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but as an active part of the society), means to create an important incentive for the
development of society on a universal scale.
Figure 2: The two different disabilities classification approaches. The causal linear model (ICIDH,
WHO 1980) and the activities cyclical model (ICF, WHO 2001).
In a broader context, designing an environment in terms of accessibility means to ensure
to all people the full respect of their rights and contributing, as a direct consequence, to
the development and progress of the society.
From the words of Amedeo Bellini, who states that «we have several difficulties […]
trying to imagine a building which is not made for men, which is preserved in itself, like
and abstraction, and not in order to be used. […] Heritage is not such if it is not usable,
the mere contemplation of it does not belong to architecture» (Bellini 1998), it is
suggested another important concept: the heritage conservation and enhancement are
guaranteed by the material use of architecture by the widest possible number of users,
including all the users with difficulties and with special needs. Examining the request of
accessibility also means to develop the inclusive architecture concept, which can enlarge
as much as possible the number of people who can use buildings and spaces in
complete independence and safety. In this logic the disabled and elderly people are
included «no longer considered as a sector aside, but as part of a whole». (Picone
2005).
The result that architecture has to obtain "for ethical reasons and not only aesthetic
ones, is to study a space that can speak and be fully experienced at several levels, from
the most different conditions of human being" (Michelucci).
