Open Practices: lessons from co-design of public services for behaviour change

This paper explores what the distinctive value of design may be in a policy context. The paper broadly supports the contention by Smith and Otto (2014) that design offers a “distinct way of knowing that incorporates both analysing and doing in the process of constructing knowledge”. The paper will also outline potential limitations of the direct translating of design practice and methods into a policy context. To achieve this, the paper uses insights gained from an on-going design research project, Open Practices, which aims to co-design services and policy interventions to enable sustainable behaviour change. In this case, co-design, as a method and context for policy design, interweaves alternative ideas and perspectives (e.g. interdisciplinary knowledge, desirable visions of future behaviours), new policy practices (e.g. co-creation, policy labs, practical experiments, ethnographic study) and new social relations (e.g. new networks and actors).

Older adult insights for age friendly environments, products and service Systems.

  The environments we grow old in present a challenge to be adaptive to our changing needs and limitations. Environments, in the context of this paper, are the spaces, products and product service systems that we engage with, alone or with others, within and outside the home. A design coalition (Manzini, 2015) was generated between a number of academic Institutions and ISAX (Ireland Smart Ageing Exchange) an ‘ageing think tank’ organisation in Ireland. The intention of this coalition was to generate awareness of needs requirements for age friendly environments and to provide an example of how participatory design research can inform innovation in business and policy development at a local and state level. A five-week study was conducted using design and ethnographic methods with twenty-two Older Adult participants (age range 69 – 80).  The themes of study were identified as: Mobility, Public Spaces, Safety, Social Engagement, Services & Facilities. Cultural probes, semi-structured interviews and user observation, by both researchers and older adult participants, were used as methods to identify the unmet needs of participants within the sample group. A Co-Design Symposium (http://info.isax.ie/national-co-design-symposium )was held during June 2016 as an opportunity to demonstrate to a wider stakeholder audience the needs identified from this study. This Symposium was attended by over 100 people of various backgrounds (town planners, architects, transport experts, retailers, builders, health and other service providers). The older adult participants and designers (staff and researchers from the School of Design at the University of Limerick, IT Carlow, Limerick Institute of Technology and Limerick School of Art & Design) were placed within a team of ten. The research was presented using audio/visual presentation as well as artefacts from the fieldwork, completed diaries, scrapbooks, storyboards etc. Solutions were worked on, and delivered at end of day. This Symposium has impacted positively whereby policy makers in local government have invited ISAX to further discuss research outcomes and needs of older adults as a means to develop access areas in and around Limerick City. This paper outlines in further detail the design research methods used and the benefits through design education Student/ Researcher /Stakeholder collaboration by application ‘in the ‘field’ and displays the effectiveness of design coalitions in influencing and affecting change and insight into policy. It highlights how Co-Design collaborations can impact and generate design solutions that improve day to day experiences. Keywords: Older Adults, Co-Design, Needs Identification, Collaborative Coalitions, Product Service Systems

Older adult insights for age friendly environments, products and service Systems

The environments we grow old in present a challenge to be adaptive to our changing needs and limitations. Environments, in the context of this paper, are the spaces, products and product service systems that we engage with, alone or with others, within and outside the home. A design coalition (Manzini, 2015) was generated between a number of academic Institutions and ISAX (Ireland Smart Ageing Exchange) an ‘ageing think tank’ organisation in Ireland. The intention of this coalition was to generate awareness of needs requirements for age friendly environments and to provide an example of how participatory design research can inform innovation in business and policy development at a local and state level. A five-week study was conducted using design and ethnographic methods with twenty-two Older Adult participants (age range 69 – 80). The themes of study were identified as: Mobility, Public Spaces, Safety, Social Engagement, Services & Facilities. Cultural probes, semi-structured interviews and user observation, by both researchers and older adult participants, were used as methods to identify the unmet needs of participants within the sample group. A Co-Design Symposium (http://info.isax.ie/national-co-design-symposium) was held during June 2016 as an opportunity to demonstrate to a wider stakeholder audience the needs identified from this study. This Symposium was attended by over 100 people of various backgrounds (town planners, architects, transport experts, retailers, builders, health and other service providers). The older adult participants and designers (staff and researchers from the School of Design at the University of Limerick, IT Carlow, Limerick Institute of Technology and Limerick School of Art & Design) were placed within a team of ten. The research was presented using audio/visual presentation as well as artefacts from the fieldwork, completed diaries, scrapbooks, storyboards etc. Solutions were worked on, and delivered at end of day. This Symposium has impacted positively whereby policy makers in local government have invited ISAX to further discuss research outcomes and needs of older adults as a means to develop access areas in and around Limerick City. This paper outlines in further detail the design research methods used and the benefits through design education Student/ Researcher /Stakeholder collaboration by application ‘in the ‘field’ and displays the effectiveness of design coalitions in influencing and affecting change and insight into policy. It highlights how Co-Design collaborations can impact and generate design solutions that improve day to day experiences

