Transcript:

Creating the Best IDEA:

Matteo Zallio’s Tools for ‘Inclusion, Diversity, Equity & Accessibility’

Guest: Matteo Zallio

Music / Open

Janet: In this series we will be discussing specific examples of design techniques that make a positive difference for people living with certain human conditions.

Carolyn: The more a designer understands the client and or the community the more effective and respectful the design will be.

(Music up, then lower)

Music / Intro

Janet: Welcome to Inclusive Designers Podcast, I am your host, Janet Roche…

Carolyn: and I am your moderator, Carolyn Robbins…

Janet: Carolyn, we have such a wonderful show today! But first, I’ve got to tell you some big news, ‘Feedspot’ has put us on their list of “The 70 Best Design Podcasts on the Internet”—pretty cool, right?

Carolyn: Very cool. Woohoo us!

Janet: Woohoo us, exactly… and to keep us on that list, we must get to our next guest. Dr Matteo Zallio from Cambridge University. He has done a lot of research on how the built environment influences our perception of a space, our behavior, our interaction with other people and ultimately, our mood and happiness.

He and his team have created some wonderful tools to help designers and architects add Diversity, Equity & Inclusion—or as we call it DEI— in their designs. They named it the ‘IDEAs Toolkit’ which stands for Inclusion, Diversity, Equity, and Accessibility.

Carolyn: Yes, and not only is Matteo Zallio one smart cookie, but he’s our first international guest!

Janet: Our podcast is being heard far and wide, and with that in mind, I think our next season may be even more globally focused.

Carolyn: So true, and a good hint at some interesting future shows we are working on… but first, let’s take a closer look at Matteo, his background and what makes him so impressive…

Dr. Matteo Zallio is a senior research associate at the University of Cambridge, and previously a Fulbright fellow at Stanford University. He is an award-winning designer and researcher with a unique background in helping businesses to develop futuristic technologies that are inclusive by considering human diversity. In his own words, he is on a mission to make everyday spaces and technologies accessible and inclusive for everybody.

Janet: Matteo will introduce us to ways to use the tools they created to help find the best design solutions. And we even take a little side trip into the future to discuss what’s coming in the Metaverse!

Carolyn: And unlike the Marvel heroes, we may already have some super-powers to make the technology more inclusive right from the start!

Janet: Actually Carolyn, the Marvel multiverse may be fictional, but the Metaverse is very real and coming sooner that we think. But we’ll let Matteo tell us about this and many other important insights in his own words.

Carolyn: And with that, here is our interview with Dr. Matteo Zallio… Designer, Scholar, Product Creator, and Inclusive Design Activist.

Music / Interview

Janet: Hi and welcome Matteo. How are you?

Matteo: I’m great Janet. I’m great. It’s great to be here with you.

Janet: And where are you right now? I know you travel all over Europe. Where are you stationed at the moment?

Matteo: Great question. Well, I’ve been traveling prior to COVID a lot. I was in America and around Europe, but now I’m based in Cambridge in England. So I’m currently here.

Janet: Very nice. It’s a beautiful area. So let’s kind of dive right on into it. Let’s start with the broader perspective. What exactly got you involved with inclusive designing and what brings your passion to the table?

Matteo: Well, it might be a long story, but I’ll try to keep it short. (J: laughs). Because you know, I learned about inclusive design, universal design, and accessible design shortly after my master’s degree in architecture, back in Italy. When I was working as an architect in different offices, and I was consulting for some companies. And I understood that, as an architect, I haven’t been clearly understand the concepts of inclusion and accessibility when I was studying.

And with the practice, I understood that there is much more than only just guidelines and regulations. And so, I got more interested into exploring a more people-centric perspective rather than a more technological or, or kind of self-centric perspective of making a beautiful architecture. But I wanted to make beautiful, accessible, and inclusive architectures and products.

So yeah, everything started at that moment. And then, I got a chance to get enrolled into a PhD where I actually started and I did research around that topic, and it’s where, brought me up to here today.

Janet: That’s great. Well, was there also like a particular thing in your life that maybe made you think to go in this particular way, was there like an impetus, was there an ‘aha’ moment? Was there something that you said, ‘this isn’t right, we’ve got to do things a little bit differently’?

Matteo: Well, for sure. I think, the moment when I started seeing my grandma, which, I was very attached to her, you know, getting older and getting more… I would say, with different impairments than the one she had when she was younger.

Well, this made me think that sometimes the house, the home, the place where we live, which is, you know, the nest where we build our family, sometimes can become a prison. And people have the right not to live in a prison, but to live in an environment, in a place, where they feel good, they feel included, and they feel can protect them without safety or security issues.

So, yeah, I think combining that event, those moments with what I was studying, and what I wanted to study in the near future, brought me to be more interested into this topic and to learn really a lot, especially from my trips around the world.

Janet: Right. Okay, my brain just started exploding with