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How did wheelchair users help redesign Berkeley’s street corners?

A curb can be a small edge to one pedestrian and an impassable barrier to another. In his oral history, Hale Zukas describes wheelchair users asking Berkeley to make curbs accessible and contributing a ramp design. The account makes lived experience part of defining the design problem, not just reacting to a finished solution.

3–7 min

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  • What could the people using the route identify that a plan alone might miss?

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Cities and transport

What happens to water before it reaches the tap?

Clear-looking water and drinking water are not necessarily the same thing. In Uisce Éireann's representative surface-water process, clarification, filtration, and disinfection deal with different parts of the treatment problem.

4–5 min
Cities and transport

What do the two parts of an Eircode tell you?

Ireland's seven-character address code combines a routing key with a unique identifier. The operator's public example, A65 F4E2, shows how a shared first part and an individual second part do different jobs.

2–3 min
Cities and transport

How does a canal lock lift a boat without lifting machinery?

A boat inside a lock rises when the water around it rises. By filling or emptying the enclosed chamber, a conventional lock brings the boat to the level of the next stretch of canal. The gates contain the water; they do not hoist the boat.

3–5 min
How did wheelchair users help redesign Berkeley’s street corners? | Speech Topic | speaking.app