particularly accommodating or challenging. The objective of this study was to determine the effects of low-floor bus interior seating configuration and passenger load on wheeled mobility devic...

Over 50 million United States citizens (1 in 6 people in the US) have a developmental, acquired, or degenerative disability. The average US citizen can expect to live 20% of his or her life with a disability. Rehabilitation technologies play a major role in improving the quality of life for people with a disability, yet widespread and highly challe...

The emergence of low-floor bus designs and related regulatory standards in the U.S. have resulted in substantial improvements in public transit accessibility. However, passengers using wheeled mobility devices still experience safety concerns and inefficiencies in boarding, disembarking, and interior circulation on low-floor buses. This study inves...

The Tomar Resolution urged that all occupations working in the built environment be educated in the principles and measures of Universal Design in order to facilitate all people playing a full role in society. For Architects and Architectural Technologists, undergraduate education will continue to have a major role to play. At the same time in the...

The research literature on access ramps used in transit vehicles is undermined by inconsistent methodologies used across studies, thus providing an inconclusive evidence base for proposed Federal guidelines that would impose a maximum 1:6 slope for all deployment situations. The current study assessed the usability of ramp slope for mobility aid us...

This paper discusses an evaluation of stairway designs featured in Architectural Record, a leading architectural professional journal, over a thirteen-year publication period (2000 to 2012). Images of stairways were classified as either hazard-free or hazard(s)-present using a hazard identification checklist, and the frequency of visible design haz...

The Tomar Resolution urged that all occupations working in the built environment be educated in the principles and measures of Universal Design in order to facilitate all people playing a full role in society. For Architects and Architectural Technologists, under-graduate education will continue to have a major role to play. At the same time in the...

The social context for stairway design in multi-story buildings is changing. At one time, stairways were viewed primarily as a means of egress in an emergency, and elevators or escalators were the primary method of vertical circulation with the exception of monumental 'feature' stairways. Today, the emphasis is changing to promote the use of stairw...

In the U.S. The technical criteria in a voluntary building standard called ICC/ANSI A117.1. are the basis for minimum building regulations that accommodate wheeled mobility users. Research conducted in 1970's was the basis for these criteria but since that time, wheelchairs and their users have changed considerably. This paper describes a research...

Operator clearance spaces under computer workstations and other work surfaces are necessary to ensure that seated operators have adequate space for their lower extremities in order to use the working surface without any obstruction. In this paper we present operator clearances at workstations designed to accommodate occupants of manual and powered...

Low-floor buses with folding ramp access represent a significant improvement in accessible public transit for passengers with mobility disabilities. However, the safety and usability aspects of the interior design of low-floor buses on blind and visually impaired users has not been studied in much detail. A laboratory study was completed using a st...

Engineers and other designers commonly use specifications to frame a project's objectives and constraints. These are supplemented by standards, codes, and regulations to create the design package. However, typical design practices often inadvertently ignore the usefulness of the product, environment or information system by people for whom the prod...

Age related declines in ability and function are well documented in the literature. Adults over the age of 65 have reduced strength and range of motion (ROM) as compared to the younger population. Aging therefore can lead to difficulties completing tasks of daily living. Older adults cope with excessive physical demands by modifying the way they pe...

Low-floor buses represent a significant improvement in accessible public transit for passengers with limited mobility. However, there is still a need for research on the inclusive design of transit buses to identify specific low-floor bus design conditions that are either particularly accommodating or challenging for passengers with functional and...

Recent research on the anthropometry of wheeled mobility devices and their users (n = 369) indicates that the current dimensions for clear floor area prescribed in U. S. accessibility standards for transportation are inadequate for accommodating many users of wheeled mobility devices, especially those who use power chairs and scooters. The current...

Human Factors and Ergonomics (HFE) research is a key source of evidence for universal design. However, the level of knowledge translation from HFE to universal design practice is low, even though the Principles of Universal Design actually are based on HFE knowledge. Several areas of HFE research on functional performance have direct relevance to u...

