Impact case study database
Social Design for Collaborative Innovation
1. Summary of the impact
UAL has been instrumental in developing and promulgating ‘social design’, making a fundamental contribution to the intellectual evolution of this research field, by supporting a group of key scholars across the University to devise, develop and evaluate methodologies derived from an expanded notion of social design. The work of this group plays a key role in delivering UAL’s research strategy and has had impact nationally and internationally, enabling the practical application of collaborative design thinking to real world situations. Impact is evident across the public sector—in both central and local government—as well as in the private sector and civil society, reframing debates and generating new knowledge and practices in participation and engagement to produce positive outcomes for the lives of individuals and communities.
2. Underpinning research
Social design takes as its object not the design of products, communications, services or buildings but the design of society itself. UAL’s social design research focuses on developing and putting into practice a range of methodologies that draw upon research traditions in design, the humanities and social sciences. The UAL research team has built from existing models of social design, and evolved new and varied approaches to the field, maximising real world impact. This work is part of UAL’s objective to develop research that contributes to improving community resilience, and life-long health and wellbeing. This work has developed at the University in a number of ways, as detailed below.
Thorpe (co-authored with Gamman) first made the case for socially responsive design in ‘What is Socially Responsive Design? A theory and practice review’, examining decision-making in response to social context. His 2011, peer-reviewed research paper (also with Gamman) [3.1] took this thinking further, analysing how locating designers as co-actors within a co-design process can trigger and support meaningful social change.
Malpass’ work is situated in Design Studies. His 2013 peer-reviewed journal article, published as a UAL Early Career Researcher (ECR), proposed three distinct types of critical practice in design, providing an analysis that constituted a new and significant way to examine the reflexivity of critical design practitioners. Together with an ongoing investigation by Malpass into critical practice, this research challenged established discourse and presented alternative roles for product design to those driven by technological and fiscal concerns. [3.2]
Kimbell’s research continues her long-standing investigations into social design. Examples here are the application of design methods and expertise to social innovation, public services, policy and healthcare. These fields of practice and emergent disciplines exist within a wider context in which design approaches are increasingly visible and integrated into business (e.g. customer experience design), entrepreneurship (e.g. lean start-up) and technological innovation (e.g. agile product development).
Prendiville’s extensive and ongoing programme of research around service design examines the potential for design to act as ‘bridge-maker’ between disciplines and stakeholders. Key is a human-centred, multi-disciplinary approach to the design and communication of new processes, products and technologies. Adopting methods and concepts from anthropology, the research leading to Prendiville’s 2015 paper [3.4] reframed the importance of place and placemaking in the design of services for the elderly at two projects in Byker, Newcastle.
To further research and interrogate the debates around social design, UAL enabled a three-year Visiting Chair post for influential researcher Manzini. Design, when everybody designs (2015) [3.5], written during his tenure at UAL, continued an investigation into what design can do to support social innovation, focusing on emerging forms of collaboration to transform practice. Manzini identified and interrogated initiatives ranging across community sharing of services for positive economic and environmental gain, new forms of exchange and barter, and neighbourhood gardens initiated and managed by citizens, to improve the quality of the city and the social fabric.
3. References to the research
3.1. Thorpe, Adam and Gamman, Lorraine (2011) Design with society: why socially responsive design is good enough, CoDesign (International Journal of CoCreation in Design and the Arts), 7:3-4, 217–230.
- Malpass, Matt (2013) Between Wit and Reason: Defining Associative, Speculative and Critical Design in Practice, Design and Culture, 5:3, 333–356.
3.3. Julier, Guy and Kimbell, Lucy (2016). Developing Participation in Social Design: Prototyping Projects, Programmes and Policies. University of Brighton. Commissioned by the AHRC as a programme of activities and research (January–November 2015), led by Guy Julier and Lucy Kimbell with support from Leah Armstrong. The programme followed directly from the authors’ report Social Design Futures: HEI Research and the AHRC (Armstrong et al 2014).
3.4. Prendiville, Alison (2015) ‘A Design Anthropology of Place in Service Design: A Methodological Reflection’. The Design Journal, 18 (2). pp. 193-208. ISSN 1460-6925.
3.5. Manzini, Ezio (2015) Design, when everybody designs: an introduction to design for social innovation, Massachusetts: The MIT Press, in which Manzini acknowledges collaboration with UAL, in particular Gamman, Kimbell and Thorpe (Thorpe established and co-ordinates UAL’s DESIS-UK Network; Thorpe also sits on DESIS’ International Co-ordination Committee.)
4. Details of the impact
By enabling cross-disciplinary work around social design across the University, and making key academic appointments, UAL has created a space to challenge, question and develop a varied set of approaches to the field. UAL’s Social Design Institute (SDI) is a major milestone in the development of the field (pilot year 2019–20; first full year 2020/21, AKO Foundation, GBP300,000, 2018–19/2019–20). Under the leadership of Kimbell, the Institute harnesses the potential of social design to address a multitude of large-scale, complex challenges, with cross-disciplinary work a priority. It has built on and expanded the strong work in this field already being produced by the group of researchers in this case study, while two recent Institute appointments— Patrycja Kaszynska, Senior Research Fellow (2019) and Jocelyn Bailey, Research Fellow (2019)—build on its core themes of values, systems and policy.
