Nature In – Page 4 – Reconnecting people with nature in city spaces

21st September 202121st September 2021

Soundscapes for Immersive Event at Chelsea

I recently reached out to the British Library and Radio Lento in regards to collaborating to develop unique natural soundscapes for my immersive event at Chelsea on the 7th and 8th October. I am happy to say I have received responses from both parties.

Radio Lento

Radio lento is an independent producer of environmental soundscapes and 3D sounds. At present their sounds are distributed via a podcast and as a start-up, they are currently in the process of acquiring licences to release their sounds to third parties. Therefore, they are sadly unable to offer any sounds out for probono events at the presnet time.

However, I would love to work with them in the future and utilise their sounds when they are available, as they capture some incredible audio from very remote locations; and so they are a great contact to have.

British Libary

I also received a response form Cheryl Tipp at the British Libary, who has been very helpful in directing me to their resources of natural soundscapes that I have been allowed to utilise in my immersive event! The British Libary has a huge range of differing soundscapes from animals to tress in the breeze and water so there is huge potential to apply these sounds in my event and events moving forward, so long as I credit the British Libary in them.

Therefore, over the next week I am going to combine a suitable range of the sounds provided by the British Libary to create a unique soundscape which will be incorporated into my immersive event as a part of my intervention. I may also look to test this soundscape and others I create in the future, in upcoming events at the Chelsea cafe space around the end of October.

Reflection

I am incredibly excited to be able to develop custom soundscapes form y event in collaboration with the british Libary. It is a fantastic resource of sounds that offers real depth in the realism of my immersive natural event.

16th September 202126th November 2021

Contacting Collaborators for Chelsea Event

After speaking with Sue Thomas last week, she suggested that I get in contact with some sound experts to access the most suitable and effective natural soundscapes to implement in my upcoming immersive event at Chelsea College of Arts.

Natural Soundscapes:

Consequently, I have contacted Cheryl Tipps at the British Libary, as well as Radio Lento in regards to collaborating on curating natural soundscapes for the event. I am very hopeful one of these parties will respond, as Sue mentioned that the British Libary, in particular, is often keen to collaborate on these types of projects so that the soundscapes get utilised.

Body Metrics for Measuring Connection to Nature:

Additionally, raised in multiple meetings with experts over the coming weeks and my panel discussion was to explore measuring body metrics such as blood pressure, oxygen levels or plus to see the impacts of the natural events or experience on customers connection to nature.

Subsequently, I have contact medical supply companies and medical experts to see if any would be interested in supplying the medical technology to the vent or be interested in attending/ helping to run it and collaborating on it.

In my research on utilising body metrics to measure connections, I have found that studies that have done this so far are predominately US-based. Therefore, conducting a body metrics examination of interactions with nature in the UK could be of vast benefit.

Reflection:

I am really keen to utilise a different type of measure for connection to nature in my next event to create variety in the type of data and feedback gained from my interventions. Therefore, I feel it would be really interesting to gather body metric data that can empirically show the impact of natural design upon customers in hospitality spaces. However, measuring body metrics requires either buying or renting medical equiptment to measure these statistics or collaborating with a medical supply company or professional to obtain them. Ideally, I would like to collaborate with a medical professional so they could also attend the vent and be in charge of taking the measurements so that I can ensure they are all scientifically accurate. I realise it may be very difficult to get someone to fit this role and so I am flexible in either possibly taking the measurements myself or resorting to a different measuring method. I will explore possible different methods of measurement in upcoming posts.

In relation to soundscapes, I feel it will add a great depth and dimension to the event if I am able to collaborate to create unique soundscapes for the event. Also, if I am able to collaborate on soundscapes I could create another soundscape to utilise in a future cafe intervention to test of the responses to sound alone, or sound combined with scents.

References

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4917833/

https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2019.02942/full

13th September 202126th November 2021

Action Plan – Moving into U3

As Unit 3 is now underway, I have devised an action plan to move forwards through the final stages of my master’s project. This plan involves streamlining my interventions into the most impactful and inventive ways to achieve the aims of my research question.

