Digital Toilets: for your convenience

Presentation on The Great British Public Toilet Map and the challenges of funding and progressing this open data project

Workplace & Wellbeing

Workplace & Wellbeing: Developing a practical framework for workplace design to affect employee wellbeing reports on a research study between The Helen Hamlyn Centre for Design and architecture and design firm Gensler. The study ran for two years (2015-2016). The study asked whether greater participation in the design of the workplace increases the sense of control and wellbeing of employees. The researchers interviewed employees at 3 organisations about their workspace and patterns of work, developing a model of employee wellbeing that considered both environmental and psychological factors. The team worked with employees on one floor of a large central London headquarters (Bupa House), offering different levels of participation to employees in a workplace design project to see whether the level of participation offered was a factor in the wellbeing of employees, from no engagement to some engagement and finally participation in a co-design process. The team found that engaging employees in the design of their workplace had a positive effect on their wellbeing, regardless of the level of participation offered. The researchers also developed a tool for organisations to measure their own employee wellbeing, based on project findings

The Great British Public Toilet Map

Talk at Geomob about the development of The Great British Public Toilet Map from its origins in the TACT3 projects to the latest version at http://greatbritishpublictoiletmap.rca.ac.u

Towards a Gold Standard Operations Control Centre (OCC): Applying Creative Leadership principles in the re-design of an OCC at a leading international airline

Creative Leadership (CL) is a leadership model comprising the three values of Empathy, Clarity and Creativity, which are considered baseline operational and leadership attributes in a Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) world. This paper presents a case study charting the application of CL principles within delivery of a complex research project involving international collaboration between The Helen Hamlyn Centre for Design (HHCD) at London’s Royal College of Art (RCA), a strategic partner – TATA Consultancy Services (TCS), and an airline client [the Airline]. The purpose of the design research was to improve the operational efficiency of the Airline, whilst improving staff and customer experience. This addressed three discrete, yet interlinked areas of delivery within the Airline Operations Control Centre (OCC), namely Technology, Environment and People. The three values of CL – Empathy, Clarity and Creativity – were exercised to align physical, technological and psychological factors. These were implemented in the design of a UX technology that made complex information accessible at a glance, and the re-design of the OCC office environment to enable better communication and personal wellbeing. This paper captures the process and outcomes, whilst reflecting on the efficacy of the CL model as a progressive framework for innovation, growth and development

Future health challenges for cities

Factors such as population growth, urban migration and climate change, are placing ever greater demands on health around the world. Cities are becoming the frontline in providing the future of healthcare, with more than half of the world’s population now living in urban environments, which is forecasted to be nearly 70% by 2050. There is therefore a growing need to identify emerging and future challenges that cities will face, identifying trends for priority issues such as ageing populations, pandemic risks and climate change. As well as indicators of current and expected future readiness for these challenges. We used design research to determine emerging and future challenges for cities to deliver healthcare. This included 8 forty minute phone interviews and 6 workshops with subject matter experts in healthcare provision from cities across three continents (North America, Europe, Africa), as well as literature reviews. The 3 speculative design workshops involved participatory design research, exploring design futures to identify emerging and likely future challenges. The qualitative data collected was synthesised with existential risks identified from literature reviews, grouping key challenges. We then, through creative engagement approaches with experts and designers in a final workshop, identified potential indicators for these key challenges. We have determined emerging and likely future challenges for health in cities, ranging from social cohesion to emerging technologies, including age friendliness, green space, and drug resistance. Grouping them into four areas: ‘ageing & lifestyle’, ‘environment & climate’, ‘innovation & technology’, and ‘other existential risks’. For ‘ageing & lifestyle’ identifying indicators for lifestyle conditions, work-life balance, managing conditions, and supporting independence. For ‘environment & climate’ identifying indicators for the built environment, climate change, green economy, and the social environment. For ‘innovation & technology’ identifying indicators for cultures of innovation, digital infrastructure, emerging technologies, and innovative practices. For ‘other existential risks’ identifying indicators for pandemics, antibiotic resistance, and anti-vaccination. By synthesising the knowledge of experts with literature reviews, we have determined the key emerging and future challenges facing cities. We have categorised these into four areas, and identified indicators for current and future readiness. Knowing these likely health challenges, we can prepare to manage them better. Furthermore, policymakers and researchers, working in public health and healthcare provision, can make use of the identified indicators. Next steps would be to collate and extract data for individual cities, for example by these cities for direct action or by a third party for comparative study

Designing with communities: Lessons on social design from the Helen Hamlyn Centre for Design

Over the last 29 years, the Centre has used design to address challenging social issues, working with organisations to create impact projects and developing new methods. We have created knowledge exchange through publication, events and executive education. The Centre has built a worldwide reputation, working with industry, the community and the third sector. This publication will discuss what we have learnt works, and what to look out for, when Designing with Communities. We describe these insights through The 8 Lessons, supported by examples from three past projects from the HHCD portfolio: Our Future Foyle, Creative Citizens and In The Shade

