Week Ten
Lecture Notes:
Lecture Summary:
A really interesting and insightful lecture with Hefin Jones, I think what he’s been doing is really interesting in the ways that he has involved himself within a community where his family has various connections. I also think there is such an interesting research method with involving the local youth centre to be apart of the project in redesigning the abandoned coal mine to be a space centre and the effects that this would have no the community and Wales as a whole. All this service design information is really new to me, so hearing him talk about service design as a profession and how he wanted to change his insights and his direction was really interesting and I look forward to doing more research about his two projects: welsh space campaign and cosmic colliery.
I also just wanted to highlight the advice that he gave to us doing the workshop project this week as I think it’ll help:
o How do you begin to consider how you act and who you involve
o Responsiveness
o Weaving kiosks
o Responsibilities
o About being honest with yourself and what you’re interested in
o Focus on people
o Think across different scales
o Different species
o Scales of involvement
o Moment in the moment you are in
o Sensitivity to that situation
o We have to ask common sense things, what are you comfortable with?
o What is a normal way of acting?
o We have to carry through sensibilities
o How I learnt to be around people
o Separate to design
o Ways of being in the world, that become part of your capacity
Resource Notes:
R1
R2
R3
Resource Summary:
R1
A really interesting resource highlighting a lot of the activism movements that have happened over the last decades but at the end outlining some of the key movements that would be interesting to learn and do more research about. Code Pink. Pierre Et Gilles, Sarah Maple and Eca Eps - graphic posters movement and activism movements have clearly come a long way since the digital age which was interesting to note from this resource, as the word can be spread further. It would be interesting to note or to compare activism movements now, to how they were last century.
Code Pink
Pierre Et Gilles
Sarah Maple
Eca Eps
Research:
Research and Reveal
Hefin Jones
When researching Hefin Jones, there were 3 projects that really stood out for me and those were;
Cosmic Colliery
Comic Colliery was a project that allowed Hefin Jones to work within the communities to talk about how they could redesign abandoned coal mines. How this could potentially become an under water astronaut training programme, by seeing how close he could get with the community engagement. This was a project that was never going to happen but one of the points he did want to prove was how they should look at the children as the future. The interesting video below also lays out some of the key points within the Cosmic Colliery Project and his residency project, Welsh Space Centre. http://hefinjones.co.uk/cosmic-colliery
“The Welsh Space Campaign started in 2012. It reimagined the role of Welsh industries, culture, skills and traditions in the cosmic context. Hefin combined traditional crafts and Welsh heritage with the iconography of space travel and the result was a space suit designed and made by local wool and crafts-people, plumbers and clog makers.
Jones also produced a short documentary, which includes interviews with his family and members of the local Welsh community who helped design the space suit. The project aimed to show that Wales has the capacity to explore outer space.” https://www.designindaba.com/videos/interviews/hefin-jones-socially-engaged-design
The inside of the old coal mine.
A poster made for the design.
A logo made for the design.
The team of young people helping Hefin with the project.
Do you feel part of something?
Within this project, Hefin partnered with Dr Tarak Virani, to try and look at what community means to us in the current day. Hefin took the research that was collected and made it in to a film, that includes some of the interviews with people. This started conversation about what it means to belong to a place within London. Hefin’s research also helped Tarak with his paper on micro communities, that looks at communities within a regeneration of parts of the city. The video below Is the video that was made by Hefin as an outcome for the project.
Asking the question, do you feel part of something?
Hefin focused his research on certain activities: a boxing gym, a wheelchair basketball team, and a marquetry club, gives insight into how participation in these micro-communities impacts people in both a personal and communal sense.
Personal aspirations and challenges that they have by being apart of something. This allows for the people within these communities to have a conversation and to appreciate and understand why they are within that community and what matters most to them.
Us
Although not a huge community project like the others of Hefin’s work, this one stood out to me because on the difference that he could make to the young people that are attending these sessions. This is apart of the design museum young creative programme, they meet and work alongside designers that are working on projects and are hopefully inspired to look at different avenues for creativity and to explore their own creative ambitions. Us, provided the celebration of the work that was being created and an insight into the people and the work that has been created.
