August 2021 – Nature In

27th August 202127th August 2021

Unit 2 Report

Introduction

My project aims to re-connect people to nature by bringing the outside indoors, focusing on hospitality venues. The project challenges convention through developing natural events, experiences and designs that develop 1-1 personal connections to nature by evoking the senses and allowing individuals to experience the health benefits of interacting with nature¹. Hospitality is the focus due to the popularity of the spaces², the current lack of biophilic design³, the rise in sustainably conscious venues⁴ and the lifting of covid restrictions creating an opportunity to reattract customers in innovative and dynamic ways.

Question

Through the journey of my research, my question has evolved to become:

How can connections to nature be improved through visiting hospitality businesses that serve food and drink in cities?

Research Methodology

To explore the aims of my project I have deployed a plethora of research methods. Including, consulting books, academic texts, meeting with experts and stakeholders; visiting hospitality and natural spaces for inspiration and observing applications of nature. The knowledge gathered from this research has been utilised to develop the most suitable and impactful interventions to generate change amongst my stakeholders.

Research

The foundation of my project has been derived from academic texts and books. Reading ‘Design a Healthy Home’⁵ provided the details of how to apply biophilic concepts into physical spaces. Exploring the academic iterations of scales, such as the Inclusion of Nature in Self Scale⁶ to measure connections to nature deciphered the appropriate format to measure changes in connection with my Herb Event. The springboard for my most recent creative ideas regarding future iterations of my interventions has been reading ‘Rewild Yourself’7. The book offered alternative perspectives on barriers to nature alongside the vastness of nature, which led to considering unique areas of and ways to access nature in future interventions. Additional knowledge has been obtained from visits to different hospitality venues to assess their uses of nature, as demonstrated on the Instagram page @nature.i.n.8. Inspiration and market awareness were gained from discovering sustainability campaigns such as ‘Good Nature’ at Selfridges⁹.

Furthermore, I have consulted with biophilic experts including Kristina Libby¹⁰ and Hedi Leneartz¹¹ to discuss directions for my work, its impacts, outcomes, and iterations. I have spoken with hospitality business¹² and customers¹³ to establish their different desires towards incorporating nature. Valuable feedback in these meetings were the catalyst for developing the online sharing group, to gather greater data of this type.

My first panel discussion¹⁴ was ultimately utilised for research, rather than an intervention, because there was no live audience as intended. Biophilic and biomimetic experts discussed the most effective and innovative applications of nature that could be introduced into hospitality spaces. Discussion provided insightful ideas regarding how to target the senses and technobiophilia. Such conversations contributed to developing the Herb Event, playing off the herb’s scents, textures, and tastes.

A key discovery in my research process has been Technobiophilia. Research led to the work of Sue Thomas, a pioneer in the field whose work I have analysed15, which directed questioning of how technology and nature can be fused together to develop unique methods for connecting to nature. Subsequently, a technobiophilic event is set to occur around 22nd September at Chelsea College of Arts once the canteen space has reopened¹⁶.

Interventions

Chelsea College of Arts – Herb Event 20^th – 21^st July I have developed a contact in the head of catering at Chelsea College of Arts, which has provided the opportunity to hold interventions in their hospitality spaces17. The event involved an array of herbs being presented for customers to come and pick to go with their food or to take home with them18. Upon arrival, I asked customers to complete a series of 4 questions based upon the measure of Inclusion of Nature in Self to rate their connection to nature¹⁷. Before participants left, I re-asked the questions to assess if there had been any change in their connection to nature. I provided customers with herb cuttings of their choice to take home and a card explaining different ways to utilise the herbs, alongside a QR code to an online survey form for added feedback.

Results determined that there was a slight increase in connection to nature from this event of 2.5%¹⁹among the 40 participants, but this could be increased if participants had longer to engage with the herbs. A stunning 85% of participants stated that they would actively visit a hospitality venue if it was offering a natural event or experience, suggesting a large market for this work. Throughout the event, many customers stated they felt disconnected from nature living in London, which led to defining cities in my question as an area where many people lack but are ready to receive nature²⁰.

Online Sharing Group

I have developed a sharing group via Facebook where customers of hospitality spaces post applications of nature that they like, or dislike accompanied by short comments as to why they hold this opinion²¹. Change was to be created utilising the data to develop to applications of nature that are attractive to customers. Results from the group have been limited in user posts, but the group has gained members and likes²². It appeared there was an audience for this idea, but the platform was wrong to engage people. The Nature.In Instagram page has instead been utilised to promote hospitality spaces showcasing nature, to encourage customers to visit such spaces and connect with nature in this way. This page is also helping to form a conversation and community in the comments section, through the page’s growing following which is currently at over 70 followers²².

2^nd Panel Discussion – 26^th August via Stream Yard

My second panel included 4 biophilic experts and a live audience to learn how they can apply nature in spaces and ask questions²³. The panel aimed to establish pioneering adaptations of the interventions I have been conducting. Discussion flowed through a series of question prompts encouraging analysis of each intervention and ideas for future events²⁴. Measuring connection via blood pressure changes, utilising unusual spaces for events, exploring alternative media options for sharing groups and technobiophilia were readily discussed²⁵.

Audience

My stakeholders are split into three key groups: biophilic experts, hospitality professionals and hospitality customers. My interventions have been derived to ensure all stakeholder groups are part of the research.