Kimbell’s research in design for policy—including a fellowship in the UK Policy Lab through an AHRC award—led to a role as consultant, supporting the EU Policy Lab team on the European Commission’s The Future of Government 2030 project (2018–2019). Kimbell co-authored the report, which resulted in policy recommendations: “… [It] explored changing power relationships in society and new governance models and actors. The project examined stronger alliances of local governments through new types of political institutions (such as the European Parliament of Mayors) and stronger inclusion of individuals in policymaking through Citizen Councils. It has also proposed better synergies between the public and private sectors…”. [5.1.] This research and practice led to invitations to speak at events organised by the EU Joint Research Centre, Nesta, Danish Design Centre, Carnegie Mellon University and others and involvement in training UK and international civil servants in design thinking.
A key component of UAL’s social design work is the Public Collaboration Lab (PCL, from 2015), led by Thorpe. PCL is a strategic, AHRC-funded research collaboration created to investigate what models might bring together citizens, local government, academic research and other agencies to facilitate collaborative action that delivers sustainable benefits to the public. PCL provides a vehicle for engagement with structures that deliver services, applying conceptual, abstract thinking to real world situations. The PCL was founded by the UAL DESIS Lab and the Strategy and Change team of Camden Council. UAL initiators included Thorpe and Prendiville, working closely with UAL colleagues in Knowledge Exchange. The University has supported the practical application of design innovation in particular relationship to its locality—in this case, a strategic collaboration in King’s Cross, London Borough of Camden. In the 18 months of the AHRC funding period, PCL worked with over 3,000 Camden residents, over 100 council officers from nine local authorities, and more than five schools. [5.2.]
Over four years, PCL has delivered more than 20 projects, designed by council officers and Heads of Service in collaboration with UAL researchers and community leaders, to be strategically useful to the council and the residents it serves. The project uses design-led social innovation approaches to engage citizens and other stakeholders in the co-design and co-delivery of aspects of public services. Examples include the Home & Community Library Service (H&CLS) project that applied the methodology developed by the PCL research to navigate between user needs and the council, re-thinking the council’s interaction with residents to improve the service for 400–500 Camden residents unable to leave their homes. The findings fed into a consultation document on the future of the H&CLS, which was delivered to council members. The ‘Overcrowded Living’ project engaged Camden residents, council officers and other stakeholders to examine the challenges faced by those living in overcrowded conditions to identify opportunities to improve the situation. A toolkit, website and further recommendations for phase two of the project, which is developing a ‘public and collaborative’ service model (service delivered with and by service participants) for design and manufacture of bespoke furniture appropriate to overcrowded conditions, has been well-received by LBC officers and is being developed with the council's housing team.
“PCL has evolved from designing services to meet the needs of residents to creating a space which channels the collective creativity and imagination of our residents and partners into new platforms for innovation that are rooted in the distinctive identities of our neighbourhoods. It’s shown that you can develop a collaboration lab which works out in the open, helps residents and partners make and reinvent solutions together to local issues and scale them at a very human level”—Head of Corporate Strategy, London Borough of Camden. [5.3.] Other evaluations are positive: “… the PCL offered a very positive experience for all those involved. All interviewees could … identify a range of benefits from being involved, including a closer strategic collaboration between UAL and LBC, bringing innovation into the council, and creating a different type and quality of engagement with residents .” [5.4.]
Launched in September 2019 and located on a site behind the British Library in Somers Town, MAKE@Story Garden is a collaboration between UAL, Somers Town Community Association, LBC and property developer Lendlease. Developed by UAL to provide a local base for the work carried out by PCL, MAKE has delivered 169 workshops/activities/events engaging 1,694 participants (1,339 local residents and 355 students). The project’s Instagram posts have generated more than 17,000 hits. Nine community organisations have co-delivered activities with MAKE to date. [5.5.]
In 2019, UAL secured Horizon 2020 funding to extend the learning from projects including PCL and MAKE. T-Factor (2020–2024), ‘Unleashing future-facing urban hubs through culture and creativity-led strategies of transformative time’, (overall project budget EUR8,605,612.50) challenges the ‘waiting time’ or ‘meanwhile’ in urban regeneration—the time between the development of the masterplan and the infrastructure being built—to demonstrate how culture and creative collaboration between academia, government, community and business can create inclusive urban hubs. With partners in Amsterdam, Bilbao, Kaunas, Lisbon and Milan, UAL is contributing to the London pilot by applying expertise in co-design, creative public engagement and placemaking in London’s Euston regeneration area.
