I agree. It’s confusing and seems like an unrefined idea. I think dignity is supposed to mean that the space naturally makes you feel like you belong there without thinking about it, as opposed to making you feel like a second class citizen or vulnerable. It’s more of an integration of multiple concepts that produces a complex result. I think “design” might be a more concrete concept, to go to my original comment on “the design of every day things.” Essentially the author is advocating for human centered design. Just like doors are better if they’re designed to work without thinking about it, sidewalks are better if they’re designed to work for everyone without them stopping to think about whether it’s safe, or if they’ll be able to easily get where they’re going.
I agree. It’s confusing and seems like an unrefined idea. I think dignity is supposed to mean that the space naturally makes you feel like you belong there without thinking about it, as opposed to making you feel like a second class citizen or vulnerable. It’s more of an integration of multiple concepts that produces a complex result. I think “design” might be a more concrete concept, to go to my original comment on “the design of every day things.” Essentially the author is advocating for human centered design. Just like doors are better if they’re designed to work without thinking about it, sidewalks are better if they’re designed to work for everyone without them stopping to think about whether it’s safe, or if they’ll be able to easily get where they’re going.
It is like they want to take the already existing clearly named concept of pedestrian first design and call it dignity instead.