Intervention	Stakeholders Targeted
1^st Panel Discussion	Experts in biophilic and biomimetic design
Herb Event	Hospitality business and customers
Online Sharing Group	Hospitality business and customers
2^nd Panel Discussion	Experts in biophilic and biomimetic design Hospitality business and customers invited as an audience to online live stream

Conclusion

I feel my communication with stakeholders in analysing what aspects of natural experiences are ground-breaking and beneficial to all parties has led to the success my project has seen so far. This is something I look to continue and grow my network into Unit 3. Alternatively, a weakness in my process was around the start of July when I spent a long time in May–July securing a hospitality site to test my natural concepts in. Perseverance here led to a key breakthrough in securing the opportunity to run interventions at Chelsea College of Arts and later a meeting with The Marylebone hotel. However, in reflection placing so much emphasis on the importance of securing a testing venue was a slight oversight in my research process.

Looking forward, I feel to push this project further I need to move past my current standing further into the unknown. I believe this new angle may lie around technobiophilia²⁶. I look forward to meeting with Sue Thomas and Hedi Leneartz over the coming week to explore this avenue further and continue to develop original iterations of my interventions building upon the most effective aspects so far.

Footnotes

Mind (2018) “Nature and Mental Health” Mind [Online] https://www.mind.org.uk/media-a/2931/nature-and-mental-health-2018.pdf Accessed 06/07/21
Statista (2021) “Number of People Visiting Restaurants in Great Britain From 2018-2021” Statista [Online]https://www.statista.com/statistics/586195/restaurant-usage-in-the-uk-frequency/ Accessed 14/08/21
Blog – https://nicoleparkes.myblog.arts.ac.uk/2021/05/07/defining-what-sector-of-hospitality-to-focus-upon/
Visit Britain (2021) “Reimagine your future events: UK venues making sustainable impact” Visit Britain [Online]https://www.visitbritain.com/gb/en/business/blog/reimagine-your-future-events-uk-venues-making-sustainable-impact Accessed 16/07/21
Heath, O. (2021) Design a Healthy Home, Penguin Random House, London.

Blog – https://nicoleparkes.myblog.arts.ac.uk/2021/05/22/arranging-panel-discussion-and-reading-design-a-healthy-home/

Kleespies, M.W., Braun, T., Dierkes, P.W. and Wenzel, V., 2021. “Measuring connection to nature—a illustrated extension of the inclusion of nature in self scale.” Sustainability, 13(4), p.1761.

Martin, C. and Czellar, S. (2016) “The extended inclusion of nature in self scale.” Journal of Environmental Psychology, 47, pp.181-194.

Schultz, P.W., (2002). “Inclusion with nature: The psychology of human-nature relations.” In Psychology of sustainable development (pp. 61-78). Springer, Boston, MA.

Blog – https://nicoleparkes.myblog.arts.ac.uk/2021/07/19/preparing-for-herb-event-intervention-at-chelsea-collage-of-arts/

Barnes, S. (2018) Rewild Yourself, Simon and Schuster, London.

Blog – https://nicoleparkes.myblog.arts.ac.uk/2021/08/21/reading-rewild-yourself-to-help-formulate-a-new-stream-of-ideas/

https://www.instagram.com/nature.i.n/
Selfridges (2021) “Good Nature Moodboard” Selfridges [Online] https://www.selfridges.com/GB/en/features/moodboard/ Accessed 06/08/21

Blog – https://nicoleparkes.myblog.arts.ac.uk/2021/08/06/selfridges-good-nature-campaign/

Blog – https://nicoleparkes.myblog.arts.ac.uk/2021/07/23/meeting-with-executive-chef-at-the-marylebone-hotel/

Blog – https://nicoleparkes.myblog.arts.ac.uk/2021/06/04/panel-discussion-testing-intervention-1/

Thomas, S., (2013) Technobiophilia: Nature and cyberspace. A&C Black.

Thomas, S. (2020) “Technobiophilic Design Challenges for Developers” https://suethomasnet.wordpress.com/whatistechnobiophilia/designchallenges/

Blog – https://nicoleparkes.myblog.arts.ac.uk/2021/06/16/technobiophilia/

27th August 202127th August 2021

Attending Fika with Friends Conference Talk

Today I attended Vestre’s Fika with Friends conference talk that discussed the latest in UN development goals, biophilic design and biophilic urbanism with leading experts in the industry. It was a very insightful talk raising a lot of key points. The main parts I took from the discussion can be found below.

Vestre’s Fika with Friends

Biophilic approach to management of urban areas
How green spaces or cities can be made more biophilic – the differences between urban and green in their attributes, it isnt just about green infrastructure its on repeated meaningful events and engagement
- (in my work) For events to create repeat customers to keep coming back and grow their connection in spaces
The work of Stephen Kellert
- Core principles of biophilia – the depth and principles biophilia has
Biophilic urbanisim
- Retain biophilic deisgn principles, with continuity and connectivity and play to local strengths
- Connectivty shown in singapore park connector network – connecting parks across the city so you don’t have to walk on the roads
- Bringing nature into the cities and providing peolle the opportunity to interact with nature will really devlop connections to nature
- Create richness in biophilic deisgns – not with repeating items
- Habitat corridors
- Viewing planning cities as creating habitats
- Meeting Target 15.9 in sustainability goals
Time to unite all of this work together into a form of policy – lots of very interesting ideas and work going on around biophilic design and biophilic urbanism but there needs a clearly defined target together?
Planted event in Septemebr (already got a tikcet for attendence) all sustainabiliy tested brands
- Field to lawn – natural living space – natural marquee company
- Benchmark brand – wood
- connect likeminded brand and businesses to enable thought and discussion around biophilia
- botanical market – more traditional market space – products about beauty and nature
Viewing our relationship with nature are trainign a muscle – if you go to the gym once there is little impact, you have to keep going and working on it within truly complex natural environments.
Becorp certification

If you care for nature on a small scale, you are much more likely to care for it on a broader and bigger scale. The nurturing of something leads to greater connection and community.