Focusing My Interventions:

Events

Events are my predominant intervention to re-connect people to nature through visiting hospitality spaces. The events aim to connect people to a natural environment whilst visiting a typically unnatural space. Consequently, they can feel the health benefits of interacting with nature as well as building their connection to nature, which will improve their care for the natural world and hopefully increase their uptake in sustainable practices.

Chelsea College of Arts have confirmed I can host more events in their spaces, and their canteen spaces is re-opening at the end of September. Consequently, I am hosting my immersive event in the canteen on the 7th and 8th of October.

Canteen Event 7/8th Oct
- Immersive event implementing the positives from the herb event alongside the innovative ideas founded in technobiophilia
  - Ideas:
    - Implementing live stream waterfall and soundscapes
    - Incoprorate physical plants as they were well recived in herb event, as well as possibly scents as they were greatly enjoyed from the herbs
    - Look to measure connection through body metrics

In developing this immersive event I am also going to explore the avenues of creating responsive immersive projections through Microsoft Kinect software, or utilising AR to bring in natural elements to the space. I will evaluate the most effective of these methods, if any are appropriate and work on implementing them into the event.

I also have the opportunity to test smaller scales of ideas I wish to implement in the canteen in Chelsea’s cafe space, wish will be a very advantageous space once I have got a more precise view of my ideas for the event.

ClubHouse/ Podcast

To look to connect people to nature through hospitality even further, I am going to take the highly interesting and original conversations from my panel discussions and from the panels into talks on clubhouse or a podcast. The talks will be aimed at hospitality professionals as well as biophilic/ natural experts to learn how nature can be incorporated into hospitality spaces.

I am deciding between clubhouse as it is aimed at professionals and is a newly emerging platform over the past year which can help reach my intended audience on a wider scale, in a new and engaging way. However, discussions on clubhouse can’t be recorded and you have to be available at the moment to talk part and listen to the discussion, which restricts who can view and learn from the conversations. Therefore, I am also looking at whether a podcast may be a more suitable format as discussions can be kept forever and relistening to. But, guiding users to find your podcast can be very difficult and so it may be tricky to reach my intended audience. I will explore both methods in greater depth and make a decision.

Instagram

I will continue to run the Nature.In Instagram page in posting applications of nature in different hospitality spaces, as well as promoting the events for nature.in; but this is very much a sideline aim to accompany the key interventions.

The Instagram aims to connect people to nature through developing a type of online catalogue of hospitality venues that actively try to incorporate nature into their spaces; thus, encouraging people to visit them and develop their connections to nature.

Reflection

I’m very happy to have narrowed the focus of my work slightly and I will continue to narrow in more as I reflect further upon the outcomes of my previous interventions. I feel it is of great benefit to have done this for both the direction and clarity of my project, as well as for my personal focus to move away from constantly conjuring up new ideas. I am excited to deepen my focus on these interventions and create something that creates real change.

11th September 202110th November 2021

Unit 2 Presentation

This week I completed my presentation to mark the end of U2. This was a great opportunity to provide some added insights into the interventions I have conducted over Unit 2 as well as some visual evidence. The presentation slides can be found below.

Feedback:

The majority of my feedback centred around now focusing my efforts on the most effective and suitable interventions out of the range I have conducted. Narrowing in my field of focus in this way will allow for added depth and reflection into the interventions rather than doing many to a slightly lesser depth. It was advised to conduct this narrowing in the process by considering which interventions most directly achieve my research question of connecting people to nature through hospitality venues

Reflections:

From the feedback on my presentation, I am now looking to single out the most promising avenues for enquiring to pursue in my future interventions. An action plan for these avenues will be available on my blog over the coming days.

