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This book considers the interrelationships between disability and housing design with a focus on the role of policy in addressing the housing needs of disabled people. The book sets out some of the broader debates about the nature of housing, quality and design: in what ways are domestic design and architecture implicated in inhibiting or facilitating mobility and movement of people? What is the nature of government regulation and policy in relation to the design of home environments? This book addresses these questions, and brings a range of approaches to accessible design in housing to the forefront of debate, assessing how far policies and practices are equal to the challenge of creating accessible and desirable home environments.

Contents:1. Accessible housing, quality and design; 2. Disability, design and the speculative house building industry; 3. Housing quality, standards, and the domestic environment; 4. `Ideal homes: disabled peoples experiences of domestic design; Case study: Domestic lives - Jenny, Elaine and Toni; 5. House builders, disability, and the design of dwellings; Case study: Constructing accessible houses on sloping sites; 6. The regulation of the house building industry; Case study: Securing accessible housing in two English towns; 7. Experiential knowledge as a component of housing quality; Case study: Cultivating influence through disabled people's organisations; Promoting accessible housing; 8. Inclusive domestic environments.

Rob Imrie is Professor of Human Geography in the Department of Geography at Royal Holloway University of London. His research interests include geographies of disability, the design of the built environment, and urban policy and politics. He is co-author (with Peter Hall) of Inclusive Design: designing and developing accessible environments, 2001, Spon Press, London, author of Disability and the City, 1996, Sage Publications, London, and, St Martin's Press, New York, and co-editor (with Huw Thomas) of British Urban Policy, 1999, Sage Publications, London, and (with Mike Raco) Urban Renaissance? New Labour, Community, and Urban Policy, 2003, Policy Press, Bristol.