From all of these projects, there is a common theme of community and community need. I want to do more research around community projects that have brought people together and improved community life so this can influence my workshop design this week.
Urban Community Projects
Urban Community Projects, is a community that is based in Somers Town Community Centre in Kings Cross. The things that they offer for young people is amazing and I think the things they are doing are truly making a difference for the people that surround this youth centre. They run a food bank from the community centre but they also run a project thats called One mic, One life. This is how they describe this project on their website: “to deter young people from getting involved in knife and gang crime. Yes we’re slightly off the pace, but we wanted to get our online package right. Spending a few weeks to see where our young people are engaging; and what methods to adopt that would reach them the most.
Young people can now access online varied activities and flexible support; which includes creative workshops, group and fitness activities, one to one support and advice and access to employment, training.” As well as these two project, they also run an money matters evening once a week, that enables people to become educated about how to spend and put their money in the right places. I think this is such a clever idea as this isn’t something that can be taught at school and could help the young people or younger generations get to grips with how to spend their money. The result of this is : “Last year we supported 918 service users throughout Camden. 88% of these local people and families live on estates which fall within 14% of the most deprived in London.
Our mission is to support as many families as we can, by empowering them to become real leaders in their communities. Last year we helped 142 people into employment and training 88 into PAID work. In one year our mobile food bank helped 482 people out of food poverty and over the last 2 years has given out £17,477 worth of food donations to 782 local people and families.
Last year our ‘One Mic, One Life’ project engaged over 171 children and young people who took part in fun and exciting workshops culminating in an Awareness Event for the whole community.
We have an incredible network of regular volunteers, who dedicate an average of 8 hours a month helping to run Camden Mobile Food Bank and work with local families and partners on our various projects and initiatives.” https://www.urbancommunityprojects.org.uk
Assemble
I came across Assemble a couple of years ago on my BA degree course, I have always admired the projects that they continuously do to improve community life. This is how they describe themselves: “Assemble is a multi-disciplinary collective working across architecture, design and art. Founded in 2010 to undertake a single self-built project, Assemble has since delivered a diverse and award-winning body of work, whilst retaining a democratic and co-operative working method that enables built, social and research-based work at a variety of scales, both making things and making things happen.” https://assemblestudio.co.uk/about
One of the projects that stood out for me recently, was the Seven Sisters Tube station in London, they undertook to turn this abandoned space and turn it into something that the community can use. They worked with: “Ceramicists, station staff and local residents will be experimenting with tile making and ceramic glazing to perfect new skills, which will feed into a final design project, realised along the station approach in the summer.” https://www.designweek.co.uk/issues/30-november-6-december/designers-take-over-tube-stations-for-community-projects/ They turned the space into something that was beautiful but also a space the the community could use as an introduction to ceramics. “"The colourful approach we decided upon came from an extended period of experimentation in the studio," said Matthew Raw, a Royal College of Art graduate who specialises in working with clay. "As a result, each tile is a bespoke composition of different clay mixtures.'“ https://www.dezeen.com/2017/12/20/assemble-matthew-raw-covers-entrance-seven-sisters-station-colourful-handmade-tiles-london/
The other community project that came to my mind straight away was Granby Winter Gardens which was apart of a regeneration project up north. It is a new shared garden for the locals with an arts residency space, this allows for the community to come together to help build and construct this but also a space that they can come together to be a community. https://www.archdaily.com/956891/granby-winter-garden-assemble?ad_source=search&ad_medium=search_result_projects
Hillington
Another community project that was similar to Assembles, was Hillington. They redesigned and remodelled a community space, it has suffered various problems over the years but there was a design company in London that saw the light for this 320 house estate. “To resolve these issues, the design team worked with the government's Behavioural Insights Team to understand what architectural features make residents feel safe and improve their quality of life, and used the findings to develop a masterplan., Instead, they added separate staircases and lifts to each block, giving each home its own direct access. According to Ely, this improves security and helps to foster a greater sense of ownership – problems many estates suffer from.” https://www.dezeen.com/2016/01/14/mae-architects-hemingway-design-alex-ely-renovation-1960s-housing-estate-hillington-square-kings-lynn-norfolk/
Current Window by Marjan van Aubel
