After making his mark in Silicon Valley, Icelandic designer and tech mogul Haraldur “Halli” Thorleifsson is now fixing a much more analog downside: the inaccessibility of native storefronts.
As a wheelchair person, Thorleifsson is aware of firsthand how exclusion could be constructed right into a metropolis. “When you don’t see anybody utilizing a wheelchair,” he says, “it’s not as a result of they don’t exist—it’s as a result of they’ve nowhere to go.” Thorleifsson has skilled such entry boundaries to public areas all through his life, however the turning level got here on a late-night stroll together with his household in downtown Reykjavík, when he couldn’t be a part of his son in a nook retailer due to a single step on the entrance.
“As I used to be sitting exterior, I saved that one step,” he remembers. “Over time, steps like that had stopped me from having the ability to go cafés to fulfill buddies, from going to the barber, or going Christmas procuring with my household. That one step was the principle impediment between me and totally taking part in society. And, not simply me; anybody who makes use of a mobility machine to get round. I made a decision that this needed to change and since no one else gave the impression to be doing something, I figured it was as much as me.”
So in 2021, Thorleifsson launched Ramp Up Reykjavík to fund the set up of 100 ramps in locations with essentially the most foot visitors throughout Iceland’s capital—cafés, eating places, and retailers. 4 years later, the undertaking has delivered way more ramps than initially promised and effectively past Reykjavík to extra Icelandic cities, garnering a becoming title change to Ramp Up Iceland. On March 14, Thorleifsson celebrated the completion of Ramp Up Iceland with a ribbon-cutting ceremony and the help of the mayor, prime minister, president, and different leaders of the municipal governments throughout Iceland. Now, the workforce plans to expand the initiative to Paris and Lviv, Ukraine.
An age-old accessibility downside
Creating accessibility in any city atmosphere is usually met with logistical and bureaucratic challenges. However in cities with historic buildings that predate trendy accessibility requirements by a long time and even centuries, these challenges are even additional amplified. In downtown Reykjavík, most buildings date again to the 18th century with storefronts that sit barely elevated above road degree, making one or two steps a recurring entry barrier throughout a lot of the metropolis’s core enterprise district. And this isn’t simply an Icelandic problem. In a recent study, 70% of disabled individuals surveyed stated they’ve proven as much as a constructing solely to understand they couldn’t get inside. Greater than half of them (60%) reported that they needed to go away with out finishing their job as a result of the constructing wasn’t accessible. This examine was carried out in the US, the place we now have the Individuals with Disabilities Act (ADA), a legislation supposed to guard the rights of disabled individuals and guarantee accessible infrastructure.
But, even with the ADA, there are nonetheless large entry inequities in our city environments. Buildings, sidewalks, and transportation techniques typically stay out of compliance or are poorly maintained, and authorized protections such because the ADA aren’t common. In lots of older cities world wide, accessibility requirements are inconsistent, and the push to retrofit historic areas is usually delayed or deprioritized in favor of architectural preservation.
Thorleifsson’s work is starting to alter this. The aim of Ramp Up Reykjavík was to put in 100 ramps inside a yr; the undertaking completed it in half the time and below price range. Following the success of the trial undertaking, Thorleifsson expanded the initiative to cities throughout Iceland, with a brand new goal aim of constructing 1,000 ramps in 5 years. They ended up constructing greater than 1,700 ramps and once more got here in below price range.
Constructing a greater ramp
Every ramp is constructed for the placement, and is built-in into the atmosphere with designers working with the town and municipalities to attempt to match present supplies when potential. In lots of instances, passersby wouldn’t even discover modifications to the historic buildings as a result of the ramps are intentional design selections constructed into the city atmosphere. “The position of a designer is to make one thing easy and exquisite to make use of, for as many individuals as potential,” says Thorleifsson. “So after I take a look at how some issues are made, I can’t assist however marvel how simple it could have been, with small tweaks, to make it usable by extra individuals with out dropping any of the wonder.”
“The most important problem at first was making individuals imagine that this was potential,” Thorleifsson says. “These issues have been mentioned for many years, typically with little or no progress. So the strategy was actually to present individuals no excuses. We fund, design, construct, and get all of the permits; it’s all free for the store proprietor or the one who owns the constructing. As soon as individuals begin seeing success, the place earlier than there was none, all of the arguments go away and doorways open.”
Thorleifsson initially funded the undertaking with dividends made by the sale of his digital design company Ueno to Twitter in 2021. He joined the corporate as a senior director of product design however was abruptly terminated in 2022 together with some 200 others when Elon Musk took over Twitter—which led to a Twitter exchange with Musk that made worldwide headlines.
The sale of Thorleifsson’s firm helped get the Ramp Up Reykjavík initiative off the bottom, however the undertaking has been a collaborative enterprise between Thorleifsson and native companies, authorities companies, and metropolis officers. “I had some cash, and I used to be in a position to rapidly increase extra. As soon as the snowball was rolling, everybody jumped on board in a short time,” he says.
Now he’s seeking to make fast enhancements on the worldwide degree. “Ukraine has lots of people getting back from the conflict that want entry. So the urgency is there,” Thorleifsson explains of the place the initiative will head subsequent. “I’m not a really affected person particular person. I don’t suppose there’s any excuse to maneuver slowly on fixing a human rights problem. So I generally must push laborious for change to occur.”
When requested what classes he’s discovered that different cities ought to contemplate when attempting to enhance accessibility, Thorleifsson says, “It’s simple. It’s low-cost. There’s no excuse. Simply do it. We may also help. Name me.”
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