8th September 202129th November 2021

Article for the Journal of Biophilic Design

UPDATE (16TH SEPT 2021) – my article has now been published which you can view here: https://journalofbiophilicdesign.com/journal-of-biophilic-design/why-the-hospitality-industry-needs-biophilic-design

Last week I had the amazing opportunity to write an article for the Journal of biophilic design, which will be shared on their website towards the end of the month. This was a brilliant chance to publicise my work and get more people engaged in my mission to connect people to nature through hospitality spaces. Being asked to write this article on my work demonstrated the traction my project is gaining among my stakeholders and the opportunity for creating real change that is being created.

I have included the text of the article below, but the article will also feature some pictures from my Chelsea Herb Event.

Article:

Nicole Parkes– Masters Student of Applied Imagination at Central Saint Martins, Founder of Nature.In

Website – Blog documenting the journey of work: https://nicoleparkes.myblog.arts.ac.uk

Instagram – @nature.i.n and @nicole__parkes

YouTube – https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCqNK8rZOlsj1UFpzT3pfuCQ

Email – nicoleparkes0@gmail.com

Call to action –Re-connecting people to nature through hospitality venues by incorporating the principles of biophilic design – bringing nature to the people

What’s the aim?

Nature.In aims to re-connect people to nature by bringing the outside indoors, focusing on hospitality venues. Nature.In is the entity created to unite the work of this venture. Our work 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 nature. These benefits include reduced stress and anxiety, creating clarity of mind and increased creativity to name but a few. We are passionate about creating that gut reaction and instinctive connection to nature achieved from organic interaction with nature in the wild, offering a customer-centric approach rather than commercial holistic design schemes. The ideologies in our work play off the concept of emotional design, in thinking that customers are far more likely to act in the interest of nature and participate in sustainable practice in their lives, if they develop some form of emotional and personal connection to nature. In essence, if they connect to it, they will care for it.

Hospitality is the focus due to the popularity of the spaces, the rise in sustainably conscious venues and the lifting of covid restrictions offering a unique opportunity to reattract customers to hospitality spaces in innovative and engaging ways. Additionally, there is a current lack of customer-centric and easily appliable biophilic design for hospitality venues, that do not require full-scale refurbishment of spaces. Subsequently, Nature.In aims to develop original and dynamic biophilic events, experiences, and designs to implement in hospitality venues.

Why is it Important?

The events, experiences and designs created by Nature.In are targeted at the customers to produce approachable forms of biophilic designs that connect people to nature. The connections formed to nature within hospitality settings are hoped to lead to a heightened awareness for nature into the lives of the individual, so that they make conscious efforts to interact with and act in the best interests of nature in the future. Subsequently, leading to individuals leading more sustainably conscious lives which is more important than ever amidst the ongoing climate crisis.

How Are We Connecting People to Nature?

A variety of methods have been deployed to aid the mission of reconnecting people to nature within the hospitality setting. These include hosting a Herb event at the Chelsea College of Arts, panel discussions with biophilic experts, and social media groups which raises awareness for venues showcasing nature within hospitality spaces. Essentially, the mission of Nature.In is split into two sectors; actions and outreach. Actions include the events and experiences ran in hospitality spaces to re-connect customers to nature and attract them into the spaces through experiencing the benefits of interacting with nature. Outreach involves spreading the word of what biophilia is, its importance and how to utilise it.

Actions

The first action, or event, hosted by Nature.In was a Herb Event, which took place at Chelsea College of Arts across 20^th – 21^st July. 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 them. 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 nature. Before participants left, I asked the 4 questions again to assess if there had been any change in their connection to nature following their engagement in the event. 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.

The results determined that there was a 2.5% increase in connection to nature from this event, although 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, without access to a garden or immediate green space. This demonstrates the potential impact of Nature.In’s goal to bring nature to the people in hospitality spaces, as many people lack but are ready to receive nature; especially in large cities like London.