Marjan van Aubel's Current Window, which uses a layer of solar cells to convert sunlight to electrical energy that can be used to charge devices, Although this isn’t directly a social issue, I think designs that can help move forward with community living are really impactful. This one is a really interesting and clever use of recycled materials that has been used to make a window. https://www.dezeen.com/2016/08/29/stedelijk-museum-dreaming-out-loud-social-design-exhibition-amsterdam-netherlands/
Patrick Grant’s Community Clothing project
“Patrick Grant’s Community Clothing project is seeking to revive British clothes manufacturing via a network of factories in the north of England and Scotland. What also links these three very distinct brands is Grant’s determination to combat the wastefulness of ‘fast fashion’ and develop a socially-minded business, while helping to support some of the UK’s longest-established textile manufacturers. This whole process makes the clothes expensive – and it’s one of the main reasons that consumers who would readily buy British-made garments are forced to look elsewhere for cheaper alternatives. In setting up Community Clothing and issuing a set of standardised designs, Grant is attempting to counter the problems many factories have been facing with the desire for affordable British-made garments. (Community Clothing’s successful Kickstarter campaign earlier this year saw £88k pledged under the banner of ‘Making Clothes; Creating Jobs; Restoring Pride’.) “I just put the two together and decided that we could start a business that just supplied really simple basics,” he says. “The whole reason you can’t fill the gaps in fashion is because you don’t know what you’re going to be making in six months’ time – the product is only being designed and shown now.” Grant’s solution is to produce clothes that use very standardised materials. As Community Clothing generates a surplus, this money can be ploughed back into other projects, such as a centralised sewing apprenticeship programme, which will serve the factories. “Within Lancashire there are still multiple sewing businesses – two are already signed up to the Community Clothing network,” says Grant. “If we can provide partly-trained apprenticeships into those businesses, then it helps create the sense that there are long-term prospects. Nobody wants a career where they can only go and work in one factory and then that’s it. If we can help foster the sense of buoyancy within the industry as a whole then I think it helps with recruiting new people.” https://www.creativereview.co.uk/patrick-grants-community-clothing-project/
I think the thing that stood out for me with this community project, was how Patrick is trying to change the game for the fashion industry but also try and help the community that are in need around him. I really applaud his idea and how he started this from a kickstarter idea that has then just taken off.
HOW ART IS HELPING CITIES AND TOWNS RECOVER FROM COVID-19
Again not directly a community project but something that can help towns and cities is people that are painting happy vibrant paintings in and around cities. I think this is another social issue that has become prominent, the more cities are becoming built and crammed the more dreary parts of the city seems to look so run down. https://www.creativereview.co.uk/how-art-is-helping-cities-and-towns-recover-from-covid-19/
issue of wide-spread loneliness
I came across this article that although isn’t directly related to the community around them, its about how to deal with a social issue as a graphic designer. I think this is such a lovely project, as it allows people to tell their stories, whether they want to be anonymous or not and know they aren’t going crazy with the things that they are doing. The visuals and graphics make it seem like its in the darkness with the stars in the sky which I assume are meant to be other people. This is what the designer says about her creation: "A few months ago, I started collecting stories from people about their real experiences with loneliness. I started small, asking my immediate network to share with their friends/family, and was flooded with submissions from people of all ages and walks of life.
"The Loneliness Project is an interactive web archive I created to present and give these stories a home online. I believe in design as a tool to elevate others' voices. Stories have tremendous power to spark empathy, and I believe that the relationship between design and emotion only strengthens this power.
"I use illustration, animation, and sound to craft a fully immersive and interactive experience that encourages visitors to get lost in the stories, closing the gap between their lives and those of the storytellers. I aim to use design to effect real-world change.
"People don’t talk about loneliness, but the influx of stories I received shows how universal and human it is. For many people, our digitized world is isolating—creating networks but no real connections. My project, living in that same online space, leverages digital design to repair this disconnect. By starting conversations about loneliness we can combat isolation and cultivate compassion—for others and for ourselves."“ https://www.creativeboom.com/inspiration/graphic-designer-tackles-issue-of-wide-spread-loneliness-in-moving-campaign/
Holbeck Together's
Another project that is trying to mend the community through graphics is this one, “ Holbeck in Leeds is one of the most deprived districts in the UK, but still boasts an active, thriving network of volunteers and community activists—as exemplified by the charity Holbeck Elderly Action, now renamed Holbeck Together.” “They started out helping older people and have grown into now helping the whole community. In one of the poorest towns in the UK, they are a lifeline for some of the people living there."