The reach and significance of Prendiville’s pioneering research is extensive, attracting significant funding. Central to her work is knowledge co-creation through dialogue with project stakeholders. The notion of ‘placemaking’ (e.g. a geographical location or a local authority) links much of Prendiville’s work, from the Byker project, to the PCL, and the DARPI and DOSA projects, through a combination of methodologies including design and digital anthropology, and design practices (e.g. mapping and prototyping). Major projects include: ‘Re-envisioning Infection Practice Ecologies in Nursing’ (RIPEN, AHRC-funded; Co-I: Prendiville), working in dialogue with nurses to look at why, though Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR) impacts on nursing practices, it does not feature centrally or in the nursing curriculum. Working with Anne Marie Rafferty, President of the Royal College of Nursing, a RIPEN Policy Lab briefing with stakeholders with AMR-related expertise mapped how to transform the research content into policy, this then given to the RCN’s Head of Infection, Protection and Control, and contributing to an RCN policy paper for UK government. The EU Horizon 2020 Pharma Factory project, a collaboration between five biotech SMEs and four academic institutions (2017–2021, Co-I: Prendiville), is applying a user-centred approach to engaging stakeholders (industry, government, regulators, patient groups, clinicians and the public) to understand better the opportunities for plant molecular pharmaceuticals. Work so far is highlighting the importance of different ways to communicate with different stakeholder audiences in contentious areas. In 2017, to support the take up of design within science and technology innovation, Prendiville produced A scoping study: Design's Role in the Satellite Applications and Transportations Systems Catapults, funded by the Knowledge Transfer Network. This work went on to support the adoption of design and human centred practices across the Catapults. [5.6.]
AMR is a global problem and RIPEN led to three Bhabha Newton-funded research projects exploring AMR in India: DOSA (Diagnostics for a One Health User-Driven Solution in AMR (Co-I, Prendiville) [5.7.] and DARPI (Drivers of AMR in Poultry in India). Prendiville is one of a small number of researchers working at the intersection between design, science and technology, bringing an anthropological approach to investigate the complexities of AMR. DARPI is interrogating the poultry supply chain, looking at how design can affect complex supply chains and local practices. Findings from DOSA were presented at a UK Parliamentary AMR event at the House of Commons (February 2020).
Since 2009, Ordnance Survey’s (OS) Geovation scheme, with Prendiville as a judge, has supported UK startups focused on building local resilience within communities against real problems that need collaboration and design thinking across all sectors of the economy (public, private, civil society and individuals). Grants of up to GBP20,000 have enabled a wide range of projects, with extensive national reach. [5.8.]
Malpass has made a significant contribution to the field of Critical Design Practice through research into its function to extend the disciplinary agency of industrial design, contributing to its establishment as a model at UAL. His 2013 paper was published as Critical Design in Context: History, Theory and Practices (Bloomsbury, 2017), translated into Japanese and Chinese (2020, 6,723 copies sold at 31 December 2020); second edition in development. Malpass’ work is widely regarded as the first text to develop a holistic view of the subject; the book is a key text in this growing field (Bloomsbury Academic’s best-selling design-focused publication, 2017–2018). The work is widely cited regularly in design literature, while Malpass contributes to public understanding of the subject beyond academia through mainstream and design media. [5.9.] He judged the Core 77 speculative concepts awards (2016), delivers talks to design agencies, lectures internationally (A/D/O, New York, 2017) and is on the editorial boards of CoDesign: International Journal of Co-Creation in Design and the Arts and the Journal of Engineering Design.
In 2015, UAL invested in Cultures of Resilience, a two-year project co-created by DESIS Network founder/UAL Visiting Chair Manzini with Professor Jeremy Till, Head of Central Saint Martins. The work explored the cultural dimension of resilience with a specific focus on ‘place-related’ communities, with an agenda to answer how creative collaborative practices can contribute to creating the conditions for meaningful encounters between people. This pan-UAL project ensured the further development of social design work at the University. The results of this were reported on in a special issue of international journal SheJi (Volume 4, Issue 1. Elsevier, 2018) co-edited by Manzini and Thorpe. [5.10.]
5. Sources to corroborate the impact
5.1. The Future of Government 2030+: Policy Implications and Recommendations (2019) Joint Research Centre (JRC), European Commission, Luxembourg: Publications Office of the European Union. UAL on request.
5.2. Public Collaboration Lab report from the submission to the Hans Saur Social Labs Europe competition (2018). UAL on request.
5.3. Letter from Head of Corporate Strategy, London Borough of Camden. UAL on request.
5.4. Evaluation of the Public Collaboration Approach (2016) Institute of Local Government, University of Birmingham. UAL on request.
5.5. Kaszynska, Patrycja (2021), Evaluation of MAKE@Story Garden. UAL on request.
5.6. Prendiville, Alison (2017) A scoping study: Design’s Role in the Satellite Applications and Transportations Systems Catapults. UAL on request.
5.7. DOSA Perspectives: 04 Aquaculture.
5.8. Geovation Innovation Challenges: An Ordnance Survey Initiative (2016). UAL on request.
5.9. The Telegraph, June 2017. ‘ What businesses can learn about innovation from designers,’
5.10. Thorpe, Adam and Rhodes, Sarah (2018) The Public Collaboration Lab—Infrastructuring Redundancy with Communities-in-Place. She Ji: The Journal of Design, Economics and Innovation, 4 (1). pp. 60–74. UAL on request.