Reflection

After hearing the speakers today I am even more excited to visit the planted event in September, as two of the speakers are directly involved in the company Planted which is running the event. I am also going to reach out to Sam and Becks from the panel with the work I am doing to see if there would be an opportunity for collaboration with them in the future. I feel our goals are very strongly allied, however, they do have a broader focus for large scale change through the venture which could offer a really interesting aspect to my more focus smaller scale work as part of my master’s work.

27th August 202127th August 2021

Future Ideas/ Invertention Iterations

Below I have included images of my ideas notebook, which showcase the journey of my current thinking to iterate the interventions I have conducted. The pages at the bottom are my most recent thoughts, to try and demonstrate the evolution of my thinking. Further on in the blog post I demonstrate synthesising some of these ideas into next step progressions for my project.

Ideas Journey for Iterations of Interventions:

From these ideas, I see future iterations of my work being split into almost 2 tracts to achieve the goals of improving connections to nature through hospitality venues (see below).

I am still going to pursue interventions with Chelsea College of Arts and The Marylebone Hotel, which offers amazing sites to test my interventions in. However, they may have slight restrictions on the extent to which I can experiment in technological events. Chelsea is more open to trying out an experimental idea and so I will begin trying to implement new ideas there over Marylebone. However, I am interested in exploring whether any unusual/ unused spaces may be available to test out the more experimental and risky technological interventions. For instance, cafes that are otherwise closed in the evenings or an unused backroom in a venue. I am also interested in exploring an experiment whereby participants blood pressure is measured before and after the event in a fun way. Possibly this smaller unusual space idea is better suited to that type of experiment, which can yield strong empirical evidence on the power of these events to increase connection to nature.

Experimenting with Nature and AR

I have recently been researching and explore further into the world of AR and projections in technology, as I have no current experience in the field but have a keen interest in technological advancements. I have begun experimenting with Abode Aero software and created this very rough initial mock-up to consider how nature can be utilised in a virtual AR experience (see below).

Reflection

I feel full of new streams of thought at the moment and a multitude of different ideas to explore and build upon further, especially after the recent conversations with Kristina Libby and in my 2nd Panel discussion. I am very excited to get stuck into exploring what is possible in the realms of technophilia over the coming weeks and gain added insights into the field after my scheduled conversation with Sue Thomas who is a pioneer in the field. I need to look to bring together the many strands of ideas I now have running around in my head into some actionable adaptions of interventions that I can introduce into venues to test out the effectiveness of the concepts in improving connections to nature.

27th August 202126th November 2021

Outcomes of 2nd Panel Discussion

The panellists provided great insights into how they would expand upon and alter the methodologies I have so far employed in my interventions. This was very interesting to witness alternative points of view, many of which were very insightful and can be adapted in looking to future iterations of my events. However, some feedback was possibly less suitable for the niches of my project, with some such as designing full rooms, all be it small rooms, possibly out of the scope for what can be achieved under the timescale of the masters.

Some panellists also felt stronger towards the concept of nature and technology being combined than others. Some panellists felt that nature is the inspiration for parts of technology (not wrong look at ‘I’m saving this to the cloud’ in the tech terminology). Also views that if you are to utilise technology in this way that it may need to be hidden or disguised from the consumer, were raised. However, I felt in parts that this mindset might close you off from future possibilities of how tech can aid the future of human’s relationships and differing experiences of nature. Almost adding another link to the chain with it starting:

nature inspiring tech – tech mimicking aspects of nature – nature and tech together to create new ways to experience nature

Only a couple of panellists felt they were positioned more of the viewpoint towards nature needing to be recognised as the superior as it were, and feeling that to create natural connections perhaps technology needs to take a back seat. However, even this group were not 100% against the idea. But, the other panellists did provide positive ideas and contributions around how technology can be utilised in this way, which is something I definitely want to explore further. Especially after seeing the ideas and support this way of thinking can have amongst experts.

The key interesting points discussed are as follows:

Utilising special natural papers for items such a menus
- eg: flower paper or paper made from herbs
- these papers could also have their natural scent and will have differing textures, providing greater connections to nature in very small and simple ways

Nature inspired hospital rooms
- They utilise heart rate monitoring to assess impact of biophilic space – proved 60% reduction in stress and anxiety
- Spent 15/30 mins in the room
- Also utilsie measuring blood pressure

Future events
- Focus on ensuirng there is a loop or very clear before and after measure Could assess which sense has been stimulated the most?
- Reduce randomness – exploit opportunity as student to conduct academic mini experiment to create strong imperical eveidence to presnet to hospitality businesess
- More functionalty – eg: maybe blood pressure measuring

Looking at different spaces within hospiality venues
- Create a destress room? – maybe out the scope of the masters
- Utilsiing unusual spaces – storage closet bar event in New York – repurposing of the space once the venue has cosed for its usual businesses
- Storage spaces or unutilsied rooms

Utilsing platforms to share the information around biophilia
- Instead of facebook now the focus is on instagram but can push it further
- Look also at pintrest – position with biophilia and hospitality but also look at other industires that you can tie into it eg: florists and floral installs in hospitality spaces
- Look at LinkedIn – creating a company page, helps to reach professionals in the industries and great for sharing roles
- Look at Clubhouse – stream audio and people listen to it
- Look at what platforms large assocaitions are utilsing to share their messages eg: international facility management

Idea of utilsie what spaces alreayd have and seeing what can be done with that to link in biophilia

Idea – if something on the menu is unknown and you are ordering through QR code, why can’t the items be hyperlinked to explain extra info of what it is and where it is from – linking to sustainability
Idea – getting rewarded for choosing to not take disposabel cutlery when ordering takeout eg: flower added to their virtual projection wall or phsyical natural artwork piece. Helps to build relationship with customers as they can come back and see their imapct and contribution to the space
- Or, utilise the small money saved from cutlery to plant a seed
- Could also reward for other sustainable decsions eg: ordering veggie or vegan? – have to be careful that the resturnat would want this however as they may be making more money off meat dishes or the meat being more locally sourced, and so they may want to encourage customers to order meat instead.

