Quite honesty prior to this past week, work on my project to secure a site to test my interventions in had been rather slow and demoralising for me. It had involved day after day of phone calls and emails trying all manner of ideas I had to try and contact venues in which I could possibly run an intervention, no matter how small it may be. However, all my ideas were coming up dry and after all there is only so much positivity and pushing through the pain you can give a matter before the wall of unread emails and negative replies start to make you question whether you are actually going to be able to succeed in this aspect of the venture. And as much as I don’t want to admit it, I was starting to fall into that downtrodden trap of losing faith in securing a public hospitality venue to test my interventions in.
So, I took a step back and tried to remind my self why I was wanting to do this project in the first place. I took a day to revisit the nature I so keenly want to bring into peoples lives. Consequently, I went to explore new natural spaces and parks through going for walks and taking in the atmosphere of being surrounded by nature. Sometimes a refresher in your goals and motivators with a little step back really is all you need to keep going.
And so the quest continued email after email call after call; even just popping my head into a restaurant or pubs whilst I was walking by asking if they would be interested. But, I was still consistently getting turned away.
However, a few days ago I really had a breakthrough moment. I got a positive reply. The head of catering at the Chelsea Collage of Arts responded to my email and was really interested in my work and wanted to meet with me to discuss the different forms my work could take in their spaces. And there it was I was off, I grabbed the meeting with both hands and prepared mock- ups of what interventions would look like in their main canteen space, I thought of other smaller interventions they may wish to implement, I poured everything into preparing. The meeting went very well and I ended up being able to secure the possibility for multiple interventions in their spaces; which was better than I could have hoped. Subsequently, this was a big breakthrough or me finally being able to get my foot through the door somewhere.
As they say no one will let you build a building until you have built one, so once you get that first opportunity, you can leverage it to gain many more. Therefore, this is exactly what I began to do and contacted a family friend who I knew had a contact with the head chef at the Marylebone Hotel. After talking with her about the up and coming event I was running at the Chelsea Collage of Arts, I was able to get her to pass on my details to the head chef who has consequently agreed to have a meeting with me about any possible ideas and interventions I may be able to host there which is extremely exciting.
So, not to get to ahead of myself, but after a bit of a shaky patch where there wasn’t much to show for the work I had been putting in, finally the results are starting to slowly slot into place. I am very excited to see where these next steps can take my project and push it past its current realms.
I was due to visit Tate Britain to primarily see the Heather Philipson Rupture No1 exhibit on the 2nd July. However, due to some unforeseen circumstances I was unable to visit on that date. Subsequently, I instead visited the exhibition last Friday (9th July) and found the experience both intriguing and inspiring.
Heather Philipson – Rupture No1
Experiencing Philipson’s work was incredibly insightful as to how immersive events can be run. I will now unpack which aspects of the exhibit resonated with me the most and how they made be reflect upon how my own interventions may be run.
Reflection:
I found the use of the speakers becoming part of the exhibit itself rather than hiding them in a corner very intelligent; and something I may look to do when utilising a number of speakers in one space. I also loved the striking use of colour in the exhibit which made me consider the angle of changing the colour of light bulbs in spaces to create a more immersive experience, rather than simply projecting natural images onto the available wall space. The combination of static elements alongside sounds, colours and projections made me consider that I should certainty try to encompass static elements into my technology intervention such as plants or design features, where possible. All of these elements were really working in unison to create the experience and so I will look to developing a similar feeling in my work, not simply through utilising either technology with visuals sound and smells or physical deign features, I will also ensure to try and test both together.
Philipson also utilises projection onto walls and canvases as I am envisaging to do so in my intervention to utilise technology to create an immersive natural experience. The final two images display these moving projections utilised in the exhibit. It was interesting to see physically how it worked in the space, but also how people interacted with it. I observed individuals stood watching the changing projecting for a few moments rather than simply walking through some of the more static elements of the exhibit. This showed promise of the success of projecting moving natural images into hospitality spaces, as hopefully it will engage customers as the projections in Philipson’s exhibit were doing.
Djanogly Cafe
Whilst at the Tate, I explored their hospitality offering in their cafe. The cafe offers a reasonably large space that was basically empty on my visit. Therefore, there is scope to attract people from the exhibits and into this space by connecting them to nature. Especially considering the equipment being utilised in Philipson’s Rapture No1, there could possibly be an opportunity to utilise some similar technology that the Tate already has, in the cafe spaces, to create an immersive natural experience around their food and drink offering.
I enquired with the staff working about the possibility of running an intervention in the space for my project, but they informed me that the relevant staff member to talk to wasn’t there and they didn’t have their contact details to give out. So, I have since rang and emailed to enquired about interventions in this space and I am still awaiting a response.
Cooking Sections Salmon: A Red Herring
Additionally, whilst at the Tate, I stumbled upon the Cooking Sections Salmon: A Red Herring exhibit. This showcases the impact of human actions upon different animals, for instance people demanding the perfect pink shade in their salmon. This exhibit very cleverly utilised a completely white scene and projected differing lights onto the relevant sections as the narration went on.