The name change reflected the charity's refocusing in light of its move to help people in the wider community who needed support, not just the elderly. "The brief was to devise a new brand identity that would reflect the new and more inclusive purpose of Holbeck Together while keeping it firmly rooted in this historic part of Leeds," says Smith.
The new H logo aims to give a sense of reassurance in that it can be interpreted as "a warm embrace," says Smith. This works alongside a new colour palette that looks to accentuate the idea of warmth and positivity by using the blue and yellow of the former branding and brightening it to feel more welcoming.
A suite of new illustrations was created that aim to be eye-catching and underscore that idea of friendliness, reflecting the community's diversity and some of its key landmarks. The overall identity looks to "put people at the heart of the charity, and emphasise the welcoming, down-to-earth approach that Holbeck Together prides itself on," says Smith. "Holbeck Together now has a consistent identity that is friendly and instantly recognisable for its scores of vulnerable users, yet professional enough to elevate the brands status within the wider third-sector and corporate contexts."“ https://www.creativeboom.com/inspiration/-holbeck/
Its really inspiring to see the new things that are done for each and every person especially this charity, I really like the new identity for this project and putting people at the heart of the charity just feels like the right thing to do.
Workshop:
This week we want you to identify a theme or issue that relates to your locality and present your findings on the Ideas Wall, prior to the design phase.
Research and discover issues that relate to your locality and post them on the Ideas Wall. Direct engagement and potential collaboration is encouraged to engage with relevant local communities to identify issues.
I’ve discovered from my research that there are a lot of social problems within Southampton but I am unsure how to now relate those to reveal a visual outcome.
My main areas so far:
Southamptons topics:
This then led me to do more research from some of the areas above through the news and police website and respected websites.
Crime Rates:
Air Pollution:
Racism:
Obesity:
Child Poverty:
Food Banks:
Child Wellbeing:
My Initial ideas:
Air Pollution
Something I've mentioned before but one of the major issues with Southampton being a port, is the amount of air pollution that there is within the city, with this causing over 100 deaths per year. The air pollution did fall by half over lockdown but it's climbing once more. I had an idea of creating an app that allowed you to hire a bike or to compare the time it would take you to get to your destination across all available transport (congestion is also got a lot worse in Southampton in recent years) I thought this would then allow people to judge how to get to their destination, although this might already exist?
Child Poverty / Food Banks
The recent school meal problems that happened over lockdown have really highlighted to me how bad child poverty is within Southampton with 1 in 3 children living in poverty. I had an idea of making some meal cards at food banks ( a bit like Gousto), allowing people to combine basic tinned products and make different meals out of them to make them stretch a bit further.
Child Obesity / Adult Obesity
Within Southampton there is a higher obesity rate to the rest of the UK, with a lot of children and adults being inactive. Again another app idea or card idea that could be placed around Southampton as part of a fitness trail that could be followed, to get people moving.
Crime Rates
Within my area over lockdown, doing some research on the police website, there have been a lot more crime activity with 50% of reports being abuse or sexual assault. Now I'm not sure how to really solve this one in a graphical sense, but crime rates do seem to be on the rise. This is something that I would have to think about a bit more.
After doing some more research into something possible for the air pollution idea, I found out that Southampton already has a transport planning app.
After all of this research, I think I need more of a niche problem or something that isn’t effecting everyone and only Southampton. I think that air pollution, due to it being the worst in the UK and obesity, I feel I could combine these two issues that would then create a visual outcome. To identify other ideas I am going to do a brain storm and also wait for some feedback on the ideas wall. Or I may have possibly over complicated the ideas and need to strip it back to something more simple.