Ideas in current spaces:
- Living light – concept that utilises photosynthesis to create light – when you touch the leaves lights go on
- Digital vegetables – art glass house in Tokyo, similar principle to living light – touch and differnet coloured lights and sounds fill the greenhouse
- Hotel group – kids spaces to make kids connect with nature – kids plant seeds and with a QR code they can watch that seed grow even when they are no longer staying at the hotel – could apply to butterfiles as they could grow and be able in a 7 day stay in the hotel
  - Emotional attachment and caring for sometging gives a greater sense of connection

Idea – full ecosystem spaces – similar to the book/ film DUNE
Idea – hopsitality spaces with historical significance – utilise tech to provide info on this/ its environment or different garden sections etc.
Idea – restaurants with local supplies and herb gardens – organise events to see how they grow the herbs and how the utilsie local producers

Block chain – this tech can allow us to track where food is from – play on this to demonstrate sustainability

Consider the plate that the food is on – what is it made of? – plates made of egg shells or bamboo straws etc – just small actions

Recording:

Unfortunately, there were a few technical problems in saving the video of the panel recording to the Nature.In YouTube channel. However, I did manage to record the audio of the majority of the conversation (minus the first 5 minutes) which I have uploaded to the YouTube channel with a still image of the panellists so that the conversation can be referred back to at a later stage.

The prompt slides utilised in the discussion can be viewed below:

Reflection

The panel was incredibly useful to gain feedback from a key group of stakeholders. Their feedback was honest and insightful into the positives to take from my work and perhaps the shortfalls of parts of my interventions so far and how to push them further now. The panellists also provided information on projects they have currently been working on such as kids rooms in hotels offering plants to plant and they can watch it grown over their stay and even come back to see it in the future. I feel that the audience members enjoyed these insights into other ways nature is being utilised in the hospitality industry. However, unfortunately, the live audience didn’t ask any questions.

A vital angle that was discussed was around the utilisation of different online platforms to educate around biophilia, especially the power of LinkedIn, Pinterest and clubhouse. Subsequently, I will look to utilise these platforms in the future to create real change and reach a lot of people with my work.

The key point brought up to make my research process more robust was that I should consider developing a control experiment where I don’t rely on the chance of passersby and their arent so many random variables in my events. Although, for the purpose of my Herb Event, I did wish to utilise passersby as I wanted it to replicate normal customers coming into a hospitality space who had no prior knowledge of me or my work so that I could gather fair and reliable data on whether there is an audience for such events in the wider public. However, now I have conducted that event and gained that assurance in my data, I think it could be interesting to try and develop a form of controlled intervention whereby a fully imperial measuring tool is employed such as measuring blood pressure, as was suggested in the panel. This could then provide undeniable hard data to present to other hospitality businesses that adding these types of natural events and experiences into their spaces positively impacts their customers and that people would be keen to come to their space if they offered it. Something like this could be set up in a smaller context of perhaps a small pop up bar in a space that might have otherwise been closed eg: a cafe that only sells lunch and gathering a sample of 10 or more people to take part and visit the event. Their blood pressure would be taken upon arrival and as they left to measure the change.

At present these are all just in the ideas phase but I feel there are strong ways that these ideas can be applied to hospitality settings, as now that I have a site such as Chelsea where I can get experimenting, I feel there is a very interesting future ahead for this project.

26th August 202126th August 2021

Meeting with Kristina Libby – Discussing Technobiophilia

I had an incredibly interesting and creative conversation yesterday with Kristina Libby. Kristina took part in my first-panel discussion and we have kept in touch ever since. She is an expert in biophilic design having run projects looking at biophilia in the workplace and utilising biophilia concepts in creating a covid floral memorial. Kristina is also involved in technology in her work and she raised some very innovative points around utilising technology and nature together in the first panel discussion. Therefore, I was very keen to talk with her about how she feels technophilia could be applied in hospitality settings.

The key points of the discussion are below, or you can listen to the discussion by clicking the above video.

The Discussion

Considering an individual’s impact on the environment
- Developing responsive spaces to demonstarte the message of individual’s impacts on the planet, similar to those utilised in ad campaigns
  - Can demonstrate climate change data eg: wildfire data
  - A part of biophilia that is missing – intellectual engagemnt with the environment
- Utilse data emitted from phones to determine individual’s impacts?
- How to make climate actions beautiful so that people feel the topics of sustianable actions are more approachable and allows them to realise their own power.
- ICCP report – 10 years to impact climate change
  - All industries have some sort of responsibility
  - How do you emotionally encourage people ot act? – educating, entertaining and reconnecting people to the world

Technical spaces responsive to your immediate actions eg: flower grows as you move your hand
- As people move they could develop a seemingly blank space into a more biophilic one – active participatory role in the environment
- Utilsie Microsoft Kinect software – utilised in responsive art pieces – look to see if there are any collaborators interested to work on this – Kristina has a contact she is going to reach out to and ask if he would be interested in getting involved in developing something like this
  - Be careful of too much light in these spaces for projections as then projectors need to be of a very high calibre
- Living walls that change and grow as you are in front of it?
- Climate data projected in black and white in a space that is otherwise biophilic – the projection responds to the room in unexpected ways.