Reflection:
I thought the idea of a blank canvas and utilising light to bring it to life and change it could be very useful in my own project. For example, in situations where it may not be suitable to bring in new apparatus of differing colours to a space, I could utilise lights differently to change the emotions and feeling of the space through colour by light.
Reflection:
Overall, my trip to the Tate was very worthwhile in providing inspiration as to the execution of my interventions. The visit excited me to get underway with my testing of such ideas, seeking to see if technology can be utilised to connect people with nature.
Technobiophilia: nature and cyberspace, By Sue Thomas
Thomas coined the term technobiophilia, founded in her discovery that the utilisation of nature metaphors in internet culture was the result of biophilia (Thomas, 2013).
Technobiophilia – the innate attraction to life and lifelike processes as they appear in technology (Thomas, 2013).
Even through the crowds of technology facing the modern world, we are still drawn to nature and incorporating nature in the technological innovations in our lives. We even term technological developments after accepts of nature, such as storing data ‘in the cloud’ or your computer ‘getting a bug’ (Barreiros et al., 2018).
In the book Thomas (2013) states that technobiophilia practises and artefacts contribute to wellbeing via a tech-nature balance (Thomas, 2013). However, looking to critically analyse this finding, I wonder if utilising technology to connect with nature could produce the same benefits or even increased benefits, than incorporating natural design through standard Biophilic design such as planting, colour, textures, sounds etc. In summary, if we incorporate nature in technology, do we get the same wellbeing benefits from interacting with nature in this way or are the benefits slightly lowered or even heightened?
Relating This New Knowledge Into My Project
If technology does provide similar levels of benefits as more traditional or standard biophilic schemes, there is a large potential to utilise technology in my project. Technology could be utilised to develop a method of implementing nature into hospitality spaces in a fully immersive and easily changeable manner. For instance, natural scenes accompanied by their soundscapes and scents could be shown in restaurants instead of standard art work. Of course there is the cost element of this application to consider, as the technology needed may be expensive. However, if done on a rental basis of the technology in a trail to prove its efficacy and then if the concept proves value, an investment could be made by businesses into the needed technology.
This link of utilising technology in my project directly relates to key discussions had in my panel discussion with the biophilic experts. It was raised that technology is currently overlooked a lot in biophilic design, with designers falling into the trap of thinking that technology and nature need to be kept separate. Additionally, in the panel the vast importance of creating dynamic and changing spaces has on the success of continuously attracting customers to spaces, as many shames require refurbishment after a few years in order to modernise and keep customers engaged. Technology if successfully utilised in the way I am envisaging could create changeable, dynamic and evolving spaces that fully immerses customers in nature and consequently improving their wellbeing by re-connecting them with nature. Creating such spaces not only addresses the key points raised in my expert discussion, but also the needs of the hospitality professionals I have spoken to throughout the course of my project so far. I have learnt that hospitality spaces are generally receptive to including nature in their spaces, but they cannot afford large scale refurbishments nor can the afford to be closed for the time these refurbishments need to take place. Therefore, utilising technology which can be easily implemented into existing spaces or even utilise some of the existing technology they already have, such as speakers, could help to create an immersive natural experience in the space without obstructing the business and instead attract greater customers in.
Delving deeper in Thomas’s work around technobiopilia, it becomes apparent that she focuses on how technology could be utilised to enhance our experiences of nature or how nature can be brought more into our lives by technology via mobile tech such as smart phones, apps or wearables (Thomas, 2020). She wishes to develop a way of measuring the benefits to wellbeing that living a technobiophilic lifestyle can have. For example, an app or wearable tech that can measure heart rate changes based on different environments people are in (Thomas, 2020). Suggesting, my idea of developing immersive natural spaces may be a new and unusual take on her concept.
Reflections – the breakthrough moment
I feel that delving deeper into technobiophilia and looking at how to utilise technology in a beneficial way to connect people with nature has really been a breakthrough moment in my work. I believe trying to tackle re-connecting people to nature from this angle is so exciting and currently I can’t find it being done like this in any hospitality spaces which is such a groundbreaking thing for me. So far I have mainly been looking at new ways to combine design ideas that are partially out in the general field of biophilic design; but, this avenue feels new and even slightly liberating!
Next Steps:
I am looking to get in contact with Sue them stop discuss these concepts further over the coming week. I believe she was actually invited into class as a part of the guest speaker project so hopefully she will also be willing to assist in my work.
My big task over the coming weeks is to secure venues to begin testing my concepts in. I have a possible contact of a hospitality manager in Edinburgh, who seems keen but is yet to confirm if this keenness is more a reflection of their kindness. I also have contacts I have built through LinkedIn and Facebook groups that are hospitality managers, who I am reaching out to work with. However, last night I actually met a hospitality manager for the restaurant JOY at Notting Hill who seemed very interested in my work. I have been in contact with him today and I am hopeful something may come of that connection.
Bibliography
Barreiros, C., Veas, E. and Pammer, V., (2018) “Bringing nature into our lives.” In International Conference on Human-Computer Interaction (pp. 99-109). Springer, Cham.
Thomas, S., 2013. Technobiophilia: Nature and cyberspace. A&C Black.
