Include 2011 : The role of inclusive design in making social innovation happen.

Include is the biennial conference held at the RCA and hosted by the Helen Hamlyn Centre for Design. The event is directed by Jo-Anne Bichard and attracts an international delegation

(Not) Representing Cycling

Cycling is often represented as a symbol of sustainable mobility change. This thesis builds on the argument that even in acclaimed cycling cities possibilities for cycling to become part of transformative change are stifled. The research this thesis grounds in sees dominant discourses in research and planning to reproduce conceptions of cycling to ‘fix’ mobility, without troubling the fundamental unsustainability of current patterns of production and consumption inherent in automobility. This is shown through practices of representation and how they tend to perpetuate narrow constructions of cycling as a rational, efficient, urban mode of transport for the responsible utility cyclist. While these constructions problematise motoring and indeed might make cities more livable and ‘greener’, they subjugate imaginaries of what else cycling could be and for whom. Vélomobility imaginaries, non-representational theories and de-growth scholarship are employed to analyse how representations are constructed and with what effects on envisioning mobility systems. This is shown by analysing how cycling is ‘represented’ in three contexts: sustainable transitions research, municipal planning in Uppsala, Sweden, and a local bike repair initiative.  The thesis argues that representations are essential to how cycling is governed and should therefore be taken seriously. Recognising representational implications is a pre-step to recovering, reclaiming and nurturing alternatives. Pluralities of cycling are important to overcome narrow cycling conceptions and change the meaning of cycling in society. This thesis suggests that cycling representations can be understood as multiple when thought of in dimensions that recast representations as both discursive construc-tions and embodied practice performances. Cycling then becomes an arrangement of multiple cycling practices, a diversity of people and bodies, material elements to support cycling and different cycling technologies and spaces for cycling. Applied to the three cases, the thesis shows how cycling might be conceived of through these dimensions and how they reflect in vélomobility characteristics engendering commoning, care, autonomy conviviality, or to maintain mobility status quos. The thesis thereby adds to critical mobilities scholarship and vélomoblities in particular

Urban Food Sharing

Available Open Access under CC-BY-NC licence. This book explores the history and current practice of food sharing. Illustrated by rich case studies from around the world, the book uses new empirical data to set an agenda for research and action. The book will be an important resource for researchers, policy makers and sharing innovators to explore the impacts and sustainability potential of such sharing for cities

Setting the stage for service experience:design strategies for functional services

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to identify service design strategies to improve outcome-oriented services by enhancing consumers’ emotional experience, while overcoming customer variability. Design/methodology/approach: An abductive, multiple-case study involves 12 service firms from diverse online and offline service sectors. Findings: Overall, six service design strategies represent two overarching themes: customer empowerment can involve design for typical customers, visibility, and community building, while customer accommodation can involve design for personas, invisibility, and relationship building. Using these strategies helps set the stage for a service to offer an emotional experience. Research limitations/implications: The study offers a first step toward combining investigations of service experience and user experience. Further research can strengthen these links. Practical implications: The six design strategies described using examples from case research offer managerial recommendations. In particular, these strategies can help service managers address the customer-induced variability inherent in services. Originality/value: Extant studies of experience staging have focused on particular sectors such as hospitality and leisure; this study contributes by investigating outcome-focused services and identifying strategies to create unique experiences that offset variability. It also represents a rare effort to combine research from service management and interaction design, shedding light on the link between service experience and user experience

Empirically derived user attributes for the design of home healthcare technologies

Designing effective home healthcare technologies is a complex task. In order to succeed, it is important to look beyond purely technology-driven solutions and to develop technologies and services that are flexible and reflect a sensitive understanding of the diverse users of such systems. The key contribution of this paper is to introduce 15 empirically derived attributes that can help designers to build a more detailed understanding of the potential users of home healthcare systems. The attributes are spread across four broad themes: technology in the home, experiences of technology, experiences of health and care, and thoughts about smart home technology for health and care. These themes and attributes emerged from an ethnographic study in which we interviewed people across 15 households. All interviews took place in people’s homes and were supplemented by home technology tours and cultural probes. It is intended that the 15 attributes be used in conjunction with demographic and household data to build a richer picture of personal experiences of home, health, and technology in real-life contexts. The aim was to provide an inclusive framework, based on empirically derived attributes, that helps to inform an overall user-centred design approach. To demonstrate one application of the attributes in design, the paper provides in-depth example of their use in the development of a rich set of data-driven personas.SPHERE-IRCUK Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC

Responding to the UN sustainability goals in transdisciplinary partnership through network action learning

The global water crisis, an enormous concern according to the World Economic Forum, poses a significant challenge to long-term sustainability, exacerbated by the high energy demand associated with water supply and treatment. As the renewable energy sector grows, the need for green technologies to support the water-energy nexus becomes evident. However, mere technological advancements are insufficient to address complex water-related challenges. This paper presents a transdisciplinary collaborative effort involving engineers, geographers, management researchers, and environmentalists working with practitioners in a cross-border network. The study explores through action learning research how, in a transdisciplinary partnership, network action learning influences the exploration and implementation of novel green technology and the development of innovation capabilities. The research is structured around three themes: green technology platforms, policy support and guidance, and dissemination and collaboration. It identifies the factors impacting technology exploration and application and how concurrently green innovation capabilities are developed. The study emphasizes the significance of transdisciplinary collaboration and offers valuable insights into addressing UN Sustainability Goals related to clean water, sustainable industry, and partnerships. It contributes to innovation capability theory and provides practical guidance to researchers, practitioners, and policymakers, emphasizing the need for holistic approaches to address the water-energy crisis and achieve sustainable development

Bike Kitchens and the sociomateriality of practice change: exploring cycling-repair relations

Maintenance and repair of bikes–material interventions–are essential to sustain cycling practices. In this paper we explore the role of (bi)cycle self-repair workshops (Bike Kitchens) and the practices they enable to maintain cycling practices. We connect a sociomaterial understanding of assisted self-repair to Bike Kitchens’ role in transformational mobility change. Empirically, we utilize our own experiences in organizing and running a small Bicycle Kitchen in Sweden in conjunctions with observations and interviews, drawing on theories of social practice, the sociology of materiality and repair studies. We develop the position that through deliberate engagement with the cycle as an entity, assisted self-repair practices provide flexible means of representing the transformative potential of cycling materialities. This has implications for the meanings attached to the cycle, cycling, repair and other associated practices. We argue that Bike Kitchens may engender epistemic practices useful to develop human-centered visions for re-imagining mobility and sociomaterial relations