The Awareness of Universal Design among Facility Managers in the United States and Japan

Abstract:

The progress of aging society requires companies to broaden the range of employment opportunities
to be provided from “traditional” businessmen to more diverse workers including aged people andthose with disabilities.

Meanwhile, many successful companies take workforce diversity as acorporate strategy to survive recent intensive economic competitions. It is one of the important
responsibilities of current facility managers to prepare workplaces that can accommodate the wider
range of diverse workers as much as possible.

The adaptation of universal design will support

workplace diversity from the standpoint of facility management.

Japan Facility Management Promotion Association (JFMA) conducts a series of research regarding
the effectiveness to adapt universal design to the workplace. As a part of its research, JFMA
conducts two surveys regarding the awareness and practices of universal design among facilitymanagers, one in Japan and the other in the United States. This session will present comparative
analysis of these surveys and discuss problems and possible solutions for practices of universal
design in the workplace.

Presentation Format: Lecture

Topic Area: Design/ Collaboration(We missed the category of topic area. Please suggest us the most suitable.)

Learning Objectives: By the end of this session, participants will be able to;1) Learn the state of the awareness and practices regarding universal design among facilitymanagers
2) Comparatively understand the differences and similarities of this issue between the UnitedStates and Japan
3) Have an opportunity to think about problems and possible solutions for practices of universal
design for diverse workers.

Target Audience: Mid-level facility managers

<Primary Presenter>
Yoko Saito, CFM, CFMJ
Ph.D. student in Architecture
Taubman College of Architecture + Urban Planning
The University of Michigan
2568 Stone Rd.
Ann Arbor, MI 48105
USA
Phone: +1-734-764-2073
E-mail: ysaito@umich.edu

Background:Yoko Saito graduated from Waseda University, Tokyo, Japan, with Masters degree of Engineering inArchitecture and Civil Engineering. As a first-class registered architect/building engineer in Japan
andcertified

facility

manager,

she

has

been

engagedinprojectmanagementandprogramming/post-occupancy evaluation for workplace interior design. She is currently dedicating
herself to research focusing on the effectiveness of universal design in the workplace at theUniversity of Michigan.

Reference 1:-

Name: Mr. Dai Sogawa-

Company: Corporate Design Institute-

Phone: +81-3-5820-3541-

Fax: +81-3-5820-3113-

E-mail: soga@universal-design.co.jp-

Location of Presentation: International Conference for Universal Design in Japan 2002,
Yokohama, Japan-

Subject of Presentation: Universal Design and the Workplace: Guidelines on how Universal
Design contributes to Asset Value and Facility Function-

Date of Presentation: December 1, 2002-

Approximate audience size: 50

Reference 2:-

Name: Mr. Hiroyuki Inoue-

Company: Comtec Inc.

-

Phone: +81-3-5419-5555-Fax: +81-3-5419-5561-E-mail: hinoue@ct-net.co.jp-Location of Presentation: Tokyo Business Show, Tokyo, Japan-

Subject of Presentation: Development of Web-based Furniture and Facility ManagementDatabase-

Date of Presentation: April, 2000

-Approximate audience size: 200