Introduction

Disability sits in a peculiar position within architecture and urban design. Through the developing field of disability studies, disability arts practice and disability activism, there are now many scholars, artists and advocates examining how disability intersects with social, spatial and material practices. Many of these studies and projects have a direct relevance to architecture. There has been a renewed interest in theories such as phenomenology, materialism, post-humanism and Deleuzian philosophy that help us to think harder about embodied experiences and what these mean for the design of built space. Architecture and urban design can also learn by thinking differently about dis/ability through acknowledging, and engaging with, the considerable expertise of disabled people, as scholars, activists and as especially experienced users of built space. Histories/narratives aim to open up new spaces in architectural history, theory and design by introducing a number of both interpretative and personal disability histories.