Over the past week, I have had space to take a step back from my work and truly look to evaluate my current direction and focus on my project due to illness stopping me from continuing on with practical work. This time has been invaluable to consider whether my current interventions and research question truly encapsulate the energy and motives of my work and what I wish to achieve.
I have included below my written workings that follow my decision-making process throughout the week and my evolution in evaluating where I am currently at and where I want to progress to. However, I then go on to summarise my thinking and consequential decision making to clarify my direction going forward as a result of this evaluation and reflection.
Progression of Reflection and Evaluation on Project Through to Evolution of Work:
Summary of Thinking and Evaluation of Project
- Move away from simply reconnecting people to nature to consider the type of change I wish to make
- This change initially being thought as an attitudional one but I feel this is best achieved through forming a community and community practise to create real change on a larger scale rather than small one off design events and talks ran by me – strength in numbers…
- Strategic level change – also considering fact finding interventions to assess how people in the market react to this community
- A community approach to build new attitudes in how nature is utilised in design, consequently results in reconnecting people to nature
- So, my new direction in my work is much more specific and achieveable whilst providing a framework for real change. As, upon relfection I can now see my previous research question was quite diffused in its direction and purpose due to reconnecting people to nature being a broad focus.
- Community approach also plays to my strengths of connecting with many top level stakeholders in my field and helps to connect all of the work I have been conducting in the background of my project such as meeting lost of biophilic, natural and sustainability experts
- The group also adresses a key issue I have noticed through connecting with these experts and reaching out to differnet stakeholders. This being that the field of biophilia/natural design/ sustaibility led companies are very scattered across the internet and sites such as LinkedIn. This makes it very hard for professionals to meet each other but also for their knowledge to be combined and implemented in spaces in a new way. This knowledge can also then be shared with other industry professionals such as interior designers and architects that can be added into the community who can then implement the communtiy discussed ideas and concpets of natural design in their projects and also link with companies who can help make these ideas a reality.
- I believe there is scope to combine my work and interests into building this professional multistakeholder community
- The change to make is in percieving nature as a must have in design rather than a nice to have – this not only provides health and wellbeing benefits associated with intercting with nature, but can also help to meet sustianbility targets
- Aim is to bring nature into city spaces are these are the spaces that desperately need the focus of natural design and also largely contain the people that feel most disconnected from nature (from my intervention findings and further reserach)
- My work focusing on hospitality is still very relevant, only now there is wider scope for the application of nature in other city spaces, such as urban interior spaces and workplaces
- Focusing on hospitality was seen as the correct way forward and entry point for my work at the begining as a sector with maxium impact. Hospitality was focused upon due to there being little applications of customer centric biophilic deisgn in the hospitality sector, hospitality having been hit so harshly by the pandemic and such design schemes and events helping to attract customers, the rise in sustainably counscious venues and the popularity of hospitality spaces leading to a vast sphere of influence among city dwellers that typcially ave minimal intercations with nature were all contributing factors.
- However, with the progression of my work looking towards community building and practise there is a natural evolution away from limiting that community to the hospitality sector, as the communtiy can be of great benefit to multiple city spaces.
- There is naturally multiple applications for this professional community as hospitality is so closesly linked to the consumer market; therefore, my work up until now feeds into the creation of this community space almost seamlessly.
New Direction In Summary
Research Question:
How can community practice encourage knowledge sharing on biophilic design to promote the inclusion of nature in city spaces?
Stakeholders:
Primary stakeholders – Natural design experts and professionals interested in learning about and incorporating natural design
Secondary stakeholders – Owners of internal city spaces (having the opportunity to host the ideas of the community)
Tertiary stakeholders – Users of city spaces that now incorporate nature as a result of work from the Nature In Community, thus the benefit from the work of the project.
Interventions:
- Professional Community via LinkedIn page, featuring collaboration and conversation in the group, as well as Clubhouse talks to share knowledge and Instagram for publicity
- Natural Events – showcase what can be achieved through natural design when thinking innoavctively and collaboratively, but also utilsie these events being held at Chelsea College of Arts to add up and coming deisgners and creative practitioners that are sustianbly focused into the professional community group
Reflection
This period of evaluation and reflection on the direction of my project has been invaluable in working to create the most effective outcomes possible. I now feel passionate that I am working to develop interventions that actively target the key aims of my work and that combine all aspects and ambitions of my work into an impactful, engaging and challenging direction.