Utilise tech to demonstarte the importance of small actions in aiding nature and the climate crisis
- Recycling container – when you throw something into it a virtual leaf grows in the projection onto the bin and adds to the tree/ forest – you can see your small addition to the bigger picture resultant from your sustainable efforts
- Contextually responsive spaces can help to combat ‘ad blindness’ and will engage more people through its unusual form
- Interative art pieces are typically modern and contemporary (espeically in New York) and so bringing a type of natural form and wonder into this arena could be really interesting

Parts of biophilia seem almost backward wanting things to turn away from tech, but there are ways that tech can be utilsied to move the efforts to connect people with nature forward

At the moment there is a void between ideas that are all biophilic or all modern, tech could help bridge the gap
- Herb farm – every inch it grows the screen changes? or as people reach to touch the plants something chnages in the projections
- Showcasing the benefits of interacting with physcial forms of plants eg: lavender has this positive impact on you/ farming lavander has these imapcts – when you hover your phone over a plant it showcases facts about the plant?
- Vitrually growing a plant on a wall projection form the start of your meal/ when you arrive until the end – when you re enter a space and scan your phone the projection comes back up of your exact plant and begins to grow again – returning to the spaces continues your presonal expericene and connection to nature.

How do you create a space to be more than a space? what can the space teach us?

Chefs are often egar to educate through their food, but the restaurnt setting itself can also be a space to educate and connect people to the offering to translate their ethos
- QR codes to order – create an AR experience for when people order, information about the food comes up as does a fitting experience of nature for the spaceeg: animals and trees or butterfiles across the screen
- Communicate the ordering data back to people in the venue eg: X amount of people ordered the salmon today, salmon farming has this impact on nature.

Gamification to communicate natural experiences
- AR/VR isnt full adpoted by people yet, so we can’t expect them to utilise it in a space of their own accord – we have to integrate it into an expericne that they are already familiar with if we want them to use it eg: menu ordeirng utilsing phones creates AR experience or instagramming food in places with specialised AR filter?
- Gratitude for sustianbility posistive actions eg: utilsing a reusabel water bottle to fill up from a fountain could add a natural elemnt to a bigger piece of virtual projection artwork eg: grows a flower on the tree

Reflection

I am very keen to explore the ideas I discussed with Kristina further, as I believe they could result in some incredibly engaging, novel and original adaptations of nature into hospitality businesses. One of the ideas I am keen to research further first is the idea of utilising Microsoft Kinect to track movements of people interacting with projected images and then the images respond to their movement. If this is possible to do in the time frame, I feel it could reveal some very strong data around improvements to connection to nature in hospitality settings. The technology could be applied whereby natural elements grew from performing certain actions, or information about nature or ways in which the business are acting sustainably were projected on a wall as you walked past it. There are many applications if the technology can be harnessed to cater for hospitality spaces in the time.

I am also very keen to explore the AR ideas of making natural elements pop out as you get the menu up when ordering through a QR code. Seen as mobile devices are being readily used to order now after covid restrictions, it makes sense to incorporate nature into the ordering process and it could provide facts about the food or natural elements involved in the food-making process, as well as showing virtual nature around the venue.

26th August 202127th August 2021

Question Evolution

During the course of the independent study, my project has adapted and expanded slightly upon my initial broader thinking. However, the aims and goals of my work are still very much the same, so there have only been slight changes in the evolution of my question over the course of this work period, which can be seen below. I have kept the aspect of my question to be ‘hospitality businesses that serve food and drink’, because I still feel this best describes my target area as it removes other hospitality spaces such as hotel rooms from the project and focuses upon spaces like restaurants, pubs, bars, pop-ups, supper clubs etc.

Starting question at the beginning of the independent study:

How can nature be applied to hospitality businesses that serve food and drink to re-connect people with the natural world? 

Adaptations of Question:

How can natural designs, events and experiences introduced into hospitality spaces that serve food and drink improve customer’s connections to nature?

How can customers become connected to nature through visiting hospitality spaces that serve food and drink in cities?

How can customers become better connected to nature through visiting hospitality spaces that serve food and drink in cities?

Current question:

Reflection

I wish to inspire change in approaches to nature, to allow for increased connections to nature through unique methods within hospitality settings.

I feel my question now better communicates the scale of my work, within busy cities such as London, to target those customers who are feeling disconnected from the natural world due to the city life. Therefore, bringing nature into spaces that they are already frequenting, in hospitality spaces, can easily assist them in improving their connections to nature. This is directly based upon feedback from customers during the herb Event at Chelsea College of Arts. Even those who may be opposed or disinterested in nature can feel the benefits of nature in the spaces. The applications of nature aim to be so innovative and novel that people will want to get engaged with them and subconsciously or resultantly they will feel the impacts of nature and may then hopefully seek out nature in the future.

26th August 202124th November 2021

Update and Iteration of Online Sharing Group

The online sharing group I have developed via Facebook aimed to provide a space for customers of hospitality spaces to post applications of nature that they like or dislike accompanied by short comments as to why they hold this opinion. The change was to be created by this intervention utilising the data to develop applications of nature that are attractive to customers.

However, recent results from the group have been limited in regards to user posts as it has predominately involved posts just from myself that people have then liked or reacted to. This may be due to people being fearful to post in a new group or it may be a factor of people moving away from utilising Facebook as a key channel of social media. The group has gained a few members suggesting that there is an audience for this type of space/ community or conversation but perhaps Facebook isn’t the best way to access this audience. Therefore I review forming this Facebook community as a FAILURE.

Subsequently, I have adapted the Nature In Instagram page to move away from the initial idea of using the page to post a curated version of the posts from the sharing group. Instead, I have moved the Instagram to focus more upon the aspect of promoting hospitality spaces that are showcasing nature and improving connections to nature through directing people to spaces that incorporate nature already. This page is gathering a steady following which is currently at nearly 70 followers. However, no one has truly engaged conversation in the comments section so far meaning this type of content may be gauged towards one sided sharing of spaces rather than a community engagement in people sharing if they visit the spaces I display.