This paper reflects on current practices in universal design and how they can be improved to increase adoption of the concept in mainstream design and engineering disciplines. Theory and practice in the diffusion of innovation are used to identify lessons learned in other fields that can be applied to universal design practice. Questions addressed...

The IDeA Center at the University at Buffalo has been developing an anthropometry database of wheeled mobility device users in the U.S. in a multi-year study. The objective of this paper is to demonstrate data visualization tools and methods that are being developed to help inform the design of environments and products. One tool is an interactive...

Space requirements for accommodating wheeled mobility devices and their users in the built environment are key components of standards for accessible design. These requirements typically include dimensions for clear floor areas, maneuvering clearances, seat and knee clearance heights, as well as some reference dimensions on wheeled mobility device...

Current ADA-ABA Accessibility Guidelines characterize functional reach as six discrete scenarios that depict high and low thresholds for permissible reach (1). Findings from anthropometry research measuring the maximum reach abilities of wheeled mobility device users (n=257) during an object moving task are compared with four of these six reach sce...

Current accessibility standards in the U.S. prescribe reach ranges in overly simplistic terms which also do not reflect reach capabilities of today’s population. This work documents the functional reach abilities of wheeled mobility device users in the U.S as part of a large anthropometric research study. More specifically, it describes the maximum...

The ergonomics profession can benefit from adoption of the universal design paradigm. Rather than treat people with differences in abilities and characteristics as special populations, this paradigm views such differences as a universal aspect of human experience. Ergonomics professionals and researchers can play an important role in advancing univ...

Full-scale modeling was used to assess subjective ratings of difficulty for the bathroom environment across four different configurations. Two configurations complied with nationally accepted accessibility standards. One exceeded the standards, representing a "universal design"; the other was representative of a common yet unsupportive design. Part...

Introduction Key Tools Universal Design and Aging Methods The Future of Universal Design Conclusions Acknowledgment References

Since people with disabilities obtained the right to access the built environment, emergency evacuation of people with functional limitations has been an issue in building design and code development activities. Recent events, however, have emphasized that evacuation problems for this group extend beyond building design to include preparedness, the...

Research on the size of wheeled mobility devices in the UK and Canada suggests that the dimensions for “clear floor area” of wheeled mobility devices as specified in U.S. standards are too small. Anthropometric research was conducted to verify that findings in other countries are relevant for the U.S. Findings support increasing the clear floor are...

As conventionally practiced, anthropometry leaves some significant gaps in our knowledge about how people with disabilities interact with their environment. In particular, most environmental design for this group focuses on specific and unique body movements and postures in and around constrained spaces. The data provided by conventional anthropome...

Currently available clinical tools for assessing rehabilitation outcomes do not capture both the effort exerted and assistance required for persons with spinal cord injuries to perform a standing pivot transfer using functional electrical stimulation (FES). This study was undertaken to develop and apply a clinical tool to measure the ability to sta...

An abstract is unavailable. This article is available as HTML full text and PDF.

The objective of this study was to evaluate the reliability of a new structural anthropometric measurement approach designed for those who may not have the capability to hold standardized postures. Forty-eight men and women participated in the study. Two trained researchers collected the anthropometric measurements. Twenty anthropometric dimensions...

The goal of this study was to identify the range of problems faced by frail older people in using private passenger vehicles and to identify how assistive technology and selection of vehicles may reduce those problems. Research activities included a review of existing research, a review of assistive technology for vehicle use, four focus group sess...

Disease or disorder need not be present for an impairment to exist, impairment need not be present for a disability to exist, and disability need not be present for a handicap to exist. The physical environment alone is often sufficient to occasion any of those conditions—impairment, disability, or handicap.