After speaking to some friends about the issues within Southampton, there was a mention of the lack of space for art shows and science festivals and cultural centre for all the above. I started looking into this more and came across a page that has a bid to show off all this culture that Southampton has to offer by 2025. https://www.southampton2025.co.uk
https://www.southampton2025.co.uk
The above video does show a lot of the different aspects of Southampton, but I wonder if all of this could then be placed within a space or a centre - then again - what is a visual outcome classed as within this weeks workshop?
I decided to focus on the Fitness Trail App for obesity but I am concerned that this is a big project.
I did some research and there seems to be a lot of variations of a fitness trail but only one that sounds similar to my idea which is by a Spanish company. Some of the examples of the fitness trail are below:
2. Distill your research to identify one issue you would like to resolve and reveal through a visual outcome.
After having a tutorial with a Ben, I have decided to take two topics in a slightly different direction. I am going with the topics Air Pollution and Obesity, but this time my questions have really changed. I will Outline both of the problems below with more research into air pollution / cycle friendly roads and then put together both briefs so that I am able decide which one I have more information on.
Air Pollution / Cycle Friendly Roads Southampton.
One of the main problems within Southampton is the air pollution that is coming from the amount of increased congestion as-well as the airport and the port. We are known to being one of the worst cities in the UK for air pollution, but the council hasn’t really done anything about it. Over lockdown in 2020, Cycle lanes were invested into the main roads around the city to make them more bike friendly, allowing bikes to in some cases have their own lane. This was a trail period for the city to see how it would cope with congestion aswell as how the bike users would find the lanes. During this period using my own observation, there were a lot more people using the bike lanes that were provided but the congestion around the city got a lot worse due to the loss of a lane. This ended in the council taking away some of the bike lanes that were implemented so congestion could improve. Air pollution is an ongoing problem with levels only decreasing in a time when the world shut down, although the council still encourage to use another mode of transport other than a car throughout the city.
I am interested in, if a cycling event or new cycling maps throughout the city would encourage different cyclists to take their bike instead of a car. This has been done before in terms of SkyRide, where some of the roads within the centre of Southampton were closed and made cycle friendly for a weekend. This causes some angry drivers but I wonder how this effects the air pollution within Southampton?
One of the main excitements of SkyRide, a previously organised event, is that you are able to cycle in parts of Southampton that aren’t normally bike friendly. This encourages many people on a bike to see what its like to cycle around Southampton with no risk at being injured by cars. This event first started in 2009, but has since stopped running. The event would have a stand section, a start and a end to the ride but also a limited time for the roads to be closed, I think in the previous instances it was 11-3pm, giving a 4 hour window for all the cyclist to complete the course. After doing more research on the topic, I can confirm its still running, called lets ride Southampton in association with British Cycling and HSBC. I have inserted a map below of the route that was taken on these days. They call this a cycling festival. “On Sunday 21 July, we closed the roads of Southampton to traffic and hosted a free cycling festival. Music, street food, stunt shows, face painting and more – it all happened! Thanks to everyone who came along – the atmosphere was fantastic and we really hope you enjoyed the day.” https://www.letsride.co.uk/events/southampton
It’s really interesting that they have done this on a quieter part of Southampton to reduce the amount of disturbance that is taking place. In my research I have also found a map of the cycle routes around Southampton, but I wouldn’t say that this is user friendly graphics. They have based it around London tube map but I am sure that this isn’t easy to read or to visually understand. https://transport.southampton.gov.uk/connected-southampton-2040/southampton-cycle-network/
On further research, I have also found that 11million has been put into making Southampton User Friendly.
I have also found information about Southampton aim to be connected by 2040. This includes;
Another 30,000 people will be living in Southampton, the equivalent of adding a town the size of Windsor - this could result in 74,000 more people making trips across the city each day
Southampton is an international maritime hub. The Port will continue to grow in future, with the volume of goods and cruise ships passing through expected to double by 2040
Some pockets of Southampton are among the most deprived in England. People living there rely more on public transport, and being close to busy roads means they can experience higher levels of air pollution. Improved transport can connect people to jobs, improve air quality, and enable people to walk and cycle for shorter journeys
Congestion costs the city around £100m a year, and as the city grows congestion could increase. We must plan and invest to reduce congestion and its negative impacts
They also mention:
A ‘Liveable’ City Centre
Over time, we are planning to turn the City Centre into a place where people want to live, work, and spend time. Transport can make this happen by ensuring it’s easy for people to walk, cycle or use the Mass Transit System. It can also contribute to creating attractive public spaces that people want to visit. Check out our work in Guildhall Square for a taster of how this is already taking shape.
