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Following a successful pilot in July 2017, we are delighted to be running the first full session of our new, one-day training programme devised and delivered jointly with the Centre for Accessible Environments.
‘Co-Design for Inclusive Placemaking of External Environments’ combines theory and practice from our co-design activities and takes place in, and around, Holyer House in London on Wednesday 28th March 2018.
This course aims to assist professionals develop an understanding of how to use co-design, both as part of policy making and to inform inclusive design.
All too often, the people who use environments day-to-day are left out of the design process. For older people, this can feel particularly alienating.
In our research, we’ve brought together early career designers and older participants to envision places, from homes to public spaces, which are inclusive, enabling and inspirational.
In our latest publication, published in May 2017, we’re sharing what we’ve found from four years of co-design activities in a beautifully illustrated, 32-page guide.
It’s called Mobility. Mood. Place. Intergenerational co-design for age-friendly places.
The front and back covers of our new publication
Structured around the 13 key things we have uncovered through the co-design process about older people’s needs and preferences for age-friendly environments, the publication features a range of annotated designs for the cities of London, Manchester and Copenhagen, and the Scottish islands of Orkney, interspersed with quotes from participants.
Led by a team whose expertise spans teaching, research and practice in the fields of architecture and landscape architecture, the designs have been produced by a total of 84 students at Edinburgh College of Art, in collaboration with local older people.
A double-page spread from the publication
Many of the things older people have told us in the course of our research are surprising; challenging widespread assumptions about ageing and place.
We hope that, by sharing them with you, we can encourage you to think about your own practice through an age-friendly lens, and about the benefits of meaningful collaboration with end users.
A double-page spread from the publication
The foreword for the publication is by Diarmaid Lawlor, Director of Place at Architecture and Design Scotland and MMP Advisory Group member, who says:
“The experience of older people is exacerbated by some basic design problems. Mobility, Mood and Place tackles these challenges head on. Smarter places are about smarter choices for all generations, enabled by smarter design. Mobility, Mood and Place provides us with a routemap on the how”.
In July 2016, we were delighted to participate in the 45th Annual Conference of the British Society of Gerontology (BSG). In this guest blog post, Dr Marianne Markowski of the University of Greenwich reflects on the experience of being involved in our co-design workshop, which took place on the final morning of the conference…
My background is in user experience and interaction design and through my PhD research I’m very interested in co-design processes. I was extremely pleased that the BSG offered this year such a hands-on workshop, where the 40-minute task was to design a domestic walled garden environment for an older couple with early onset dementia.
Starting out
On arrival, the delegates were placed into three groups. My group included Mary Marshall (a Senior Consultant for Hammond Care and former Director of the Dementia Services Development Centre at Stirling), Alice Mears (a recent graduate from the Architecture programme at Edinburgh College of Art) and CJ Dunwoody (a Landscape Architecture graduate).
We were given a cork-board model to shape into a domestic walled garden environment for an older couple with early onset dementia. The basic model was laid out with different ground levels and a river, and we were given a house and a small summer house to place, and plenty of materials (such as tissue paper, cardboard, sticks, string, glue, and scissors) to make things to add to our environment, such as trees, paths and other constructions.
The basic model, with ground levels, a river and a few trees
Before we started, Iain Scott (who leads the MMP co-design studio) pointed out issues that we might address, such as the path of the sun and the activities the couple might enjoy. He also emphasised that discussions in our group were as important as the outcomes. We were asked to keep a list of six items to explain our design decisions.
Creating the story
In our group we started with the key question of which way the sun was moving. We agreed pretty quickly that the bedrooms were facing east (nice and bright in the morning), the kitchen south, and the living room was west-facing.
Naturally, we also built a story around our older couple. We gave them names – Bertie and Patricia – and a reason for moving to this property (they wanted a house near the seaside).
We imagined the sea to be to the west and therefore placed the house accordingly so the living room had the sea view.