Thomas, S. (2020) “Technobiophilic Design Challenges for Developers” https://suethomasnet.wordpress.com/whatistechnobiophilia/designchallenges/
Today at 1pm I held my first panel discussion intervention with 4 key stakeholders. The speakers at the discussion ranged from all across the world and provided great insights into their experiences of utilising biophilic design principles alongside how they feel biophilia and biomimetics could be applied in hospitality businesses. A live audience was invited to view and take part in the discussion, as I posted the link in 7 different hospitality groups that I am a part of across Facebook and LinkedIn. However, unfortunately there were no live viewers to the discussion. Although, comments to the upload on YouTube are open and I have welcomed people to comment if they view the recording over the coming days and I can pass their questions onto the experts.
The Speakers Included:
Williem van Bolderen – Based in Finland, Founding partner of Studio Puisto architecture firm which focuses upon hospitality.
Leonardo Binetti – Based in Italy, associate lecturer at Edinburgh Napier university teaching in biomimetic materials.
Rajalakshmi Iyer – Based in Singapore, founder of Deeproots design and living products – specialising in exterior and interior landscaping as well as biophilic products.
Kristina Libby – Based in America, worked on biophilic projects including designing mindful offices which are dynamic and more recently developing a covid memorial project which utilises flower to develop organic, sacred spaces for people.
Please follow the link below to view the full recording of the panel discussion:
Note: consent was gained from all parties to record and post this video onto the YouTube page I have developed as a part of Nature. In.
Key Takeaways From The Discussion
Looking at the micro level of spaces rather than the macro which is studied by the majority of designers due to the macro level having greater impact
It was discussed that small applications of nature such as green artworks or centre pieces, even sustainable cutlery are certainly better than nothing, but the impact they can have on an individuals wellbeing is vastly reduced than if design is implemented at macro level
The examination of dynamic spaces
Developing Biophilic spaces that evolve around you, just as nature grows and changes around you.
For example, removing or adding plants or soft furnishings in a spaces periodically or to fit with the changing of the seasons (obviously changes with the seasons does require a more longitudinal study than can be achieved in the scale of this masters).
This idea feeds into another topic we touched on of creating spaces that are in a constant state of evolution.
The importance of sound, scent and movement
Raji shared how she has utilised the movement of air through spaces at certain times such as 7am to start the day and 4pm to signal it was time for a break. This was achieved by a steady breeze filling the space from the air vents at these times (which I found ingenious).
The use of bird sound and biomimetic lighting were also discussed to be utilised in this manner of marking out times in the day.
Creating spaces that evoke and create memories
If we can evoke emotions from spaces it helps people to engage more deeply with them. In order to do this most effectively you have to have a strong understanding of who will be utilising the spaces and what for.
We also discussed how hospitality spaces in particular are utilised to inspire and educate people. So, if these spaces promote sustainable behaviours and utilise biophilic principles, if people are inspired, they may even take such ideas home into their everyday lives.
Utilising technology to replicate the emotions of plants
How technology can be utilised to replicate states of nature through projections alongside scents and sounds in spaces was discussed. This allows us to embrace technology rather than fully reject it in the quest to achieve biophilic design.
Biomimicry in air ventilation
Leonardo raised the point of materials utilised in windows which mimic pinecones. Therefore, the material opens in the presence of certain gases in the air, just as pine cones do!
Measuring a connection to nature
Kristina spoke on the efficacy of the smiley face survey technique which has been applied in numerous settings, specifically in airports and how they have actually been found to produce very rich data. So, I may look into utilising such a system to gather customers data on biophilic designs, as self reporting survey techniques are very hard to get consumers to accurately complete after they have just had a hospitality experience.
Williem spoke on how I could create 2 or more models or even utilise one space without any biophilic designs and then add biophilia to the space and compare how people interact in the differing spaces; for instance where they sit first. I could observe via video how people interact with the space, as lots of our interactions and choices in nature are subconsious and so asking people to report on them may result in less rich data.
Reflections
Although the panel resulted in being predominately focused upon biophilic and biomimetic designers, rather than the equal balance of hospitality professionals and biophilic experts I initially desired to engage in the panel; I felt the discussion provided real insight into how valuable changes can be made in hospitality spaces to re-connect people with nature.
I think initially in creating this panel discussion I felt that hospitality workers and biophilic experts needed to be brought together to cohesively bridge the gap between the designs and what will be most beneficial to the specific businesses. However, I realise now that simply getting everyone together in one big discussion was almost the easier route out. After this experience I feel that it may be a more effective approach to discuss with each stakeholder group (the experts and the hospitality businesses) separately as they are quite different groups and they respond better to tailored approaches. Then I can collate the information from these discussion to take the feedback of the hospitality businesses and combine this with the feedback from the experts.
Therefore, I now need to engage further with hospitality workers, in ways in which will accommodate them and this largely meaning not being at fixed times, due to my experience trying to confirm hospitality workers for this panel discussion (see previous post). Although, I am still working on the details of precisely how I will target the hospitality businesses.