Active Travel Zones
We will work with local communities to roll out a network of Active Travel Zones in your neighbourhoods. These zones will seek to encourage people to walk and cycle for short trips, providing a wider range of clean and green travel options and introducing measures that help to discourage traffic.
A Better Way to Travel – supporting people to change how they move around the city by widening their healthy and clean travel choices by encouraging them to get around actively and healthily, and helping Southampton become a zero emission city.
https://transport.southampton.gov.uk/connected-southampton-2040/
I then also went to look at some of the reports in what Southampton are aiming to do with the high levels of Air pollution that there is within the city. One of the measures really stuck out for me, and it was 3 ticks on the air quality impact, so why haven’t Southampton sorted this cycling problem out yet?
I also found this lovely chart that looks at what is contributing to the pollution, and either half and a quarter of it is from car congestion. https://www.southampton.gov.uk/images/air-quality-action-plan-november-2009_tcm63-427002.pdf Which can be seen in the purples in the pie chart below:
“Majority of Southampton residents want to cycle, but safety must improve. Sustrans' BikeLife report has revealed that 61% of residents in the Southampton City Region already cycle or want to start. But 75% agree that cycling safety in the area needs to be improved” March 2020 https://www.sustrans.org.uk/our-blog/news/2020/march/majority-of-southampton-residents-want-to-cycle-but-safety-must-improve
“The health, social and economic benefits of cycling for everyday journeys are clear. Bike Life calculated that 18.2 million trips were made by bike in the Southampton City Region in the past year, equating to a £28.8 million benefit to the city based on aspects such as vehicle costs, health, travel time and congestion.” https://www.sustrans.org.uk/our-blog/news/2020/march/majority-of-southampton-residents-want-to-cycle-but-safety-must-improve
The below stats have been taken from: https://www.sustrans.org.uk/media/5953/bikelife19_southamptoncr_web.pdf
There are more maps that also seem equally confusing and not simple: https://www.southampton.ac.uk/~assets/doc/estates-and-facilities/transport/SCC%20Bike%20guide.pdf
http://cyclists-dismount.blogspot.com/2017/02/signage-for-southampton-city-cycle.html
Here are some of the examples of cycle events that happen throughout Southampton:
Here are some of the case studies that look at improving cycle signage:
“Future Maps – “lover of design, print and cartography” – has created this map of Berlin, which it says shows all the intricacies of the city “whether walking from Charlottenburg to Neukolln, biking on the hyper organised cycle paths or jumping on the U-Bahn”. The map comes in either “aqua, champagne and apple” or “forest, orange or pewter”” https://www.designweek.co.uk/inspiration/berlin-street-map-by-future-maps/
“Released by the cycling brand’s publishing imprint Rapha Editions, Cartes du Tour features at least one map from each of the tour’s 105 editions, along with accompanying text by cycling historian Paul Fournel that gives the cultural context of its cartography.”https://www.creativereview.co.uk/the-cartography-of-the-tour-de-france/
“Mayor Sadiq Khan and Transport for London (TfL) announced that temporary cycle lanes are being planned for major routes around the city, and on-street parking and car lanes will be commandeered to create wider pavements.
"Many Londoners have rediscovered the joys of walking and cycling during lockdown and, by quickly and cheaply widening pavements, creating temporary cycle lanes and closing roads to through traffic we will enable millions more people to change the way they get around our city," said the mayor.” https://www.dezeen.com/2020/05/07/london-new-york-paris-milan-cyclists-pedestrians/
Obesity
One in Three adults are Obese In Southampton
68% of Adults are Obese
25% of adults are inactive
Over 5,000 Hospital Admissions were Obesity was the Primary or Secondary Cause.
Obesity can cause cancer, heart attacks, stroke and type 2 diabetes, while putting unnecessary strain on NHS services
“Obesity is a national problem but Southampton City Council is committed to giving every child a good start in life and ensuring people of all ages live healthy independent lives. “We are tackling obesity locally by working in partnership to make healthy eating and physical activity easier for all.”