Posts

Below is a link to the Instagram page, as well as links to different posts on there showcasing different venues utilising nature:

In this below post I actually received a like and comment from the hospitality venue I was promoting. Suggesting that in the future, venues may wish to be featured on the page and it could add to the business’s aims to meeting sustainability targets if there were featured on a page promoting unison with nature.

https://www.instagram.com/p/CSEQgO_lEuu/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link

More examples of posts featuring nature in venues:

https://www.instagram.com/p/CR8nKS6jBYq/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link

https://www.instagram.com/p/CSEVB90FCjv/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link

https://www.instagram.com/reel/CS87LNxI6ut/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link

I have also been utilising the page to post natural images and videos (see below) asking questions in the caption, like how do you get your inspiration? and informing people that connecting with nature aids creativity.

https://www.instagram.com/reel/CS6zHngIcgB/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link

Reflection

As the next step and iteration of this intervention, I will continue to spread the word and raise awareness for hospitality venues showcasing nature in innovative ways, to hopefully attract customers to chose to visit these spaces and improve their connection to nature. I will also post short facts on this page of the benefits of connecting to nature to add to the persuasion that it is vital to health to have connections to the natural world.

Furthermore, I will also look to other forms of social media and websites to get people engaged in the conversation around biophilic designs in hospitality and change the messaging that it is simply just about adding plants into spaces. This will also aim to make biophilic design more engaging, fun and novel for the customers, consequently aiding businesses through added customers. This intends to create a buzz around the use of Biophilic design in hospitality spaces which will, in turn, provide greater reception for the natural events and experiences I plan as iterations of the herb intervention I conducted at Chelsea.

21st August 202126th August 2021

Reading ‘Rewild Yourself’ to Help Formulate a New Stream of Ideas

Unlike many academic papers I have read and analysed to form the foundation for my work, recently I have looked to other sources of secondary information to help formulate new ideas and takes on how nature can be effectively introduced to hospitality settings.

Barnes, S. (2018) Rewild Yourself, Simon and Schuster, London.

Consequently, I have been reading ‘Rewild Yourself’ by Simon Barnes. This book isn’t to do with bringing nature into spaces at all, rather it is centred around people taking themselves to the outdoors to interact with nature. Resultantly, I found reading the text a very interesting experience to get my creative juices to flow in following the suggested ideas to ‘rewild’. I have found myself critically analysing and adapting these suggested methods of rewilding to discover how they can be utilised within the context of my work. This has led me to revert many of the ideas and working backwards with them to try and invent new ideas or ways in which similar forms of interacting with nature could be introduced into hospitality settings.

For instance, a suggestion to invest and utilise a good pair of waterproof trousers may seem meaningless in regards to my work. However, the book goes on the explore the new world and environment a pair of waterproof trousers helps you to unlock. Whether this be seeing new species that you would have otherwise missed as you wouldn’t have wanted to immersive yourself in the wet environment, or simply exploring the scenery and woodlands in adverse climates. The point being that the trousers offer a gateway to experience different environments. A similar concept can be applied into an event or experience in hospitality, with a. little thinking and reworking. An expel of this is that an event or experience could be centred around different weathers or climates and in each experience of the climate the customer is able to experience different aspects of nature. Some apparatus could be used as a gateway for each environment, whether this be through ordering a different dish (each pertaining to a new environment) or even in a bar setting thing could be done through different drinks; or even simply in the setting of the restaurants different areas could be presented to explore different nature weathers or environments. Even technology could be utilised to formulate this idea into a technobiophilic experience. These ideas are currently just that, ideas, but read this book has allowed for fresh perspectives to be taken on seemingly obvious parts of natural experiences.

Below I have included notes of aspects of nature I wish to explore further after reading this book. I will go on to develop these ideas further and look at the feasibility of them as I look to planning my next interventions, specifically my next intervention at the Chelsea College of Arts.

Weather
- Experiencing different weathers/ climates as a part of a natural experience
  - Rain – sound and smell?
  - Heat – step off the plane heat smell? Sounds of crickets/ birds?
- Just like the weatherproof trousers, I’m aiming to break down the barriers between inside and outside
  - Breaking down the self-imposed barriers to nature
Consider wildlife/ animals not just plants
- Create immersive habitats? – focus them on different species? – creating an elongated meaningful connection to nature through the transfer of knowledge that customers can take into their daily lives, for instance, the names of basic species such as butterflies which they can then identify when seeing them around in their daily lives, consequently allowing them to feel closer to nature even after leaving the event/ experiences.
‘Open yourself up to the wild’
Viewing the ocean as a new and mythical world
- Lose yourself in a new natural world – replicate unusual/ unique aspects of the ocean that aren’t commonly known
  - Strengthen connection potentially from the transfer of knowledge about the ocean – people may wish to pursue this information further and explore and learn more about the ocean.
  - Utilise idea of coral reefs – unpack and showcase their environment in an event
    - Aquascope/ bathyscaphe allows you to view the ocean like a snorkel but without getting wet.
Rivers?
- People sat in different spaces like different tributaries (could also be like branches of a tree) – different tributaries would equate to a different natural experience, customers could more through the different tributaries throughout the experience.
  - Could be replicated for a wine tasting? – different drink for each tributary? Or a different food dish?
Nocturnal animals – could be referenced in evening experiences or events?
- Bats – sonar sounds for communication in any way to play on this?
  - Utilise sonar tech in an event? – play on bats abilities to feel at home during the dark?
  - There are devices you can get to convert bat’s ultrasounds into humanly audible sounds – could utilise something similar?
    - Bat detectors, set to around 45khz
Stillness to take in wild ecosystem forms around you
- Could be introduced in some form for a supper club type event, as everyone sits down for dinner and are silent, the projectors/ sounds/ smells of nature and wildlife begin to appear, as if you are sitting still in the natural habitat. This could set the tone for the rest of the natural experience.
Rainforest – most diverse ecosystem
- Reveal what’s in the canopy/ around you that may be hard to see.
  - Explore the masses of wildlife in the canopy of the rainforest, unpack it and utilise different species in experiences
Hares/ Rabbits
- Future idea that could be aimed at spring?
Dragonflies/ ladybirds/ butterflies – the invertebrate world of the small, bringing them into the human eye and world of the big rather than being overlooked.
Hummingbirds/ woodpeckers – represent bringing rare and interesting species inspiration into events that will attract people as it is uncommon for humans to encounter them. So, an event aimed to replicate interactions with racer species could bring the rare into the normal?
Bees
- Replicate or take inspiration from the process of pollinating?
  - Create a change in the taste of food before and after ‘pollination’

