Life in the Unit(s?)

April 2005

The term "unit" took on a whole new meaning this month in the journey of The Ample Traveler©. Two of us moved into a condo in Mesa, Arizona. We still have the RV and we still have plans to travel, but for the moment we are grounded and are establishing a home base from which we will launch the next phase of our project.

Our New Backyard: The Condo Balcony

The condo is, of course, much larger than the RV. Two of us, plus the cat, moving out of the RV has made the RV seem larger as well. The space is welcomed.

Our New Frontyard: The Courtyard

It is incredible how much human behavior is driven by spatial considerations. Part of what we promote in this project is exactly that - space matters and space interacts with social factors.

Oh, yeah, the amenities On one hand, making more space for us has made our social lives (including our relationships with each other) easier. Tight spaces create social tensions. On the other hand, many spaces are designed because of social factors. How an engineer or an architect envisions human beings affects what he or she builds. That envisioning cannot help but be influenced by the stereotypes, prejudices and assumptions we are taught in our social lives. We take much for granted in our relationships, including what is "human" and what is not.

Universal Design is a challenge to the spatial designers of the world to broaden their vision of what is a human being. Humans have much greater variety than one might think when watching television or reading books. Many humans are ignored.

If we really want to make room for everyone, then we need space. That has been on the lessons we have learned on the road.

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