Southampton health boss councillor Dave Shields
“Tackling obesity is fundamentally an issue about healthy and sustainable living for current and future generations. This is only likely to be achieved if there is a paradigm shift in thinking, not just by Government but by individuals, families, business and society as a whole.” https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/287937/07-1184x-tackling-obesities-future-choices-report.pdf
Exercise can:
improve your sleep
clear your mind
boost your energy
help with back or joint pain
There is also research that talks about the gap of deprived and more well off areas In relation to obesity.
Having one obese adult or child within the family can put strain on the rest of the family.
“To help your child eat better and be more physically active, you need to get involved. Better yet, the entire family should be on board, including siblings, aunts, uncles, grandparents and other caregivers.
Research has shown that children have the most success losing or stabilizing weight when a family approach is taken. The opposite also may be true. If the family isn't on board and isn't ready to make significant changes in the foods eaten and the amount of time spent being active, studies have shown it can do the child more harm than good, as it may make the child feel like a failure or think that he or she will never be able to lose weight.” https://www.ucsfbenioffchildrens.org/education/a-family-approach-to-weight-loss-is-best
“The entire family should be engaged and focused on being healthy. It's not about losing weight as much as it's about eating right and being active in order to be healthy. When everyone in the family gets involved, it shows that eating healthy foods is not a diet for losing weight, but rather it's a diet for being strong, fit and healthy, and it's good for the entire family. Also, it's not about short-term changes or quick solutions. When the family is on board and committed to making lifelong behavior changes, it highlights the positive while moving toward something good: a happier, healthier family.”
https://www.ucsfbenioffchildrens.org/education/a-family-approach-to-weight-loss-is-best
https://www.southampton.gov.uk/images/physical-activity-strategy_tcm63-405221.pdf
3. Write a short 200-word project brief that reports on the issue to be solved.
Air Pollution / Cycle Routes
Within Southampton, over 100 deaths each year are linked to the high air pollution from congestion and the port within Southampton. Southampton has been working on trying to improve this figure and lower air pollution by making a lot of the roads more cycle friendly, with them being 4 years into a 10 year cycling plan that looks at improving all cycling links. But from observation within the city, a small amount of people use the cycling lanes that are provided, from research I have found that nearly 80% of Southampton residents think safety for cycling needs improvement and with over 30% wanting to cycle but are afraid. Every day, cycling takes 17,000 cars off the road which saves 8,800 tones of greenhouse gas emissions just within Southampton. In previous years there have been events, such as SkyRide and Let’s Ride that have closed roads within Southampton once a year to enable cyclists to rule the roads just for one day. Across Southampton there also seems to be a lack of signage or clear cycle maps that allow people to just get on a bike knowing that its along a cycle path.
Question:
How can we make cycle maps and routes for Southampton clearer and easier to understand for all users?
My first solution to this problem would be improving the Southampton cyclist maps as they currently resemble a bad version of the London Tube Line, I feel this would then able anyone that is wanting to cycle within Southampton to be able to see the routes around the city.
Question:
How can we boost confidence in Southampton cyclists whilst decreasing amount of vehicles on the road?
My second solution to this problem would be to have an cycling event more often in Southampton, closing the roads to motor vehicle users and making them open to cyclists just for one day a week or even one day a month. I feel then this would allow cyclists to feel more confident cycling around Southampton but to also lower air pollution.
Needs and Requirements?
Obesity
Within Southampton, over 68% of adults are obese with 25% of adults being inactive, with a lot of children also being obese. 20% of adults within Southampton say they don’t exercise at all with a lot of the barriers for adults participating in physical activity are; unable to access to facilities, lack of time and the cost of some activities. Physical activity is also lower among women than men, which is concerning. Southampton are working hard to improve the obesity and fitness levels across Southampton, by launching a service called my journey and active days that it encourages families to get involved in healthy lifestyle choices, but this is a small part of the solution. The councils also has aims to try encourage people to use more open spaces to participate in physical activity, to review the available facilities and finally to try and promote opportunities to be active, trialling innovative ways to change lifestyles. In recent years, there have been events such as Race for Life and the Colour run but there are also smaller classes that are happening on greenspaces locally. If there was a more regular events for inactive groups, that were more accessible for everyone, I feel that this would increase the amount of people sustaining an active lifestyle in Southampton.
