The Wave Project: Evidencing Surf Therapy for Young People in the UK

Sport and exercise are known to have long-term, positive consequences for the physical and mental health and wellbeing of the individual and society as a whole. In the UK, a quarter of young people experience long-term illness, disability or mental ill-health. However, understanding the impact of surfing on physical and mental health is complex, not least because there are different pathways by which surfing can improve health and wellbeing  including: playing, being in nature, socialising, taking risks and identifying as a surfer. The Wave Project is a UK-wide surf therapy charity which provides vulnerable young people aged 8-21 with an opportunity to surf once a week for six weeks. At The Wave Project, clients ‘do’ surfing with the one-to-one assistance of a volunteer overseen by a surf coordinator. After completing The Wave Project clients are invited to become members of a follow-on Surf Club staffed by volunteers or become a Wave Project volunteer themselves. This paper provides an overview of the Wave Project evaluation programme between 2013-2017. During this period there have been three evaluation phases centred around Wave Project delivery: Spring 2013, Summer 2014-Autumn 2015 and Spring-Summer 2017. Each phase has employed a mixture of qualitative and quantitative methods to assess the experience of clients, parents/carers, referrers and Wave Project staff. These methods have included pre- and post-intervention client surveys, focus groups, interviews and log books. The results to-date show that surf therapy can improve the health and wellbeing of vulnerable young people in the UK

The Wave Project: Evidencing Surf Therapy for Young People in the UK

Sport and exercise are known to have long-term, positive consequences for the physical and mental health and wellbeing of the individual and society as a whole. In the UK, a quarter of young people experience long-term illness, disability or mental ill-health. However, understanding the impact of surfing on physical and mental health is complex, not least because there are different pathways by which surfing can improve health and wellbeing  including: playing, being in nature, socialising, taking risks and identifying as a surfer. The Wave Project is a UK-wide surf therapy charity which provides vulnerable young people aged 8-21 with an opportunity to surf once a week for six weeks. At The Wave Project, clients ‘do’ surfing with the one-to-one assistance of a volunteer overseen by a surf coordinator. After completing The Wave Project clients are invited to become members of a follow-on Surf Club staffed by volunteers or become a Wave Project volunteer themselves. This paper provides an overview of the Wave Project evaluation programme between 2013-2017. During this period there have been three evaluation phases centred around Wave Project delivery: Spring 2013, Summer 2014-Autumn 2015 and Spring-Summer 2017. Each phase has employed a mixture of qualitative and quantitative methods to assess the experience of clients, parents/carers, referrers and Wave Project staff. These methods have included pre- and post-intervention client surveys, focus groups, interviews and log books. The results to-date show that surf therapy can improve the health and wellbeing of vulnerable young people in the UK

What Role for Citizens? Evolving Engagement in Quadruple Helix Smart District Initiatives

Globally, smart city initiatives are becoming increasingly ubiquitous elements of complex, sociotechnical urban systems. While there is general agreement that cities cannot be smart without citizen involvement, the motivations, means, and mechanisms for engaging citizens remain contested. In response, this article asks what the role of citizens is in two recently established smart districts within the wider Smart Dublin programme: Smart Sandyford, a business district, and Smart Balbriggan, a town north of Dublin with Ireland's most ethnically diverse and youthful population. Using multiple methods (online and in-person interviews, site visits, a focus group, and participant observation), this article specifically examines how the "quadruple helix," a popular concept within innovation studies and one that is adopted in promotional materials by Dublin's emerging smart districts, is used by key actors as an overarching framing device for activities. It finds that, to date, the quadruple helix concept is being applied simplistically and uncritically, without attention to pre-existing and persistent patterns of uneven power and influence between the different actors involved. As such it risks inhibiting rather than supporting meaningful citizen engagement for smart and sustainable places that both smart districts articulate as a key driver of their activities

Matching values and value in construction and design

In response to a series of influential government reports that have been critical of the approaches taken by, and outputs of, the UK construction industry, human aspects of construction have been given a new significance, particularly issues of value as judged by diverse stakeholders. This paper seeks to relate diverse and applied notions of value in construction with a similarly diverse body of knowledge contained within social and environmental psychology on values, from the work of Maslow and others in the 1950s and 1960s, to more recent contributions by Schwartz and colleagues. Collectively, the paper describes the work of an inter-disciplinary team with the active participation of key stakeholders in construction: professional organisations, practitioners, construction companies, clients and end product users, focused upon the search for a new 'language of value' that can aid the adoption of innovative conceptualisations of value within the industry. Finally, an innovative framework of value is presented that has been developed for design practitioners in the non-domestic building industry

The “four Ds” and support for Local Smart Grids: analysis from national surveys in the UK and Canada