Getting going on the design
Addressing the river
The next question we discussed was whether we need worry about the river, considering our couple had early onset dementia. I was assured by more experienced group members that early onset dementia did not increase the risk of someone falling into the water, so we didn’t worry further about securing the river banks.
We did, however, agree that it would be nice to have both the main house and summer house on the same side of the river. The area on the other side became the grandchildren’s play area and a place for extended walks.
For the play area, we created a teepee and a swing. I suggested what is known in Germany as a Hollywood swing, which is a double-seater swing and which moves very gently.
The play area, with teepee and swing, is to the right of the river
Parking and gardening
It took us a while to agree on the street and parking. We obviously didn’t want to have a bedroom window with a view onto a parking space, nor did we want the street to come directly towards the house, ruining the view from the living room.
In the end we decided to have the street running from the east, separated with a green hedge, going alongside the house (north) where there was a larger parking area and a garage.
We saw Bertie and Patricia as two people who loved gardening. So we made them a greenhouse, especially considering Bertie’s passion for tomatoes. Bertie was also into making things, hence he got a shed, which we placed near the parking area.
Patricia liked her flowers, and we located most of the flower beds near the bedroom window to ensure a nice view. We then added a conservatory opening onto a patio from the south-facing kitchen.
Towards the sea, we placed a BBQ area with large wooden benches. The summer house was not too far from the trees nearest to the sea, where we (I) also made a hammock to relax for the grandchildren / children.
Patricia and Bertie could go on walks leaving their patio to go to their summer house, or continue over the bridge to the other side of the river. There was a second bridge going over the river which was near the water wildlife area and with a path going back to the patio.
There was a ‘desire line’ (a term that I newly learnt) from the path directly to the summer house. Along the paths we had plenty of benches for seating.
The finished design
Ideas I had which didn’t make it into the final design were a bandstand and an amphitheatre, things which might have worked well if Bertie and Patricia had a passion for music or theatre.
Team working
Overall, the atmosphere in our group was very friendly, fun and productive. We seemed to fall naturally into our roles.
Mary made notes of design decisions. Alice drew on paper or made constructs while guiding our conversations. CJ made trees and benches, drew paths and also guided our conversations, while I cut roads, made flower beds and a hammock.
It was interesting for me to learn how to use the materials to make the models. For example, how I had to split the string to make it more suitable for the hammock modelling.
Mary (left) and CJ (right) enjoying the workshop
Group discussion
It was very exciting to see what the other groups had done with the same basic model, materials and brief.
The first group had placed the house in the same position, but flipped the other way (i.e. the bedroom on the opposite site). In their group, the couple with dementia were anxious about the water, so this group of designers made sure the residents would not need to go near it.
With their garden design, they offered raised flower beds, which I thought was a very neat idea. They considered the daily routines of their couple and parking for family or health professionals.
Group One’s model, with raised flower beds and dense planting along the river
The third group decided to introduce public paths to the other side of the river. They discussed in detail how to make the river bank accessible, the design of the bridge and which colour to make the path to ensure good visibility.
They placed the summer house and main house in a way that a person with dementia could always gain orientation when they looked at them.
Group Three’s model, with coloured paving
I thoroughly enjoyed this group work exercise. Not only did I learn about design principles to be considered for people with dementia, but also how useful it is to compartmentalise areas and to give them functions that add orientation and structure to a person’s everyday life (e.g. in the evening, I water the tomatoes in the greenhouse).
The wider group discussing our proposal
It’s further beneficial to consider the larger environment, such as wildlife, animals and plants. Last, but not least, I learnt tricks on how to use designers’ materials such as:
– how to make trees and stick them into the board (you need really sharp scissors!)
– what you can do with match sticks
– how to work with string (separating the strands can be useful)
– crunching up paper to make flowers, bushes and scrubs
– how to make paths using cut outs, string, or simply by drawing them on.
Thank you Mobility, Mood and Place team!
