ABSTRACT
This chapter is an exploration of one facet of the development process, that is, the attitudes, values and practices of developers in facilitating and/ or constraining disabled people’s access in the built environment. As Chapter 1 indicated, the production of the built environment is shaped by what Guy (1998:267) terms ‘profit seeking development agents’ or those that seek to maximise rental returns on the sale of lettable space. For many developers, and related agents, the supply of ancillary infrastructure, such as accessible toilets, is not necessarily congruent with their economic interests. In particular, the development process is characterised by a range of socio-institutional structures and relations which are insensitive to, and ignorant of, the needs of disabled people. However, while acknowledging this, we develop the proposition that developers’ responses to disabled people are not necessarily invariant, predictable, or reducible to a cost calculus. Rather, our evidence is illustrative of a heterogeneity of developers’ attitudes, values and responses to the needs of disabled people.
