Impact case study database

RCA inclusive design research for social equity in the built environment has had a direct impact on public audiences and communities. It has also has fed significantly into UK policymaking in the areas of open data and services, regional health investment and innovation for healthy ageing, leading to social policy changes through new tools, initiatives and investments.

Public benefits with open data Work by HHCD researchers Ramster and Bichard as part of the TACT3 study (New Dynamics of Ageing 2008–11, see 3.1) led to the creation of The Great British Public Toilet Map (TGBPTM). This is a citizen-driven website ( www.toiletmap.org.uk) that uses open data from local councils to provide information about public toilets in the UK, including availability and opening times, thus making the built environment more accessible to people with different medical and social needs. It was conceived in response to information about publicly accessible toilets being incomplete, out of date and fragmented across hundreds of websites.

TGBPTM has given direct benefit to public audiences and there have been more than 500,000 visitors since it was launched in 2014. A well-received pilot in the London area was followed by an expansion of TGBPTM across the UK, which now lists more than 13,500 facilities and includes ‘crowd-sourced’ contributions, i.e., people adding toilets through the website interface. TGBPTM identified government open-data initiatives as an opportunity to transform public toilet information through local councils (5.1). In the policy sphere, the project campaigned for local councils to publish open data, leading to a change in Ordinance Survey policy (5.2) and 90 UK councils publishing toilet data (compared to just one in 2010). TGBPTM has frequently been recognised as a people-centred application for open data to address a social need and identified by the Communities and Local Government Select Committee for the reliable collection of public toilet data from local authorities.

TGBPTM was recognised as a finalist in the 2016 ESRC Outstanding Impact in Society Awards (5.3), and led to a spin-out company, Public Convenience Ltd, set up by researchers Bichard and Ramster, which has run TGPBTM since 2018. Public Convenience has an ongoing sponsorship deal for TGBPTM with Domestos/Unilever, as part of the Use Our Loos campaign to create a national community toilet scheme. Health services and charities now routinely include details about the map when giving information to patients and it is endorsed by the Crohns and Colitis Association (5.4). The company also offers consultancy services and contributed to new toilet provision at the Wellcome Gallery in London, extending the impact of the research on communities in the public realm. Bichard has been a member of two British Standard Institute committees which established new standards (BS6465 and BS8300) for sanitaryware for disabled people in the built environment, bringing her public toilets research to the policy sphere.

Health, tourism and economic benefits

HHCD research at the River Foyle in Northern Ireland had a direct impact on local communities traumatised by the legacy of The Troubles. More than 15,000 people engaged with a series of temporary interactive design installations to improve wellbeing and inclusion. Practical research to develop a suicide prevention strategy for the entire area, involving giant digital ‘reeds’ on the bridge and community ‘bubbles’ along the riverbank, has led directly to a commitment to spend more than £25m on permanent design improvements to the River Foyle (5.5).

In 2018, ‘Our Future Foyle’, led by Bichard, Alwani and Spencer for RCA in partnership with Public Health Agency Northern Ireland, moved from research and feasibility to planning and delivery of three key design interventions on the River Foyle identified and explored by the study. A new non-profit vehicle was established to raise more than £25m of infrastructure investment to achieve significant health, tourism and economic benefits for the City of Derry/Londonderry and the wider region, funded by government and overseen by senior civil servants in Northern Ireland. The project is supported by a cross-departmental board, with representation from all government departments, to oversee its implementation. RCA researchers Alwani and Spencer are part of this delivery mechanism, having moved to Derry/Londonderry, set up a design studio and initiated Urban Scale Interventions ( https://urbanscaleinterventions.com/index.html), and won the tender to deliver the public consultation for the new inclusive design strategy.

The project is cited in the Community Plan for Derry and Strabane (November 2017), with a vision to create a thriving, prosperous and sustainable city and district with equality of opportunity for all; the Foyle Bridge location and work is also outlined as a key action (one of 10 objectives) in the Protect Life 2 strategy document for suicide prevention issued by the Department of Health in Northern Ireland, with ‘Our Future Foyle’ initiatives flagged as a solution to technical and cost barriers (5.6). Urban Scale Interventions is now engaged in other government policy-directed public procurement projects such as The Westlink, using inclusive design techniques pioneered on River Foyle.

Investing in innovation for an ageing population

Myerson’s 2017 New Old exhibition (3.4) has had an impact on public audiences, drawing more than 1000,000 visitors worldwide and receiving extensive media coverage (5.7); reviewers noted how innovation and technology could enable older people to work and travel more easily, reducing care costs. The exhibition then toured (5.7) to Poland (2017), Taiwan (2018) and USA (2020). Key messages in the New Old research about the need to address mental wellbeing and identity in older people, and not just physical access, helped to inform the Foresight report Future of an Ageing Population, including a commitment to inclusive design as a ‘policy implication’ (5.8). This briefed policymakers across government on ageing implications; Myerson served on the report’s expert advisory group as academic lead for environment and infrastructure.

The findings of the Foresight report on ageing (2016) catalysed an exchange of letters in autumn 2017 between the Council for Science and Technology and Prime Minister Theresa May (5.9); this exchange led directly to the announcement of a Grand Challenge of Ageing in the Industrial Strategy, with the UK Government committing to create a £300m fund for innovation and technology that will make the UK a global leader in innovation for healthy ageing. The prime minister said: ‘I agree with your conclusions that successful scale innovation will require a range of players to work together.’ The Council for Science and Technology also recommended ‘the establishment of a National Centre of Excellence in Ageing and Design, bringing together academia and industry to embed inclusive, age-friendly design in the development of mainstream technology’ (5.9). Subsequently, in 2019, the RCA was awarded a £4.9m grant by Research England through a competitive process for HHCD to set up the Design Age Institute (5.10), a specialist unit dedicated to working with academic partners and industry to develop new age-friendly products and services for homes, neighbourhoods and workspaces. The new Institute began work in June 2020, further extending the impact of HHCD inclusive design research around social equity in the built environment.