Reflection

I have really enjoyed reading this book and it has allowed me to re-evaluate my ideas and perceptions of what nature truly is. I feel it has helped me to consider new forms of nature and ways to introduce these parts of nature into the hospitality settings, allowing for connections with the customer to be formed.

Following the line of thinking reading this book has started, another idea I have been recently thinking about red Hibiscus, which is a flower that is commonly associated with summer. But, with Christmas and winter coming up I have thought of potentially utilising this flower as a theme for a natural event or experience framed towards winter. This would create a juxtaposition between winter and summer and allow for a mixture of seasons to be brought into one space, for an innovative natural experience.

20th August 202120th August 2021

Finalised 2nd Panel Discussion

I have recently confirmed the panellists and final details for my panel discussion happening on the 26th August at 1pm via stream yard. I am very excited to be hosting my second-panel discussion as I feel it will help to push my current work and future iterations of my interventions and project beyond the realms of the predictable and just my thinking by collaborating and discussing ideas with some of the top experts in the industry. I am also feeling a bit more confident the second time around and have worked on ironing out some of the slight issues that occurred in the last panel discussion. For instance, I am promoting the panel and asking panellists to do the same to try and secure a live audience for the event. I have also been more thorough in confirming how the platform stream yard will work and the time scale of the event. Finally, I have also tried to make the prompts I have sent out slightly more specific and clear to keep feedback accurate to the topics I wish the panel to cover. Images will again be utilised with the prompts wherever suitable to add clarity to the points discussed. For example, images of the Herb Event I ran at Chelsea or the online sharing group.

Details for the Panel:

The panel will run at 1pm UK time on the 26th August via Stream Yard, where an audience can view the discussion live via the link to Nature.In’s YouTube channel and comment any questions they have. Panelists have been asked to invite anyone they know that might be interested in viewing the panel online via the link to the Nature.In YouTube channel here: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCqNK8rZOlsj1UFpzT3pfuCQ

Panelists:
Leonardo Binetti – biomimetics expert
Kristina Libby – biophilic expert
Hedi Lenaerts- biophilic expert
Vanessa Champion- biophilic expert

Pannel Aim:
Discussing the most effective and impactful adaptations of the events and experiences that have already been conducted as a part of the Nature.In venture to re-connect people to nature in hospitality venues. Additionally, discussing new ideas and approaches of how to innovatively and dynamically introduce nature into hospitality venues, to target the senses and develop a personal connection to nature for each customer.

Prompts for the Panel:
The panel will consist of working its way through the three main topics, these being the events and actions conducted so far as a part of Nature.In; followed by a final section of added thoughts of new ways in which to effectively bring nature into hospitality venues. The questions below are simply a guide for the discussion and we will spend as long or as short on each topic depending on the amount of feedback from the panellists.

Chelsea Collage of Arts Herb Event
• The outcome of 2.5% improvement to people’s connection and 85% of participants stated that they would actively visit a hospitality venue if it was offering a natural event or experience are very promising.
o How can we build on this? How can we make future iterations of similar events more dynamic and engaging?
o How could it be ensured that interactions to nature were elongated, to improve the increase in connection to nature, as the shortness of the interaction was the most prominent feedback for a poor improvement in connection to nature?
 For instance, having herbs on tables as table decorations? Or through the transference of knowledge through providing plants names or species typed?
• Utilising of inclusion of nature in self scale (Schultz, 2002: Kleespies et al., 2021) to measure changes in connection was useful in it being a simple and short way of measuring connection, allowing for a multitude of respondents.
o But, what other ways be utilised to better measure changes in connection to nature in a similar context?
o Could there be a way to measure connection that doesn’t rely on self report activity?
• How could other aspects of nature, not solely plants, be introduced into similar events to develop a connection to the natural world?
Online Sharing Group
• This is currently being run via a Facebook group page to target the existing users of the site as a customer base.
o Is there a more effective platform to utilise?
o Are there more effective ways to grow the page and reach out rather than just posting it in various places?
• The page is accompanied by an instagram page which is steadily growing its following.
o Is this possibly a better space to collate peoples views on different applications of nature?
• Are there any other ways to get discussions going online that can reach a large number of people to develop rich data into people’s views around applications of nature in hospitality spaces, that I have possibly overlooked?
Utilising technology to connect people to nature
• Do you feel that technology can be utilised to aid the connection to nature rather than hindering it, as many feel we need to step away from modern technology to feel the benefits of nature?
• I am looking at utilising projectors to display natural images around the canteen space of Chelsea Collage of Arts, as well as utilising diffusers to add the accompanying natural scent and speakers to add sound. For instance, creating a woodland experience involving moving woodland images, with diffusers projecting smells of pine and sounds of moving trees and birds. Or, if the food offering is Italian for instance, projecting images of tuscan hills, with the accompanying sounds and smells.
o Do you feel there are any ways to improve this idea?
• Do you have any other ideas of how to utilise technology to connect people to nature in hospitality spaces?
o For instance, utilising existing technology that most hospitality spaces have?
• I have considered how to utilise personal technology devices such as sports watches to measure heart rate changes in connection to nature, but this would involve a controlled group of participants taking part in a hospitality space.
o Do you now of any other ways to do similar that overcomes this issue?
Thoughts for future ways to connect people to nature in hospitality venues
• Any innovative, dynamic and engaging ideas or thoughts you may have to connect people to nature in meaningful ways within hospitality spaces.

