Progettazione inclusiva e formazione universitaria: modelli replicabili per i luoghi della cultura e gli spazi

This contribution proposes a methodological strategy to embed the culture of inclusion permanently within university teaching. The strategy is articulated along three main axes — interdisciplinarity, active participation, and experiential learning — which guide laboratory activities, workshops, and simulations capable of connecting universities, public institutions, and local communities. The objective is to train professionals able to competently address the challenges of accessibility, while fostering in students a critical, empathetic, and responsible design approach. Accessibility is interpreted as a cultural value grounded in the principles of Design for all, which moves beyond the disability paradigm to embrace the complexity of human diversity. Innovation lies in the shift from a prescriptive, regulation-based approach to a relational and situated one, in which actual needs are translated into contextual and replicable design solutions. The experiences conducted at the University of Ferrara and the Politecnico di Milano enabled students to acquire practical skills in inclusive design and to experiment with participatory methodologies. These activities led to the definition of a four-phase operational sequence — information and awareness-raising, experience and role-taking, analysis and evaluation, and design synthesis — which operationalizes the three guiding axes and allows theory, practice, and real needs to be effectively combined. The findings demonstrate that inclusion is not a content to be transmitted but a process to be activated. The proposed methodological strategy, based on theoretical principles and operational phases, offers a replicable model for other courses and institutions, contributing to the training of professionals capable of recognizing accessibility as a strategic lever for enhancing the quality of cultural venues and public spaces.