Designing a global index of future-readiness for healthcare challenges

Factors such as climate change, population growth and urban migration are placing ever-greater stresses on healthcare around the world. Cities are becoming the frontline in providing the future of healthcare, with more than half the world’s population now living in urban spaces and forecasted to be nearly 70 per cent by 2050. Purpose: We’ve designed an index to compare the response and preparedness of cities to health challenges, focusing on their future readiness to meet emerging healthcare needs. Identifying trends on issues such as ageing populations, risk of pandemic, and climate change, the index encourages change in healthcare provision to ensure it meets the needs of communities. Methods: This project makes use of design thinking to determine how future ready cities are to deliver healthcare, including how this can be measured and communicated in a way that raises awareness of the effectiveness of healthcare. Achieving a globally representative design required adopting a ‘data as culture’ approach to the selection of cities, while engaging with ‘subject matter experts’ for the selection of index criteria, and encouraging creativity in the selection of criteria indicators. Workshops at last year’s European Healthcare Design and Healthy City Design congresses informed the design development. Results: We determined a novel scalable approach for ensuring a culturally representative selection of cities. We’ve also engaged with dozens of subject matter experts to determine criteria for the future-readiness of healthcare – for example, ‘ageing and lifestyle’, ‘environment and climate’, and ‘innovation and technology’. We then determined indicators with foresight for these criteria. We also identified a number of insights from gathering data from a selection of pilot cities. Conclusions: This index is designed to compare the future readiness to health challenges of cities around the world, and how ready they will be to meet future healthcare needs. This has included considering data currently available, as well as identifying where new data or judgement are required to ensure inclusive design. We’ve also considered how best to present it to provide insightful global comparison for policymakers, practitioners and researchers in public health and healthcare

Finding public toilets through applications and open data

Besides dementia, nothing is more fear by many older people than incontinence. Whilst the ageing population in the UK grows, Help The Aged (Age UK) found that the number of available public toilet facilities dramatically declined. Due to toilet access difficulties, many older people limit the time and the distances that they are away from home, reducing their quality of life. TACT3 is a 3 year research project looking at ways to help older people with continence management. As part of TACT3, The Helen Hamlyn Centre for Design is exploring how to design-out problems with publicly accessible toilet provision. The research takes an inclusive design approach by interviewing users of public toilets with more extreme needs as well as providers of different facilities and other professionals involved in public toilet provision. The research proposal for a "Great British Public Toilet Map" brings together public participation, local authority input and private developers to address a problem of social value

Engaged: Re-using empty commercial premises as public toilets, as a model within high street regeneration

In this presentation we will share the findings of the first stage of the Engaged project. Engaged aims to put a toilet on every high street, by re-using empty commercial premises to build public toilets. The Engaged model proposes to share premises with start-ups, incubator space or community initiatives, while providing an overlooked public health infrastructure that supports high street regeneration. The toilet facilities will be designed with the local communities through co-design methods, to meet the needs of those otherwise excluded from the high street. The Engaged approach aims to combine the needs of inclusive design, public health, and both financial and environmental sustainability, within the city landscape. The first stage of Engaged was: to test the feasibility of the proposed model within high street regeneration; to identify opportunities & barriers within London Local authority regeneration teams; and to gain insight into mechanisms for funding e.g. business models / grants / proposition within council tender process. To meet these aims, HHCD and Pim.studio architects held a workshop with London council regeneration officers, in May 2022. The online workshop shared the idea of inclusive public toilets, identified opportunities for toilets within specific regeneration schemes, and captured the officers’ barriers to Engaged in general and within each local context. Data was captured through structured online activities in breakout sessions, using the software Miro, which facilitated both the sharing and development of individual ideas and knowledge-sharing between regeneration officers. Data was analysed thematically and used to inform a pre-feasibility study for different models of Engaged, for example, small commercial premises, larger community spaces, and temporary self-contained facilities. The researchers then reframed the Engaged model, based on the workshop findings (in progress). This stage of Engaged informs and complements two further elements: evidencing the UK-wide need for an emphasis on public toilets within high street regeneration through expert engagement, geographic data and a review of government guidance; and the prototyping and testing of a co-design approach with a London community within one of the regeneration schemes identified

Understanding how attitudes towards autonomous vehicles can shape the design of cities

Understanding public attitudes towards autonomous vehicles is an important starting point when designing and engineering future cities, both to ensure acceptance and to deliver social benefits. The GATEway project is a consortium of industry and academic organisations that are establishing a test bed for driverless vehicle technology within public streets in Greenwich, London. Each partner is using public trials to explore the potential for autonomous technology within a city transport network. The Royal College of Art (RCA) is exploring how public attitudes can be used to enhance social benefit. This paper shares the first findings from a series of workshops including people with additional needs, non-drivers, drivers, technology enthusiasts and professional stakeholders. The workshops delved into people's hopes and fears for driverless technologies and used co-design methods to explore how designers can respond when designing autonomous vehicles, the services they provide and the wider urban environment