Stream yard link:
Below is the link to access the stream at 1pm UK time on Thursday the 26th August.
https://streamyard.com/s3cxm6vq3v

Reflection:

I am intrigued to see how this discussion will flow and how in-depth and critical feedback from the experts will be, as this panel has a slightly different aim from my first panel. The first panel was more about outlining what the possibilities for change in the target area could be. However, this second panel aims to create change in connecting people to nature in hospitality spaces by directly collaborating with leading experts in the field to develop the most innovative adaptions of work I have already started, to create the most impact upon people’s connections to nature.

20th August 202126th August 2021

Updates on Future Interventions and Stakeholder Meetings

Panel Discussion

I have finalised all of the panellists for this discussion in securing 4 experts in biophilic and biomimetic designs. I have been very fortunate to recently secure Vanessa Champion for the panel who is the editor of the Journal of Biophilic design; which collates, articles, research, podcasts and videos around the latest in biophilia. Consequently, I am very excited to hear from her in the discussion as well as all of the other brilliant panellists. I will post an in-depth update on the panel and the prompts that will be utilised in my next blog post.

The Marylebone Hotel

I have recently followed up with Simon (Executive Head Chef at The Marylebone Hotel) to check in on whether there has been any progress on the ideas I proposed to him after our meeting a few weeks ago. Simon responded to inform me that the general manager of the hotel has been away on holiday over the past weeks and so my proposal will be reviewed over the coming week or so to look at hopefully hosting an event or experience in the hotel around September time. This is very promising for the future of my project and presents a very positive future and trajectory for where this work can be taken both in the near future but also past the point of the masters.

Chelsea College of Arts

I have also spoken with Dashnor at Chelsea College of Arts. I have been unable to host an iteration of my Herb Event at Chelsea in the form of another natural event or experience, due to summer holidays of staff and differing availabilities. This has been a slight change in my plans, as I would have liked to have another iteration of the herb event completed before the hand in for unit 2. However, I realise when working with external and large stakeholders it is something I have been unable to control. Therefore, I have now diverted my attention to other interventions I have developed over the independent study period such as my panel discussions with biophilic experts across the world and my online sharing group; which can be presented alongside my initial Herb Event.

Regarding Chelsea, there is still a very promising future, as I am looking to host another intervention in the café area in September that develops as an iteration of the herb event. This event will take the best parts of the Herb Event and build upon it to develop something new to connect customers to nature. I am also looking to host my technobiophilic intervention at the Chelsea canteen when they open the area in late September/ early October.

Stakeholder Meeting – to discuss most effective ways to develop tehcnobiophillic events

I have contacted several experts to discuss how best to fuse the use of technology with creating natural events and experiences in hospitality spaces. All stakeholders have been briefed about the status of my project so far, the aims of my work and future goals for the venture. Although these meetings are designed to allow for collaboration with experts to help to develop the most effective technobiophilic event possible for the Chelsea canteen space; I have informed them that any other ideas around my project in how to connect people to nature in hospitality spaces are more than welcome to brought to the table and be discussed.

Experts collaborating with:

I have been speaking with Sue Thomas, who is a pioneer in the field of technobiophilia (see previous posts ‘technobiophilia; analysing her work). I am very excited to hear from Sue and work with her to develop engaging and innovative ways to bring nature together with technology. I am also interested to explore different ways to measure a change in people’s connection to nature utilising technology with her, as this is something she touches on in some of her written works. For instance, utilising sports watches to measure heart rates and changes in them dependant on connection to nature. Something similar could be very interesting to utilise in my work if possible.

I have also asked Kristina Libby if she would be interested in speaking further on technobiophilic events with me in a zoom meeting. This is due to her contributions in the first panel being centred around utilsing technology with nature; and her background in tech. She very kindly said she would love to work with me in developing these ideas further and so we have a meeting on Monday to discuss this.

Additionally, Hedi Lenaertz has also agreed to a meeting to develop ideas around technobiophilia events and experiences. Hedi is an experienced consultant, designer and keynote speaker on biophilic design. Therefore, her insight will be very useful on this topic. I have already been talking to Hedi via email to begin collaboration on ideas, and so I have very excited to speak further in a meeting.

Developing Scents for Technobiopilic Events

I am yet to hear back from any of the scent experts I contacted recently. However, it is still the summer holiday period for many and so hopefully I will receive a response soon. In the meantime, I will look to reach out to more scent experts in London to look to gain knowledge from them on utilising scents and possibly even work to create custom scents to utilise in my intervention events.

Timeline:

Meeting with Kristina Libby discussing technobiophilic events – 23rd August

Panel discussion – 26th August

Meeting with Hedi Lenaertz – discussing technobiophilic events – 31st August

Meeting with Sue Thomas – discussing technobiophilic events – 1st September

Chelsea café intervention (building on herb event) – 14th September (ish)

A potential event at The Marylebone Hotel – (around) 16th/17th September

Chelsea Canteen Intervention – (around) 22nd/ 23rd September

Reflection:

I feel that the plans and projections for my project into the future present a very promising future for this work. There is a clear scope and a market to introduce creating meaningful connections to nature in hospitality spaces through natural events, experiences and designs. I can’t wait to see how far this work can go and how many boundaries it can push.