Imogen Howe
Doctor of Philosophy candidate
Architecture
Biography
Imogen Howe is passionate about creating equitable building environments. Currently undertaking doctoral research in inclusive workplace design at the Melbourne School of Design. Her research is focused on understanding physical and psycho-emotional barriers to workplace access and participation for persons with disabilities.
In addition to her PhD research, Imogen is co-director of a small architectural practice focussed on social impact and equitable inclusive design.
Her research and practice aim to advance inclusive design to create socially sustainable built environments. She is committed to the creation of buildings and cities which go beyond statutory accessibility requirements to create high-quality, equitable and inclusive places where everyone feels they belong.
Thesis
Designing Workplace Inclusion
About 4.4 million Australians have a disability. Only 48% of those people have a job, and even of those with a job 10% are underemployed. This is well below the Australian average for employment of people without disability which sits at 80% but also below the average employment of people with disability amongst OECD nations. These numbers have remained stagnant in Australia for over a decade.
The built environment directly contributes to the disadvantage of people with disability due to physical exclusion as well as reinforcement of stigmatisation and marginalising attitudes toward persons with disability. Buildings can exclude both overtly and subtly, as behavioural regulators. Some argue this occurs because of assumptions made by building designers and operators due to lack of disability awareness training.
However, there are designers and workplaces that have highlighted this issue and sought to actively overcome processes of exclusion by creating workplaces that are accessible, universally inclusive and have a focus on the health and wellbeing of workers.
This research seeks to understand how effective these approaches have been at combatting exclusion in high-performance workplaces. Are these exemplary designs going far enough to eliminate issues of psycho-emotional discrimination to ensure that people with disabilities are included in office buildings and the future of work?
Contact
Principal supervisor
Co-supervisor
- Ilan Weisel