Arcause Spotlight Explores Inclusive Urban Design

Arcause Spotlight 3.0 Bengaluru Edition brought together architecture and design students, architects, urban practitioners, faculty members, researchers and professionals for a day of learning and dialogue on accessibility, inclusive design, everyday urban life and heritage.

A key activity focused on accessibility and inclusive design across the Museum of Art & Photography, Cubbon Park and Cubbon Park Metro Station. Participants used observation and metric cards developed by Team Ethos to assess entrances, circulation, seating, tactile pathways, signage, sensory comfort and ease of independent movement.

The reflection session at MAP was facilitated by Rama Krishnamachari from DEOC, where participants discussed the difference between technical accessibility and lived accessibility, along with broader issues of inclusion, empathy and public space.

The Walkable Malleswaram session introduced participants to the neighbourhood’s heritage, community life and pedestrian experience. It highlighted citizen-led efforts to create safer and more accessible footpaths, including the transformation of conservancy service lanes into inclusive pedestrian routes.

Participants also joined a neighbourhood walk and stakeholder roleplay exercise to understand how vendors, elderly citizens, children, workers and pedestrians experience streets differently.

The heritage walk with INTACH Bengaluru took participants through K R Market, where they observed colonial remnants, an underused 1980s market building and the continuing vitality of the historic marketplace. The walk concluded at a historic armoury, where participants explored ideas for adaptive reuse and reflected on how heritage can become part of everyday urban life.