We will be running another co-design workshop on the final day of our forthcoming conference, ‘Habitats for Happy and Healthy Ageing’. This time, we’ll be basing the exercise on real sites in Edinburgh’s Old Town, which we’ll be visiting in the morning before our design and discussion activities in the afternoon.
During a remarkably good spell of weather in what’s been a stormy winter overall, we visited the Northern Scottish islands of Orkney last month to hold two days of co-design activities. OK, so we had to wrap up warm, but at least it was sunny!
Over 30 people participated in our activities, including postgraduate Architecture students from Edinburgh College of Art, and local older people. There was plenty to keep us busy, including a hands-on, five-hour design workshop, site visits, and a two-hour coffee morning.
In advance of our visit, our Co-Investigator, Iain Scott, was interviewed on BBC Radio Orkney and, towards the end of our stay, researchers Dr Katherine Brookfield and Dr Sara Tilley recorded a fifteen minute podcast on what makes a place age-friendly. It’s a lovely listen, so give it a go.
Mobility, Mood and Place is delighted to announce an international conference on Habitats for Happy and Healthy Ageing.
The conference will take place in Edinburgh on 11th – 14th October 2016.
This is the first announcement of the call for presentation and poster abstracts.
The call, and details of online submission, will be forthcoming in January 2016.
The conference themes are:
Theme 1: Healthy, happy and active ageing
How can we realise healthy, happy and active ageing for all?
We invite abstracts that consider diverse factors including exercise, nutrition, service provision, assistive technologies and adaptations, income and benefits, social isolation and participation.
Theme 2: Co-designing the built environment with mobility in mind
What makes an environment age-friendly? How can we better involve user groups in the design of our built environment to enhance mobility?
We invite abstracts on the physical design of age-friendly environments that support mobility at a range of scales, from individual homes to the neighbourhood and the wider community, as well as on innovative methods of co-design, particularly those engaging older adults.
Theme 3: Experiencing mobility
What does mobility mean for older adults? How is it experienced and perceived?
We invite abstracts on various aspects of ageing and mobility including mobility behaviours and practices, aids and barriers to mobility, what motivates mobility, and older people’s experiences and perceptions of outdoor mobility.
Theme 4: Health, mobility and place through the lifecourse
Does an individual’s place of birth, and the places in which they have lived, influence their health and mobility in later life? What might the introduction of a lifecourse perspective bring to our understanding of the relationship between health and place?
We invite abstracts on the relationship between health and place as conceived through a lifecourse perspective. This could be through the use of historical environmental data, or other approaches.
We are delighted to confirm the following keynote speakers:
Professor Billie Giles-Corti, Director, McCaughey VicHealth Community Wellbeing Unit Centre for Health Equity, Melbourne School of Population and Global Health
Professor Gloria Gutman, Vice-President, International Longevity Centre Canada and Professor/Director Emerita, Simon Fraser University Gerontology Research Centre
Professor Richard Sennett, Centennial Professor of Sociology at the London School of Economics and University Professor of the Humanities at New York University (Richard Sennett has now sadly had to withdraw)
Professor Sarah Wigglesworth, Director, Sarah Wigglesworth Architects and Professor of Architecture, University of Sheffield
The Welcome Address will be given by Dr Heidrun Mollenkopf, Vice President of AGE Platform Europe and Member of the AGE Universal Accessibility and Independent Living Expert Group.
To register your interest and receive future conference announcements, please email OPENspace@ed.ac.uk
The conference is the fourth in the international Open Space : People Space (OSPS) series. Previous OSPS conferences have taken place in Edinburgh in 2004, 2007 and 2011.
Mobility, Mood and Place is coming to the Scottish islands of Orkney… and we’d love to meet Orcadians aged 65 or over.
Researchers and designers want your views on how we can design environments that are enjoyable to be in, and easy to move around in, as we get older.
