Contribution of Built Environment on Inclusive Urban Design: with Special Reference to Selected Transport Related Public Spaces in Galle, Sri Lanka

Abstract

Designing architectural spaces is thought to contribute to social inclusion, eventually satisfying all components of the society. The building and space characteristics have a powerful impact on the quality on peoples ‘lives. It's all about the choices the planners, developers or architects make. And those choices can either encourage or restrict people's well-being. With parallel technological innovations to these built environment and sociological research, many characteristics have been added to the built environment that empowers availability, security and feeling of belonging. This scenario is also apparent in developing nations as the bulk of the population belongs to the poor and low-income groups. Furthermore, the suggestions for growth are always subject to other factors such as policy, financial factors and profit. With regard to all these problems, there have been numerous summits and conferences on maintaining social inclusion, achieving general sustainability. Among them, the Sustainable Development Goals 11 is one of the most prominent in the process of transforming towns into more livable urban buildings and also highlights social inclusiveness as a major need. The whole research aims to promote social inclusion and defeat the present exclusivity. Social exclusivity leads to arise in social inequity, which is today's primary social problem. In overcrowded government areas such as the Galle bus stand and the Galle railway station, these problems are very evident. The objectives of this study are to, identifying the probability of exclusive design to create social inequality, understanding and defining the Social Inclusion as a concept, and then identify the potentials of inclusive design on overcoming social issues.