Next Steps
Looking to the future I now plan on utilising some of the ideas discussed in the panel to explore further and begin developing a series of very rough idea mock ups. I can then present these idea mock ups to hospitality businesses and ask if something along these Iines would work for them and how they may wish to adapt it to better suit their needs.
Specifially, I was really interested in the ideas of dynamic spaces that change or evolve as the customer returns to them. Therefore, keeping customers interested and engaged with the spaces but also strongly mimicking the organic sense of nature as it shapes around you. Subsequently, I am going to investigate this further through the coming weeks. Additionally, I was intrigued by the idea of embracing technology to develop biophilic experiences in spaces, rather than assuming it detracts from the natural and rejecting it. For instance, utilising projector screens in replacement for artwork, as well as soundscapes and smells to replicate the experience of being in the natural environment that is being shown. Thus, again I plan on looking into this further.
In terms of iterating this intervention, I may host another panel discussion once I have collaborated with hospitality businesses and conducted further secondary research to establish greater depth in my ideas which could then be discussed. In doing another panel discussion, I would certainly utilise images as prompts again as I felt that worked really well, but I would make my prompt questions more concise. I would also place greater emphasis on trying to engage a live audience which the panellists could answer questions from. I plan on doing that by confirming with individuals before hand that they would attend as audience members, rather than leaving it up to people interacting with my posting to view the panel.
Furthermore, I now plan on developing my intervention of an online sharing group where people can post pictures of applications of nature or natural features alongside a short comment stating why they like or dislike this. This will help to engage the my stakeholder group of hospitality customers which I am yet to deeply engage with.
After presenting my early interventions (see below) I received the following feedback.
Note – to watch the video I have created please view the following blog post: https://nicoleparkes.myblog.arts.ac.uk/2021/05/08/my-early-intervention/
Feedback:
To move away from the term focus group when describing my online panel event, as this doesn’t accurately describe the action I am taking.
To invite an audience to my panel discussion, so there can be feedback and engagement from individuals that would otherwise be left out of the conversation.
To move away from the term consultancy when referring to ‘Nature. In’ as this is not the academic focus.
Reflection: Nature. In is an entity I am utilising to bring all of the stakeholders and actions of my project together in a unified outcome. So, Nature. In will be utilised in the future but in the capacity as a unifying entity of my project work.
To interrogate academic sources that I have analysed and test the rigour of the methods in the context of my project.
For instance, analysing whether the academic methods and measures I have highlighted apply to my project
To develop my own definitions for the context of my project of terms such as hospitality and the wellness resultant from biophilic schemes in hospitality businesses
I am utilising a very westernised view of hospitality in the context of my work and this positionally needs to be made apparent
Consequently, a language will be developed around my work to describe the focuses of the project
After analysing and reflecting on this feedback I incorporated it into developing my final Project 6 -What, Why, How, If proposal that I have attached below:
Therefore, my project can be summarised by the following diagram:
Reflection/ Next Steps:
Following the work I have completed over the course fo Project 6 , I am very excited to now begin to launch my work into the testing phase of my interventions. I will begin testing my video intervention to engage hospitality businesses immediately. Additionally, I will continue to develop my intervention of the online panel discussion by gathering further participants from hostility businesses and securing a platform to host the discussion. Finally, I am gear to begin building my online sharing group over the coming weeks and testing this with hospitality customers.
Furthermore, I am keen to begin developing my own definitions to utilise within the context of my research, which will best describe the intricacies of the different areas of my work. Moving forward through my project I also look to continue developing my set of language that I employ around my work. This language clearly differs when interacting with my different groups of stakeholders, specifically between engaging with biophilic experts Vs hospitality businesses and customers. I am fascinated by the possibilities of the information that can be gained from my work, especially through my intervention testing, and I look forward to developing this information into new knowledge.
Future Reading List
Abd ELghani, R., El Aidi, D.M. and Kassim, O. (2020) “Towards a methodological approach to apply Biophilic Interior Design in hospitality spaces.” Journal of Design Sciences and Applied Arts, 1(2), pp.177-191.
Alcorn, M.R. (2014) Green Restaurant in Practice: Employee Attitude and Behavior Towards Environmental Sustainability (Doctoral dissertation, Oklahoma State University).
Capaldi, C.A., Passmore, H.A., Nisbet, E.K., Zelenski, J.M. and Dopko, R.L. (2015) “Flourishing in nature: A review of the benefits of connecting with nature and its application as a wellbeing intervention.” International Journal of Wellbeing, 5(4).
Dias, B.D., (2015) “Beyond sustainability–biophilic and regenerative design in architecture.” European Scientific Journal, 11(9), pp.147-158.
Gillis, K. and Gatersleben, B. (2015) “A review of psychological literature on the health and wellbeing benefits of biophilic design.” Buildings, 5(3), pp.948-963.
Heath, O. (2021) Design a Healthy Home. Penguin Random House, London.
Kellert, S. R. (2018) Nature by design: the practise of biophilic design. Yale University Press.
Light, A. (2004) Restorative Relationships.
Park, E.O., Chae, B.K., Kwon, J. and Kim, W.H. (2020) “The effects of green restaurant attributes on customer satisfaction using the structural topic model on online customer reviews.” Sustainability, 12(7), p.2843.