Over the coming months, more events are to be held at Chelsea College of Arts, building upon the success of the Herb Event. The future events aim to test the impact of different ways to re-connect with nature, such as targeting the senses through aspects of smell and sounds. Additionally, ways to utilise technology to aid connections to nature will be explored through developing immersive events and ways to harness augmented reality technology to bring items such as menus to life.

Outreach:

Through the outreach portion of Nature.In work, we aim to connect people to nature through spreading the word of the benefits and possible uses of biophilic designs, as well as making biophilia approachable by unpacking some of the academic intricacies.

One aspect we found throughout our exploration into biophilic design is that it is a concept largely unknown to the wider world. Instead, there is an ever-growing group of inspiring intellectuals and designers that are discovering and building upon the concept, which is brilliant and fascinating. However, when approaching hospitality customers or business owners and discussing the concept of biophilic design, you are doing well if you even find one that is aware of what the concept entails. Therefore, we feel to truly re-connect people to nature through biophilic designs, great attention needs to be given to raising awareness as to what biophilia is and how people can incorporate it into their lives and businesses. So far, outreach has been achieved through hosting panel discussions, speaking with biophilic experts, and building up the Nature.In Instagram page.

There have been 2 online panel discussions hosted by Nature.In to date, each including 4 biophilic experts. The first panel looked at different ways to approach re-connecting people to nature in a hospitality setting. While the second panel aimed to establish pioneering adaptations of the work and future plans of Nature.In. The panels provide great insights from leading experts into how nature can be innovatively and dynamically incorporated into hospitality spaces to attract customers. They aim to be informative and thought-provoking for hospitality businesses, customers and other biophilic experts. This has ignited conversations on how we can intrinsically incorporate nature into our hospitality experiences. These discussions can all be found on the Nature.In YouTube page. However, future panel discussions and meetings with biophilic experts are looking to be moved onto platforms accessed by a wider audience, such as Clubhouse, Podcasts, Instagram and even Tiktok.

The Nature.In Instagram page aims to showcase natural events, experiences, and designs within hospitality settings as well as natural experiences run by Nature.In. This page is also helping to form a conversation and community in the comments section, through the page’s growing following. Check it out to learn about our upcoming ventures and come and visit us there! Over the coming months there will be several natural events hosted at Chelsea College of Arts and we are always looking for more hospitality venues that wish to explore natural events, experiences and designs that can be hosted in their spaces. So, if you’re interested in getting involved, get in touch!

Ideas For How to Incorporate Biophilic Design into Hospitality Spaces

Future ideas being explored for upcoming events by Nature.In include exploring the powers of targeting different senses and technobiophilia, which involves utilising technology to aid in connecting people to nature. However, there are many small ways hospitality businesses can easily implement nature into their existing spaces. Some simple ideas are listed below:

Utilising herbs as table centre pieces
Informing customers of where your produce comes from and your sustainability actions
Incorporating colour schemes mimicking that of nature eg: blues and creams of the ocean, green hues of plants or orange, red and stone colours of the earth
Taking advantage of natural light in your space
Incorporating natural scents and soundscapes

I hope some of the ideas raised here have helped you to think about how you could interact with nature in any small way today, to help bring those natural benefits into your life and hopefully to continue those connections into the future.

For information about future events, experiences, and talks follow our Instagram – @nature.i.n or keep in touch with the progress of the project via the blog: https://nicoleparkes.myblog.arts.ac.uk

If there is anyone interested in collaborating in our work or wants to find out more – drop me an email – nicoleparkes0@gmail.com

Reflection

I loved the opportunity to write this article and share more about y missions of my work and why it’s important to bring nature into everyone’s lives. I was asked to write this article after contacting the editor of the Journal of Biophilic Design to take part in my latest panel discussion. Unfortunately, Vanessa was unable to take part in the panel, but instead, she asked if I would be interested in writing the article. This demonstrated the power of building a strong network of stakeholders once again, as doors begin to open with the more people you build relationships with.