We have two events planned:
a design workshop on Monday 18th January 2016 (10.30am – 3.30pm)
where we’ll develop designs for an age-friendly Orkney through fun and creative activities
a coffee morning on Wednesday 20th January 2016 (10.00am – 12.00pm)
where we’ll look at original designs for age-friendly environments over coffee and cake
You are welcome to join us at one or both of these events, which take place at
Kirkwall & St Ola Community Centre & Town Hall on Broad Street, Kirkwall, KW15 1DH
For further information, or to book your place, please contact:
Dr Katherine Brookfield
0131 651 5829
katherine.brookfield@ed.ac.uk
In February 2015, we hosted Harvard University’s Professor Ichiro Kawachi for a two-day visit to Edinburgh.
Professor Kawachi is an expert on social capital and health and, during his time with us, he gave a free public lecture to 200 people at Edinburgh College of Art (ECA).
Kawachi thinks of ‘social capital’ in terms of the resources you derive from being a member of one or more social networks, like a circle of friends, club or close-knit community.
In his one-hour lecture, which you can watch in full online, he focuses on the importance of these resources to the health, wellbeing and resilience of older people in particular, including after natural disasters such as the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami in Japan.
Research Assistants work on specific aspects of our study at times of peak activity.
Over the summer months of 2015, we are delighted to have Dr Esther Rind and Agnes Patuano working as part of our team.
Dr Esther Rind (left) is a Health Geographer who joins us from the Centre for Research on Environment Society and Health (CRESH). She is interested in the relationship between where people live and their health. Before moving to Scotland, Esther completed her PhD at the University of East Anglia. She has also been involved in research at the University of Bonn in Germany and at the University of Canterbury in New Zealand.
Agnes Patuano (right) is a PhD candidate in Landscape Architecture at Edinburgh College of Art. She graduated in 2003 with a Masters in Landscape Design and Engineering from the National Institute of Horticulture and Landscape (INH) in Angers, France. Agnes is interested in the concept of Landscape Perception, bringing in elements of social sciences such as Sociology, Anthropology and Environmental Psychology.
Together, Esther and Agnes take great care of the people participating in the Environment and affect part of our study, which looks at the emotional dimensions of place using mobile neural imaging methods.
If you would like to take part in the study, here’s where you can find out more.
This year, 21 postgraduate students at Edinburgh College of Art (ECA) have been working as part of the MMP team to co-create age-friendly designs for Hackney Wick in East London.
21 students have participated: 14 from the Architecture (MArch) programme; and seven from the Landscape Architecture (MLA) programme.
MMP students talking to audience members at our Habitats for Happy Ageing event in March 2015. Image courtesy of Ben Shmulevitch.
Following two days of site visits and interactive activities with local older people in Hackney, and a public exhibition in February 2015, the work they have created forms a rich visual overview of plans for an age-friendly Hackney Wick, with drawings, models, plans, videos and much more.
We would love you to come along to the annual ECA Degree Show at Edinburgh College of Art, where you can see a large selection of the work in a beautiful space overlooking Edinburgh Castle. The show runs from Saturday 30th May 2015 to Sunday 7th June 2015. Entry is FREE.
Architectural models and drawings by Paula Madden, Emily Nason and Chloe Hand. Image by Three Point Photography
Showing the Way is a new research project led jointly by the School of Health in Social Science at the University of Edinburgh and Hammond Care Australia.
The project seeks to develop fresh approaches to signage in dementia environments that help people with dementia find their way around.
The project team would like to hear from you and there are a number of ways to get involved:
(1) By participating in the Showing the Way workshops, the first of which is being held on Thursday 23rd April 2015 (12pm to 3pm) in Moray House School of Education, Edinburgh, EH8 8AQ. An equivalent event will be taking place in Australia, where project partner, Hammond Care, is based.
(2) By taking part in the Showing the Way Delphi panel in May, June and July 2015. Participation in the panel is remote. You do not need to come to Edinburgh to contribute.