Teng, Y.M. and Wu, K.S. (2019) “Sustainability development in hospitality: The effect of perceived value on customers’ green restaurant behavioural intention.” Sustainability, 11(7), p.1987.
Uhlmann, K., Lin, B.B. and Ross, H. (2018) “Who cares? The importance of emotional connections with nature to ensure food security and wellbeing in cities.” Sustainability, 10(6), p.1844.
Throughout the evolution of my enquiry the term hospitality has developed within my research question. However, I have been advised to focus in on a more precise area of the field or a unifying term that describes the range of spaces I wish to address.
Hospitality spaces are being utilised as the focus for my project, as they are currently overlooked in biophilic design schemes and research. There is a growing volume of work looking to apply biophilic design in workspaces, healthcare spaces, hotel accommodation and even homes. However, hospitality spaces are largely left out. Hospitality has also been hit very hard by pandemic restrictions in the UK and I have a vested interest in the hospitality industry having worked a number of jobs in the sector and enjoy discovering new hospitality spaces in my free time; which drives my passions for this project.
Scalability:
Additionally, focusing on hospitality spaces is a way to make the aims of my project achievable in the scale of my masters project. Therefore, if my work is successful it could be scaled up to other sectors of the hospitality industry. When looking to ‘dream big’ into the future, if successful my work may even be scaled up to vastly larger schemes such as the ‘BiodiverCity’ in the Penang Islands, Malaysia that is currently being developed by BIG; the architectural firm ran by Bjarke Ingles (who I examined in my box of uncertainties project) (GQ, 2021). The BiodiverCity is pioneering in creating a sustainable global destination, connected by autonomous transport, transforming the mudflats of Penang into a greater future for Malaysia (DeZeen, 2020). My work in hospitality spaces could be incorporated into the hospitality spaces in a city scheme similar to this, to help achieve incredible large scale connections to nature.
What Is Hospitality?
Due to the ambiguity surrounding the term hospitality, I aim to eventually remove the term in my research question altogether to one more specific to an area of hospitality. Changing the term hospitality aims to narrowing the focus of my research further and making it truly achievable in the time scale. Consequently, the work below explains my process of working towards narrowing my research field in relation to the term ‘hospitality’.
When exploring the topic of hospitality further, I discovered hospitality and the hospitality industry to host two distinct definitions:
Hospitality:
A contemporaneous human exchange, which is voluntarily entered into, and designed to enhance the mutual wellbeing of the parties concerned through the provision of accommodation, and/or food, and/or drink (Brotherton, 1999).
or
The friendly and generous reception and entertainment of guests, visitors or strangers (Oxford, 2021).
Essentially hospitality involves voluntarily entertaining people and hospitality spaces include any space that is utilised to entertain people.
Hospitality Industry:
The hospitality industry is comprised of commercial organisations that specialise in providing accommodation and/or, food, and/or drink, through a voluntary human exchange, which is contemporaneous in nature, and undertaken to enhance the mutual well being of the parties involved (Brotherton and Wood, 2000).
So, the hospital industry essential monetises the service of hospitality. Therefore, the hospitality industry more accurately represents the spaces I wish to target in my project. the hospitality industry includes businesses which can implement applications of nature, that allow a connection to nature to be fostered by numerous individuals who frequent those spaces.
I discovered that this slight difference between the entertaining and hospitality is a nuanced concept (Tefler, 2000), but may be useful in distinguishing between the precise outcome of the experience in the space that I am trying to achieve.
Brainstorming around why hospitality spaces are utilised:
largely informal spaces
social interactive spaces
business meetings
work drinks
meeting friends/family
personal time – enjoying entertainment/ food or drink
networking
social media work – gathering content for posts or ad work promoting spaces
necessity, in need of food or drink
Different Sectors Of The Hospitality Industry – Which To Focus Upon?
Working from the definitions of the hospitality industry, there is a clear split of 2 key sectors within the hospitality industry, those that look to provide accommodation and those that provide food and drink. Subsequently, I explored biophilic design application in these different settings.
Hotels/ Accommodation Spaces
Hotels are one of the most widely utilised hospitality spaces in Biophilic deigns schemes, specifically in relation to their accommodation spaces (The Resident, 2019). They are seen most frequently with pioneering designs and huge comprehensive schemes re-energisning the spaces. For instance, in Singapore the Park Royal collection hotel at Marina Bay (Panpacific, 2021). Therefore, hotels having large comprehensive schemes require a large budget from the hotel and scale of consultancy operation to conduct the work. Both of which are out of the scale for my MA project. Additionally, due to these spaces already having a biophilic focus, my work will arguably have a lesser effect in these arenas. However, a way in which my work could have a small impact in hotel spaces would be to target struggling hotels with minimal budgets to build connections to nature in these spaces that cannot employ the big schemes. However, it is arguable the profound nature that this change would have, due to the amount of attention hotels are receiving, it will only be a matter of time before the large scale adaptations trickle down into the smaller hotels.
