What is Visitability?
Visitability is an affordable, sustainable and inclusive design approach for integrating basic accessibility features into all newly built homes and housing.
Visitability is based on the conviction that inclusion of basic architectural access features in all new homes is a civil and human right and improves livability for all. This project is a collaboration between the IDeA Center and Concrete Change.
Founded by Eleanor Smith of Atlanta, GA, Concrete Change has been a leader in advocating for and otherwise promoting visitability for many years.
Publications that relate to this project
Visitability: An Inclusive Design Approach for Housing provides a summary of the goals, benefits, and features of inclusive housing design. It previews a 2010 book entitled Inclusive Housing: A Pattern Book. Excerpts from the book along with an annotated version of the new ICC/ANSI A117.1 Type C visitability standards will give you a better understanding of what visitability is and why it is important to housing design.
 Click Here to Download the Full Report
Increasing Home Access: Designing for Visitability examines the different types of visitability initiatives and evaluates their potential for improving the prospects for aging independently in one's home and community.
This In Brief was co-authored by Jordana Maisel, Eleanor Smith and Edward Steinfeld and was published in August 2008 by the AARP Public Policy Institute.
 Click Here to Download the Full Report
Click Here to Download the Full Report
Visit-ability: an Approach to Universal Design in Housing, is a 48-page resource offering a complete overview of visitability requirements, the philosophy of the initiative, and resources in United States. The book contains "best practice" case studies highlighting successful implementation of specific visitability projects in several different communities nationwide.
This booklet was compiled and developed as a publication of the RERC. on Universal Design at Buffalo, with the assistance of Habitat for Humanity chapters in both Buffalo, N.Y. and Rochester, N.Y. The grass-roots advocacy group Concrete Change in Atlanta, Georgia provided valuable assistance, and funding was provided through the U.S. Department of Education and the National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research (N.I.D.R.R.).
Download Visit-ability Booklet
Visit-ability: a Computer Based Tutorial, is a computer-based tutorial designed to promote and educate tutorial participants on Visit-ability and community action projects that support the development of visitable housing.
Universal design on the community level permits full access to social participation in community affairs and interaction with neighbors. Visitability is an important step toward making universal access to community life a reality. This tutorial provides a basic understanding of the concept of visitability, including good practice examples and cost estimates for visitable features. It describes advocacy strategies for developing visitability projects in local communities. Contact information for organizations that can assist in promoting them is also provided.
Click Here to Begin Visit-ability Tutorial
 Click Here to Begin PowerPoint Presentation
Visitability as an Approach to Inclusive Housing Design and Community Development: A Look at its Emergence, Growth, and Challenges
As the population ages and faces a greater number of physical disabilities, housing and community design must be re-examined. This research explores the growing need for accessible housing in the United States and the recent emergence of visitability as an affordable and sustainable design strategy aimed at increasing the number of accessible single family homes and neighborhoods. Both a qualitative and quantitative methods approach was utilized to study the evolution of accessible housing policy in the United States, the history and fundamental principles of visitability, and the number and diversity of visitability initiatives and programs. The research explores existing theories on innovation diffusion to help understand trends in the visitability movement. The research also examines the challenges and controversies currently surrounding the visitability movement and potentially threatening its future success.
Click here to download PDF
 Click here to download MS Word version
Frequently Requested Documents that Relate to this Project (last updated 2008)
Existing State Visitability Laws (HTML)
 Existing State Visitability Laws (Microsoft Excel)
Existing Local Visitability Laws (HTML)
Existing Local Visitability Laws (Microsoft Excel)
Proposed Visitability Initatives (HTML)
License for use: The above documents may be used for presentation or publication, provided that no significant changes to the data are made, and that the following line accompanies each instance of presentation or publication:
© 2007 Center for Inclusive Design and Environmental Access (IDeA).www.ap.buffalo.edu/idea. Used with permission.
For additional information about these documents, please contact: Jordana Maisel.
Visitability Listserv
A listserv is maintained for dicussions and opinions relating the Visitability Initiative project. A link below is provided if you would like to be added to the listserv.
Visitability Listserv
From 1999-2004, the visitability Initative was funded by the United States Department of Education through the National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research, through Rehabilation Engineering Research Center on Universal Design at Buffalo
No endorsement should be assumed by N.I.D.R.R. or the United States Government for the content contained on this website.
Project Director: Jordana Maisel
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