Creating an Inclusive Architectural Intervention as a research Space to Explore Community Wellbeing
- Submitting institution
-
Royal College of Art(The)
- Unit of assessment
- 32 - Art and Design: History, Practice and Theory
- Output identifier
- Bichard2
- Type
- C - Chapter in book
- DOI
-
-
- Book title
- Breaking Down Barriers: Usability, Accessibility and Inclusive Design
- Publisher
- Springer
- ISBN
- 9783319750279
- Open access status
- Out of scope for open access requirements
- Month of publication
- -
- Year of publication
- 2018
- URL
-
-
- Supplementary information
-
-
- Request cross-referral to
- -
- Output has been delayed by COVID-19
- No
- COVID-19 affected output statement
- -
- Forensic science
- No
- Criminology
- No
- Interdisciplinary
- No
- Number of additional authors
-
4
- Research group(s)
-
-
- Proposed double-weighted
- No
- Reserve for an output with double weighting
- No
- Additional information
- This output describes the creative inclusive design process in a team led by Bichard, operating at city wide engagement in Derry/Londonderry, Northern Ireland. It charts the initial obstacles the team faced working in a divided community, and the need to furtively address the research theme of suicide. The key research question centred on how suicidal intention can be designed out of the landscape surrounding the city’s river, without mentioning the act in place.
Qualitative research with key stakeholders provided an initial design inspiration based on the cities history. The challenge of a divided community was addressed by designing a specific research engagement space from which large scale citizen centred inclusive engagement was reached, within the public facing theme of improving wellbeing in the city.
The research significance was twofold. Firstly its aim was to create design led interventions that would contribute to suicide prevention. Derry/Londonderry had been identified as having the highest rate of suicide in Northern Ireland and Northern Ireland had the highest rate of suicide in the UK. This issue has been considered at ‘crisis’ level especially amongst under 40’s known as the ‘ceasefire babies’. Secondly the research focused on extending
inclusive design engagement away from an individual or ‘expert user’ engagement framed round equality to wider community and citizen inclusion that considered equity. The research explored what mechanisms could be employed for large scale engagement and developed an event based methodology in which event’s focused on the research acted as sites for engagement and data collection.
The research was funded by Public Health Northern Ireland for three years. It achieved large scale engagement across the city of Derry/Londonderry, including media reports. It developed five interventions that have received further funding for development. Methodologically it highlighted how inclusive design can meet the challenge of equity in communities.
- Author contribution statement
- -
- Non-English
- No
- English abstract
- -