Question:
How can we encourage families to engage in active classes and events happening within Southampton’s green spaces?
My first solution for this would be to run regular events or experiences for women, families and children in Southampton. I feel this would allow everyone to be encouraged to partake in easy access varied activities weekly. That would hopefully results in the decrease of obesity.
My second solution would be to design a service that would group all the free activities within Southampton together, so classes and groups are easy to find and access, as there is no platform at the moment that offers this. I feel that this would then allow for the green open spaces to be used more for physical activity, which they are not at the moment.
Needs and Requirements.
4. Design and produce a visual summary to contextualise your issue and project brief. Your summary can be a digital, print or moving image, but it must be succinct, to enable third party viewers to quickly understand the requirements, needs and challenges.
After some thinking, the brief that I was finding most interesting was this one.
Air Pollution / Cycle Routes
Within Southampton, over 100 deaths each year are linked to the high air pollution from congestion and the port within Southampton. Southampton has been working on trying to improve this figure and lower air pollution by making a lot of the roads more cycle friendly, with them being 4 years into a 10 year cycling plan that looks at improving all cycling links. But from observation within the city, a small amount of people use the cycling lanes that are provided, from research I have found that nearly 80% of Southampton residents think safety for cycling needs improvement and with over 30% wanting to cycle but are afraid. Every day, cycling takes 17,000 cars off the road which saves 8,800 tones of greenhouse gas emissions just within Southampton. In previous years there have been events, such as SkyRide and Let’s Ride that have closed roads within Southampton once a year to enable cyclists to rule the roads just for one day. Across Southampton there also seems to be a lack of signage or clear cycle maps that allow people to just get on a bike knowing that its along a cycle path.
Question:
How can we make cycle maps and routes for Southampton clearer and easier to understand for all users?
I think if I am going for this brief I will need to write it to surround the cycle maps and routes.
So this is the re-write:
Within Southampton, over 100 deaths each year are linked to the high air pollution from congestion and the port within Southampton. Southampton has been working on trying to improve this figure and lower air pollution by making a lot of the roads more cycle friendly, with them being 4 years into a 10 year cycling plan that looks at improving all cycling links. But from observation within the city, a small amount of people use the cycling lanes that are provided, from research I have found that nearly 80% of Southampton residents think safety for cycling needs improvement and with over 30% wanting to cycle, I am confused to why their aren’t more people out there. Every day, cycling takes 17,000 cars off the road which saves 8,800 tones of greenhouse gas emissions just within Southampton. In previous years there have been events, such as SkyRide and Let’s Ride that have closed roads within Southampton once a year to enable cyclists to rule the roads just for one day. Across Southampton there also seems to be a lack of signage or clear cycle maps that allow people to just get on a bike knowing that its along a cycle path, I feel that if there was clearer signage and routes, this would enable people to be less confused about the cycle routes going in and out of the city.
Weekly Summary:
I found this week really interesting in terms of learning about the community project that heffin has done and been able to achieve. This was huge inspiration for my research this week as I wanted to look at other design projects that were community focussed and came across a couple that really worked hard to improve the quality of life within the community. This was then inspiration for the workshop challenge which I found quite difficult this week. I think the main thing that threw me with this challenge was really trying to make it locally focussed. There are a lot of issues within any city and a lot of them can’t be solved in just one week. But after having a tutorial and talking through some of the problems and ideas it really came to me about the ones that I think mattered to the community of Southampton.
I researched two issues this week, Obesity and Air pollution / Cycling in Southampton. The reason that I chose these two areas to research about is that I found them to be the biggest areas of problem within the community. Through the research, I came to the conclusion that I would be focussing on the Air Pollution and the Cycling within Southampton, with a focus on the cycling maps and signage around Southampton as a lot of the places its really unclear the direction that you need to take to stay on cycle friendly roads. Im looking forward to working more on a solution for this issue in week 11.
Ideas Wall contribution:
Reference list
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