Local Smart Grids are emerging during the climate crisis, as governments and industry recognize the need to better integrate intermittent renewable energy, storage, transportation, heating, and smart technologies. Such projects can represent profound changes to the status quo of energy and citizen lifestyles. They are also being associated with the “four Ds,” whereby Local Smart Grids are decarbonizing, decentralizing, digitalizing, and potentially democratizing energy systems. Yet, due to their recent arrival, there is very little social scientific research that has aimed to better understand public views, expectations, and support for this change. We attempt to fill this important gap in the literature through the analysis of two nationally representative surveys in the UK (n = 3034) and Canada (n = 941). This analysis highlights within- and between-country trends, including how the variation in responses regarding the “four Ds,” demographic factors, and other variables may explain the differences we see in terms of support for energy system change in the UK and Canada. Our analysis also shows that there are common elements, including the importance of the decentralization, and especially the democratization of energy in shaping support. We hope that this study will help governments, industry, community groups, and local residents themselves in both countries come together to advance the kind of Local Smart Grids that address climate change and represent a supported, just energy transition

Producing food in English and Welsh prisons

Most prison food research focuses on aspects of consumption rather than production yet farming, horticulture and gardening have been integral to the prison system in England and Wales for more than 170 years. This paper explores the interplay between penological, therapeutic and food priorities over the last fifty years through an examination of historical prison policies and contemporary case studies associated with the Greener on the Outside for Prisons (GOOP) programme. Findings are discussed in relation to how joined-up policy and practice can impact positively on whole population health and wellbeing within and beyond the prison setting

The best-laid plans : tracing public engagement change in emergent Smart Local Energy Systems

To be fair, acceptable and ultimately successful, decentralised energy projects involving technological innovations require engagement with users, local communities and wider publics. Yet relatively few studies have adopted a dynamic, temporal approach to understand how publics are engaged with as projects develop over time. We address this gap by researching three case studies of ‘Smart Local Energy System’ (SLES) demonstrator projects involving combinations of power, heat and transport technologies funded under a UK government programme. Guided by literature on public engagement methods and rationales, as well as how users and communities are framed by stakeholders, we track engagement approaches over time from stages of project initiation to technology deployment. Engagement defined as communication and consultation predominates over participation and community empowerment, with instrumental rationales used to frame publics as consumers enabling technology deployment. Disruptions to engagement attributed to external factors such as the COVID-19 pandemic and BREXIT were interpreted both positively and negatively, including the implications of disruptions for social inclusion and fairness. The potential for SLES to catalyse broader social transformations in a context of environment and climate emergency is discussed

Clear support for an unclear concept? : public attitudes towards local energy systems in the United Kingdom

Decentralisation offers one route to energy system decarbonisation, and local energy systems (LES) provide focal points for decentralisation. LES involve the integration of different generation, storage, and demand-side technologies across heat, power, and transport systems, within defined localities. Public support is necessary for LES deployment at pace and scale, but while past research has examined public attitudes towards individual technologies, few studies have investigated perceptions of systemic shifts towards LES. This paper presents findings from a nationally representative UK survey (n = 3034) on LES. We compare two ways of exploring perceptions of decentralised energy: as a broad systemic shift, and as the cumulative deployment of multiple LES innovations. Results show high levels of public support for a systemic shift towards decentralisation, but more moderate levels of support for specific LES innovations. Regression analysis highlight the role of personal characteristics, climate concern, political beliefs, and engagement with technologies in influencing support for LES. Support is more predictable for decentralisation, whose meaning is clear in principle while containing ambiguities in practice. Support for LES innovations is less predictable and is explained by the diversity with which households interpret the multiple propositions afforded by LES innovations. For LES to benefit from majority public support for a systemic shift, policy and industry actors need to better understand the diverse set of perceptions and values that LES hold for the public and seek broader and deeper engagement with the public around specific LES innovations, as well as around systemic change more broadly

Managing value and quality in design

This paper focuses on the role of stakeholders in defining project values, which in turn influence product quality expectations, and of designers in meeting these goals. Ultimately, these determine the functional, physical and symbolic product characteristics that are necessary to achieve customer satisfaction. The issues of value and quality are compared within the context of design management, including their theoretical and philosophical underpinnings as well as current management techniques. Value and quality can be misunderstood and confused; the authors suggest that it is vital for stakeholders to have a common understanding of terminology and meaning. This is particularly true of customers who need to be engaged in a straightforward manner. We describe our research into the management of value delivery in design and explore opportunities for incorporating design quality indicator (DQI) assessments. The paper discusses how the DQI can form part of a project management system that ensures the delivery of stakeholder value during the design stage. Opportunities for customisation of the DQI content and the context of application at this stage of a project (as opposed to assessments during and after construction) are explored and may be key to success in delivering value in addition to product quality