Older Adults insights for age-friendly environments, products and service systems

This paper expands on discussion of conference paper titled the same and at invitation of organising committee of E+PDE conference 2017The environments we grow old in present a challenge to be adaptive to our changing needs and limitations. Environments, in the context of this paper, are the spaces, products and product service systems that we engage with, alone or with others, within and outside the home. A design coalition (Manzini, 2015) was generated between a number of academic Institutions and ISAX (Ireland Smart Ageing Exchange) an ‘ageing think tank’ organisation in Ireland. The intention of this coalition was to generate awareness of needs requirements for age friendly environments and to provide an example of how participatory design research can inform innovation in business and policy development at a local and state level. A five-week study was conducted using design and ethnographic methods with twenty-two older adult participants (age range 69 – 80). The themes of study were identified as: mobility, public spaces, safety, social engagement, services & facilities. Cultural probes, semi-structured interviews and user observation, by both researchers and older adult participants, were used as methods to identify the unmet needs of participants within the sample group. A Co-Design Symposium (http://info.isax.ie/national-co-design-symposium) was held during June 2016 as an opportunity to demonstrate to a wider stakeholder audience the needs identified from this study. This Symposium was attended by over 100 people of various backgrounds (town planners, architects, transport experts, retailers, builders, health and other service providers). The older adult participants and designers (staff and researchers from the School of Design at the University of Limerick, IT Carlow, Limerick Institute of Technology and Limerick School of Art & Design) were placed within teams of ten. The research was presented using audio/visual presentation as well as artefacts from the fieldwork, completed diaries, scrapbooks, storyboards etc. Solutions were worked on, and delivered at the end of the day. This Symposium has impacted positively whereby policy makers in local government have invited ISAX to further discuss research outcomes and the needs of older adults as a means to develop access areas in and around Limerick City. This paper outlines in further detail the design research methods used, and the benefits through design education Student/ Researcher /Stakeholder collaboration by application ‘in the ‘field’ and displays the effectiveness of design coalitions in influencing and affecting change and insight into policy. It highlights how co-design collaborations can impact and generate design solutions that improve day to day experiences

Circular design project. Educating the design community in sustainable design

Design has a key role to play in developing innovative solutions to current challenges – approaches that must consider the needs of end users and integrate sustainability criteria in processes and strategies for creating products and services. The Circular Design Project (http://circulardesigneurope.eu/) is a European project funded by Erasmus+ Knowledge Alliance within the social business and the educational innovation field. The goal of this Circular Design project is to promote sustainable production and consumption of products and services in Europe. The project have four objectives: to increase and improve the learning strategies of Design for Sustainability, identifying opportunities for sustainably designed products and services as well as business opportunities in both higher education institutions and industries in Europe; To gather and cluster open educational resources and training courses for industry staff and academics in Innovative Design for Sustainability; To train up innovative and entrepreneurial designers who are capable of dealing with a transition towards Design for Sustainability as a mainstream design approach, as well as to promote cooperation and mobility with the EU’s partner countries; and to establish a basis for a permanent and active European Network of Design for Sustainability. This was achieved through a knowledge co-creation process and the development and pilot training materials in order to teach and train students, faculty and enterprise staff of the design sector. The project formed by 12 partners is organised around four country hubs in Ireland, The Netherlands, Catalonia and Sweden. Each country Hub consists of one university with education and research in Sustainable Design, one Design company with expertise in sustainable Design and one national design association. The project main results are: • The Open Educational Resources database (http://circulardesigneurope.eu/oer/) where resources in Circular design are clustered in three taxonomies: Categories (First-timers; Practitioners), Level (Beginner; Intermediate; Advanced) and Tags (calculator; report; …). • The Best Practice Publication, shows the whole design process, materials, challenges, problems and other key issues of Circular Design case studies within sectors like technology, furniture, clothing, lighting or packaging, to demonstrate that circular design strategies can be applied to improve the efficiency of almost every system. • Four international one semester internships for undergraduate design students in the four universities involved in the project with the participation of 11 companies and 45 students. • The Circular Design Digital Fabrication Lab Handbook to introduce students, companies and academics to the open-source, participatory, experimental and design & build approach within digital fabrication labs. • The Professional Development Course in circular design. • The Policy Paper in Circular Design EducationObjectius de Desenvolupament Sostenible::4 - Educació de QualitatObjectius de Desenvolupament Sostenible::12 - Producció i Consum ResponsablesPostprint (published version

Best practice publication in circular design. Circular design: learning for innovative design for sustainability

Postprint (published version