3rd September 20213rd September 2021

Planted Cities Event

Yesterday I had the brilliant opportunity to speak with Sam Peters who is one of the founders of Planted. I recently saw Sam speak at the Fika with Friends conference, which inspired me to get in touch.

Planted is running London’s first zero waste event at Granary Square on the 23-26th September. It was great to hear more about the event and the future plans for Planted. For instance, expanding their podcast outreach, lauching a members area, future events and much more.

Panted installation during London Design Festival in Granary Square, King’s Cross

Having spoken to Sam about my work and how our aims are very much alined to connect people to nature in innovative ways, Sam kindly offered for me to get involved in their event this September. Therefore, I will be attending the event on Thursday (23rd) and Friday (24th) and assiting in anyway I can, as well as meeting with the team. This is a very exciting opportuniy to make many more connections within my stakeholder network and learn more about cuttting-edge work in the field of biophilia and sustianability.

I will also look to work with Planted past this event as they continue to expand, and hopefully find key opportunites for overlap and collaboration in our goals.

Reflection

Being invited to take part in the Planted event feels like a big breakthrough in my work, which expresses that my project is valuable to the scetor and my stakeholders. Having this validation of my work that others are interested in it to the point that they want me to collaborate in their work allows me to feel I am on the right track, talking to the right people and persuing new ways to create changes in connecting to nature.

2nd September 20212nd September 2021

Meeting with Sue Thomas – Technobiophilia

Yesterday I had a very informative and insightful discussion with Sue Thomas, a pioneer in technobiophilia and she actually coined the term! Our discussion can be seen below and I have also typed up some key points from it.

Discussion Points:

Tragetting sense of smell
- Utilsing perfume spray before food is given out eg: vanilla scent or violet, nothing too over powering that distracts from the food/ drink but something unusual that sets the tone for a natural experience
  - Easily removed from a senario unlike diffusers

Technobiophilia experiments
- Irish phone game of differing landscapes, linked to a meaure of oxygen levels to determine the change in stress levels after experiencing nature
- Art project in hospital showing live stream of coast or coutryside and the pateints could choose which. The patients were lukemia patients with their vitals measured constantly, but there were no records taken of the impact of the nature on their stress levels
- Snow ward – Seattle military hospital had to chnage the soilders dressings everyday which caused great pain. So, they developed a VR game to distract them that involved runing and playing in snow, they also sat the soliders in a cold environemnt whilst playing the game. The experiment found that the soliders didnt feel the pain whilst in teh immerisve natural experience!

Restaurants could measure oxygen levels in an event or experience to see impacts of natural intercations
- Utilise finger clip to measure oxygen levels – talk to medical professionals or medical supply company
- Samsung S8 phone utilise a ‘stressmeter’ on the back of the phones measures the levels of oxygen in the skin which is lower if you are stressed
- Could measure oxygen levels at the table and take the readings when ordering?

Use of sound in natural experiences
- Contact British Libary and utilse their audio collection, also BBC sound archive
- Radio Lento collect their own natural soundscapes – ask to collaborate?

Connecting people to water as a natural element
- Implementing a live stream of a wtaerfall into technobiophilic event?
- Book Blue Mind by Wallace Nichols talks on why we are attracted to water
- Even utilsie items associated with water eg: fish net decoartions/ plants associated by water
- Craete that gut reaction of connecting to nature, then the next step can be nudging people to act more sustainably
- Crashing water soundscapes? – relaxing and exciting at the same time?
- Ways to recreate the smells of running fresh water?

Natural sounds utilsied in spaces
- Bird song boxes – small reminder of nature that connects you when you walk into an unnatural space

Contact biophilic cities – similar to the journal of biophilic design, but American verison, aks to talk with them if anything similar to my ideas is being done in the US that they know of?
- Look at the likes of cutting edge american innovators eg: silicon valley, portland oregan and california

Reflection

I was so appreciative of the opportunity to talk to Sue as she is so highly respected in the area of technobiophilia. It was brilliant to talk through different academic studies and possible applications of technobiophilia with her. This conversation and the others I have had over the past few days with people like Kristina Libby and Heidi Learaertz have led to great confirmation from my stakeholders that they believe my ideas have the potential to be highly useful, engaging and powerful. This has really inspired me to move into the development of these next ideas iterations of interventions, utilising what I have learnt from my first interventions and building upon the feedback of my expert stakeholders.