Pubs/ Bars – Restaurants – Pop-ups/ Events
Pubs/bars, restaurants and events spaces have very minimal focus at present in applying biophilic design. When biophilic design is applied in such areas it predominately includes simply adding a few plants into the space, making little impact. At present there are very few companies looking to employ biophilic deign specifically into events, but one company at the forefront of this venture into biophilic events is ‘Planted’. Planted Cities aims to run zero waste, biophilic events and is the first of its kind (Planted, 2021). Protype events for which was held last September and the first real event to hopefully take place in September 2021 at Kings Cross, which I have already signed up to attend. I have also reached out to contact Planted in the hopes of working with them in some capacity to achieve the goals of my project. Therefore, there is huge scope for addressing the spaces of pubs/bars, restaurants and pop-ups/ events with applications of nature. So, what do all of these spaces have in common? They serve food and drinks.
Reflection:
My project will not be focusing upon hotels, so I needed to find a term that encompasses spaces that involve the hospitality industry, entertaining, excludes hotel accommodation and serves food and drinks. The term needs to unify the spaces that I do wish to focus upon, being pubs/bars, restaurants, pop-ups and events. Consequently, my field for enquiry in my question became “commercial entertaining spaces which serve food and drink”. The term aimed to target the business element of the hostility industry, focusing upon the aim of pleasure from entertaining and removing ambiguity as to what constitutes hospitality; whilst specifying that the spaces sell food and drink.
However, I will continue my stakeholder engagement further to attempt to narrow in even further within the subsection of commercial entertaining spaces, which can be scaled to up include other fields of hospitality if successful.
Stakeholder Feedback/ Realisation:
When talking with stakeholders, both in hospitality businesses and biophilic experts, I began utilising the term ‘commercial entertaining spaces that serve food and drink’. However, when utilising this term multiple stakeholders needed greater clarification of which spaces I was in fact referring to. From these conversations I realised that the term ‘commercial entertaining spaces that serve and food and drink’ wasn’t actually effective in engaging with my stakeholders. Although the term does accurately represent the area I am aiming to target according to academic studies, it isn’t easily understandable from a public perspective, you have to be an expect in defining hospitality and what determines hospitality vs entertainment to understand the area I am targeting. Consequently, it was ineffective and required changing.
Decision – Working Phrase For The Area Of Hospitality
Therefore, I stepped back and looked again into a term that could be easily understood and accurately represented the field I am aiming to target. I also looked back at prior engagement with my stakeholders and when utilising the term hospitality I didn’t have any issues of understating the areas I aimed to target. Therefore I looked back further at utilising hospitality, but instead of hospitality spaces keeping the clear commercial element by stating hospitality businesses and the defining into serving food and drink. Subsequently, my working term is now ‘hospitality businesses that serve food and drink’.
Bibliography
Brotherton, B. (1999)”Towards a definitive view of the nature of hospitality and hospitality management.” International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management 11(4): 165- 173.
Brotherton B., Wood R.C. (2000). “Hospitality and hospitality management.” In: In Search of Hospitality: Theoretical Perspectives and Debates (eds. C Lashley, A Morrison), pp. 134- 156. Butterworth-Heinemann: Oxford.
GQ (2021) “‘BiodiverCity’ is an alluring glimpse at how designers will take on climate change” GQ [Online] https://www.gq-magazine.co.uk/lifestyle/article/bjarke-ingels-biodivercity Accessed 02/05/21
Telfer, E. (2000). “The philosophy of hospitableness.” In: In Search of Hospitality: Theoretical Perspectives and Debates (eds C Lashley & A Morrison), pp 38-55. Butterworth-Heinemann: Oxford.
The Resident (2019) “Experience urban forest bathing in London’s first biophilic hotel suites” The Resident [Online] https://www.theresident.co.uk/lifestyle-london/londons-first-biophilic-hotel-suites-filled-with-houseplants/ Accessed 01/05/21
Once I had decided that the direction of my project was moving towards developing connections between people and nature, I began by brainstorming my ideas around connections to nature, which you can see below.
From this initial thinking, I developed 3 key areas that need to be addressed:
Why do we need to connect, or more precisely re-connect, with nature?
How will this re-connection be achieved?
How will this re-connection be measured?
1- Why do we need to re-connect with nature?
Humans have an innate connection to nature. However, due to technological advancements, extended working hours and processes such as urbanisation we have become distant from the natural world (Bragg et al., 2013). On average people spend 90% of their time indoors (Opinium, 2018), and given the current restrictions with the pandemic this figure has undoubtedly been heightened even further! Subsequently, being indoors already immediately removes us from the natural world in its traditional sense. However, there are many different methodologies which will be tested and adapted throughout the course of this project to bring the natural world to the indoors; effectively bringing the natural world to the people.
Connecting to nature is the amount that an individual includes nature in their personal identity (Schultz, 2002). Connection includes understanding the complexities of nature, good and bad and accepting it as a whole (Nisbet et al., 2009). Connectedness to nature is also an indicator for subjective reports of wellbeing, for example connection to nature has been taken to include feelings of peacefulness, developing a sense of place and a respect for nature (Hine et al., 2009).