Since the mid-1970s, there has been a growing body of research and practice on accessibility of the environment for people with impairments. Some of the research has found its way into codes, standards, and design guidelines. The norms and recommendations based on this research are used on a daily basis all over the world to make major decisions in...

The chapter describes field research conducted in Buffalo, New York, as part of the Detectable Tactile Surface Treatments Project during 1984 and 1985. The overall project identified and tested the use of walking surface materials as mobility and orientation aids for people with visual impairments. Earlier phases of this effort included laboratory...

TItis volume is the first effort to compile representative work in the emerging research area on the relationship of disability and physical environment since Barrier-Free Environments, edited by Michael Bednar, was published in 1977. Since that time, disability rights legislation like the Americans, with Disabilities Act in the United States, the...

On 24 April 1996, a Special Interest Forum (SIF) was held in Washington DC, on the topic of 'Home Modifications and the Fair Housing Law'. Its purpose was to promote innovation in the design of home modifications and to examine related aspects of the Fair Housing Amendments Act of 1988. The Amendments move toward making housing more accessible and...

Three new instruments were developed that measure the degree to which an environment supports or hinders use by people with disabilities. Reliability and validity of these measures was tested through a series of experiments. The three measures proved to be reliable and valid in terms of both construct validity and cross validity with an established...

This article provides an overview of the major projects of the Rehabilitation Engineering Research Center on Aging (RERC-Aging). The RERC-Aging, housed at the University at Buffalo’s Center for Assistive Technology, addresses research, device development, consumer and professional education, and service-related projects, focusing on the needs of el...

Reporting on results from the University at Buffalo Consumer Assessments Study, this paper examines environmental problems in the homes of elderly persons with disabilities. For the study, 127 persons over the age of 60 were interviewed; all had received, or were currently receiving, services from a senior services agency or hospital rehabilitation...

A CAD program with solid modeling capabilities was used as the primary instructional media for a graduate level architectural design studio. The objective of the studio was to enhance design education by use of the CAD tool. A series of projects were designed to utilize CAD most effectively without sacrificing complexity and depth of educational co...

Argues that researchers should examine both the identity that older people assign to themselves, that assigned to them by others in society, and the interplay between the two. The elderly are at the centre of a series of demographic and social changes in American society, as more people live longer and yet are defined as 'roleless' within the socia...

Research was reviewed and conducted regarding the accessibility of buildings for physically disabled persons. Data was produced regarding anthropometrics (eye level and reach limits for ambulant, semiambulant, and wheelchair bound persons); wheelchair maneuvers; speed and distance (maximum travel distances for people with limitations of stamina); p...

The following report provides a brief analysis of occupied seat heights for wheeled mobility device users in the U.S. The data are based on findings from the Anthropometry of Wheeled Mobility (AWM) Project, and comprises of detailed measurements collected from 495 users of manual wheelchairs, power wheelchairs and scooters. Our analyses show that o...

We propose that citizen science methods can engage riders with disabilities and others in improving public transportation accessibility by documenting and assessing problems and good solutions throughout the system. This will empower riders, resulting in a greater understanding of the transportation system, and improve the feedback loop between rid...

Following is a continuation of the list of titles and authors: Housing Analysis of the Cheyenne and Arapaho of Oklahoma. By Arn Henderson and Richard D. Bauman. Contextual Fittingness of Everyday Activity Encounters. By Omer Akin. Behavioral Evaluation of a Juvenile Treatment Center: Case Study of a Planning Methodology. By Robert R. Hahn. Types of...

Representation can be defined as a process of abstraction and communication. Through some symbolic language, characteristics of a real or hypothetical object or experience are conveyed by one person to another. During the process of design there are two basic uses of representation: internal and external. Internal representation is used by the desi...

In the U.S., the current standards used both in vehicle and building design for accommodating wheeled mobility devices are based on data collected in the mid 1970’s. Due to the increased diversity of devices introduced into the market since that time, and, changes in the size of the U.S. population, new research was initiated to determine if curren...