Looking towards my next stakeholder meetings of this type, reflecting on my interviewing technique, I feel I need to work to ensure I ask the interviewee more questions to encourage them to talk, as I feel sometimes I fall into the trap of early wanting talk to talk about my ideas and plans which can take over the interview.

1st September 20211st September 2021

Meeting with Heidi Lenaertz – Targeting the Senses and Technobiophilia

Today I had a very thought-provoking conversation with biophilic expert Heidi Lenaertz. We primarily discussed different ways to approach targeting thes senses in applying biophilic principles to hospitality venues, alongside touching on technobiophilia. The main points I took from the discussion can be found below, as well as the audio recording of the discussion.

Discussion:

Opening up the senses – start with scents to target the smell, as this is attached the the oldest part of the brain in evolution meaning once smell is evoked it is easier to open up the other senses.
- Take into consideration that some people can’t smell
- See the impact of this on the other senses and compare against evoking a different sense to smell first
- Could begin with scents that are familiar eg: mint or lavender so people recognise them and compare against less familir or recognisable scents

Measuring
- Ask people what they think/feel/ see when they smell certain things eg; vanilla, pine or coffee
- Body metrics – blood pressure/ pulse
  - Perspiration of skin – could compare against research with introvert vs extrovert as one’s skin has been found to perspire more than the other – can help to determine how at ease they are
- Record/ observe facial expresssions eg: smiles/ relaxed/ tense – video reactions and evaluate them
- Asking participants to choose a colour to represent their feelings – can analyse what meanings can be found behind different colours
  - Could reveal what change or mindsets have occured before and after the experience
  - Self awareness revealed if you ask why they chose that colour
  - Be aware some may be colour blind – could instead chose a texture, possibly of a plant eg: round leaves or spikey

Diffusers for smells in technobiophilic experience
- Blind fold people to heighten their sense of smell?
- Compare the smells from real herbs vs diffusers – see which people like the most/ what is more agreeable to them
  - See the extent to which people are comfertable with technology/ processed scents eg: if the plants are unable to be utilsied do they feel artifical scents can provide the same benefits?

Testing biophilic elements around the experience of having a cup of coffee – low threshold ways to test out biophilic elements
- Coffee corner – ask people to try the coffee from different tables 1/2/3 and compare – to determine which lighting and visual positioning is best
- Could even test visuals from the shape of the milk eg: leaf/ heart/ circle
- Coffee plant – testing real vs plastic plants
- Vision of coffee beans – either in person or on a poster or even showcasing a video of their production – allows opportunity to showcase any sustainbel actions they are taking eg: transportation
  - Test differnet beans for changes in scent
- Pour coffee in different cups – modern vs more natural/ leaf shaped or wooden
- Artificial vs natural light – how to position things within the light

Reflection

I think this disucssion rasied some very interesting differing concepts and ideas. Especially aorund how to measure changes in connection such as recording reactions or asking feelings to be expressed through colours. I also thought targeting senses in differing orders was a concept to look at further the future.

Testing differnet elements in such a simple format in around how people enjoy a cup of coffee could allow for a path/ modle of how to best implement these biophilic elements into hospitality spaces. I think the small scale of this idea to test around the coffee is a very clever one. However, I think the exact details of this type of intervention would need to be refined for the context of my work. This is because at present the ideas around the coffee relate quite heavily to all encompassing upheavals of hospitality spaces if to be scaled up as they resemble testing elemnets of more common biophilic schemes, which is a key factor I am looking to overcome with this project.

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.