Having a strong connection with nature is important because…
Nature Deficit Disorder is the human implications of a disconnect from nature. The disorder involves costs of diminished attention rates, increased mental and physical illness and reduced use of the senses (Louv, 2005). Originally this disorder was focused upon children, however in more recent academic study it has also been observed in adults. Reconnecting adults with the natural world is not only important for their personal health and lives, it is also important to pass on experiences of the natural environment to their children, otherwise connection to nature will eventually be lost due to a term referred to as ‘extinction of experience’ whereby children spend less and less time in nature as adults are disconnected from it (Pyle, 2003).
The implications for connecting people with nature, in the setting of hospitality spaces that serve food and drink is demonstrated again through the diagram below.
2- How will this re-connection to nature be achieved?
Reconnecting with nature will be achieved through implementing biophilic, biomimetic and natural design features into hospitality spaces.
Therefore, the connections will be developed through exposure. Exposing people to natural design in informal spaces that they typically visit for leisure allows people the freedom to explore the applications of nature and soak in their benefits, consequently developing their personal relationship and connection with nature.
Through applications of biophilic design, many spaces that we spend a great deal of time in are being adapted to bring in the benefits of nature, such as in the workplace, healthcare spaces and hotel accommodation. Consequently, providing an opportunity to learn from these applications of nature and build off them to apply nature into hospitality spaces but instead aimed to evoke re-connection to nature.
The scientific evidence for the exposure to nature having a positive correlation with improvements to personal health both physical and mental, is continuing to increase (Defra, 2011). Subsequently, re-connecting people with the natural world via exposure to natural elements is firstly of benefit to the individual and their health; secondly it may allow for increased attention to be paid the future survival of the natural world.
3- How will this re-connection with nature be measured?
A baseline level of connection to nature will need to be established to conduct this work. Baseline studies of general populations and granges already exist in academic work and so they may be utilised in my project.
To measure the changes in connection to nature there are limited measures, as it is an emerging concept (Schultz et al., 2004).
Key measures of connectedness to nature :
Connection to Nature Scale
Single-factor measure
Developed by Mayer and Frantz, 2004
Based on the principle of the ‘Land Ethic’ by Leopold (1966)
Defines connection to nature as “an individual’s affective, experiential connection to nature” (Mayer and Frantz, 2004, pp.504)
Considered primarily a trait measure but there is an adapted version for measuring state (which previous University of Essex research has shown to be responsive).
Nature Relatedness Scale
3-factor measure – self, perspective and experience
Developed by Nisbet, Zelenski and Murphy, 2009.
Nature relatedness describes individual levels of connectedness with the natural world and comprises the cognitive, affective, and physical connection we have with nature (Nisbet et al., 2011).
“Self” = “an internalized identification with nature, reflecting feelings and thoughts about one’s personal connection to nature” (Nisbet et al., 2009).
“Perspective” = “an external, nature-related worldview, a sense of agency concerning individual human actions and their impact on all living things” (Nisbet et al., 2009)
“Experience” = “a physical familiarity with the natural world and the level of comfort with and desire to be out in nature” (Nisbet et al., 2009)
Considered a trait measure.
Inclusion of Nature with Self
Single-item question
Developed by Schultz, 2002
Designed to measure the extent that individuals include nature as part of their identity. Schultz considers ‘inclusion’ to involve caring about nature (affective), connectedness (defined here as cognitive) and commitment (behavioural).
The question asks participants to rate their connectedness to nature by choosing one of seven pairs of circles that differ in their degree of overlap.
The question can be used as either a state or a trait measure (there are two different wordings) (Schultz, 2002).
Environmental Identity Scale
Developed by Clayton, 2003
Designed to assess the extent to which individuals identify with the natural environment and environmental causes.
24-item scale which looks at spending time in nature, enjoyment of nature, learning about nature, responsibility for nature and ‘oneness’ with nature.
Emotional Affinity to Nature
Developed by Kals, Schumacher, & Montada, 1999
4-factor measure
Emotional affinity toward nature is described as being the love or affection towards nature (107) and the hypothesis is that this emotional affinity should increase nature-protective behaviours.
The 16-item scale consists of four subscales: Love of nature, Feelings of Freedom, Feelings of Safety, and Feelings of Oneness with Nature.
Considered a state measure.
At present, for my project I am looking to employ the measures of connectedness to nature of: Nature relatedness scale, Inclusion of nature with self, and emotional affinity to nature. These scales may be employed by following a group of regular customers to a specific hospitality business over a period of time, if the relationship is built up with customers and business owners to allow this. Otherwise, the measures may be employed on an individual visit by visit basis. The nature relatedness scale may be useful in gaining a sense of how peoples opinions to the wider natural world differ depending on their interactions with nature. Emotional affinity to nature may be utilised to gauge personal feelings towards nature, perhaps pertaining to changes in emotional state and wellbeing. Inclusion of nature with self may allow individuals to define succinctly, due to the one question nature of the measure, the connectedness to nature. However, I will continue to explore if any other measures of connection to nature may be more suitable for my project, as my work evolves.
Re-connecting With Nature
In the endeavour to re-connect with nature I have developed a working title for a consultancy or organisation that I aim to form to establish this goal. ‘Nature. In’ aims to bring nature back into spaces in which it is currently excluded. This inclusion of nature will begin in hospitality spaces that serve food and drink and will be scaled up to other hospitality settings if it proves to be successful.
