Spreading Universal Design culture: a challenge to rethink more inclusive cities. The role of universities in the “FVG ACCESSIBILE” case study

Considering Goal 11 of the SDG's, making cities inclusive, sustainable, and safe is an important step for sustainable development and for fighting social inequalities. Calling on the entire civil society, to date it can be said that efforts to address this challenge are and will be massive. What approaches and tools should be adopted? What is the role of universities? The paper presents an ongoing experience born out of a mutual confrontation between the disciplines of urban planning and technical architecture, based on the application of Universal Design (UD) in the field of planning policies as a key to achieving truly inclusive design solutions. The paper also highlights the strategic role of the regional research system, represented by the University of Trieste and the University of Udine, in the FVGAccessibile project, an initiative co-designed and co-developed by different actors in the Friuli Venezia Giulia Region. In the general backwardness context in which Italy is still far from achieving more accessible environments for all, the introduction of UD at the core of the implementation of the Regional Law no. 10/2018 on spatial accessibility was a key step in pioneering a process of cultural change.