The aim to reconnect people with nature in hospitality spaces, which are typically visited for leisure provides people with the freedom to explore feeling connected to nature, along with feeling its benefits, such as becoming re-energised. Consequently, people will return to nature to feel the benefits once again, thus growing their relationship. People may even give back to the natural world that they have formed a relationship with, by caring for it and subsequently helping to tackle the climate crisis.
Creating this re-connection is not a step away from the change I previously proposed at the end of Project 5 (see below). Instead forming a re-connection to nature, as proposed, is the single-strand accumulation of all the different aspects that were involved in my previously proposed change; thus, it embodies the same change I wish to see.
Change I want to see…(Project 5)
Bibliography
Bragg, R., Wood, C., Barton, J. and Pretty, J. (2013) “Measuring connection to nature in children aged 8-12: A robust methodology for the RSPB.” University of Essex.
Clayton, S. (2003) “Environmental identity: A conceptual and an operational definition.” Identity and the natural environment: The psychological significance of nature, pp.45-65.
Defra (2011) “The natural choice: securing the value of nature, Natural Environment White Paper.” The Stationery Office, London.
Hine R, Pretty J and Barton J. (2009) “Research Project: Social, Psychological and Cultural Benefits of Large Natural Habitat & Wilderness Experience: A review of current literature. Report for the Wilderness Foundation.” Available at: http://www.essex.ac.uk/ces/occasionalpapers/Kerry/Literature%20Review%20for%20WF.pdf
Kals, E., D. Schumacher, and L. Montada (1999) “Emotional affinity toward nature as a motivational basis to protect nature.” Environment & Behavior 31, no. 2: 178–202.
Louv, R. (2005) Last Child in the Woods: Saving Our Children from Nature-Deficit Disorder North Carolina, Algonquin Books.
Leopold A. (1966) “A Sand County Almanac: With Other Essays On Conservation from Round River.” Oxford University Press.
Mayer FS and McPherson Frantz C. (2004) “The connectedness to nature scale: A measure of individuals’ feeling in community with nature.” Journal of Environmental Psychology, 24, 503-515.
Nisbet E, Zelenski J and Murphy S. (2009) “The Nature Relatedness Scale: Linking Individuals’ Connection With Nature to Environmental Concern and Behavior.” Environment and Behavior vol. 41 no. 5 715-740
Nisbet E, Zelenski J and Murphy S. (2011) “Happiness is in our Nature: Exploring Nature Relatedness as a Contributor to Subjective Well-Being.” Journal of Happiness Studies, Vol 12, 2, pp. 303-322.
Opinium (2018) “Brits spend 90% of their time indoors” Opinium [Online] https://www.opinium.com/brits-spend-90-of-their-time-indoors/ Accessed 30/04/21
Pyle RM. (2003) “Nature Matrix: reconnecting people and nature.” Oryx 37(2): 206–214
Schultz, P. W. (2002) “Inclusion with nature: The psychology of human-nature relations.” In P. Schmuck & W. P. Schultz (Eds.), Psychology of sustainable development pp. 62-78. Norwell, MA: Kluwer.
Schultz, P.W., C. Shriver, J.J. Tabanico, and A.M. Khazian (2004) “Implicit connections with nature.” Journal of Environmental Psychology 24, no. 1: 31–42.
Measures has been an uncertainty facing my project over the coming weeks, which I have aimed to be as transparent about as possible in my previous blog posts. Consequently, the journey to determining a measure that I feel accurately represents the aim I wish to achieve with my project into the WWHI brief has been a long one, which I will break down throughout this post.
Following On From Project 5
Whilst working on my project up to and including Project 5, I have been looking at measuring the success or failure of applications of nature through measures around wellbeing, social interactions; and subsequently customers attracted to the space which increases profits of the venues.
When presenting my projects in my tutorial group, it was advised by my tutor that wellbeing would be an adequate measure, if I could demonstrate the methodology I would employ to measure it. It was advised that I should perhaps step away from attempting to measure social interactions, as this is a less tangible measure. Consequently, I invested a great deal of time into investigating different forms of wellbeing and how they are measured in academic settings, which you can see summarised below.
MeasuringWellbeing
In the UK measuring wellbeing as an indicator for societies’ progress is debated nationally with the Office for Nation Statistics driving the discussion (Seaford, 2011). Consequently, demonstrating that wellbeing is being seriously considered as a measure of experience in society.
Hedonic Wellbeing:
This includes recording emotive feelings or moods, such as happiness and sadness, that are associated with differing states of wellbeing (Steptoe et al., 2015).
To record this form of wellbeing, individuals are often asked to rate their experience utilising adjectives such as anger, stress, relaxed. The adjectives are utilised don’t simply showcase opposites, the positive and negative adjectives are required to determine a point in which that individuals lies between the two associated dimensions of the positive and negative emotions (Kahneman et al., 2004).
Eudemonic Wellbeing:
This revolves around reporting a sense of purpose and meaning in life to determine states of wellbeing (Steptoe et al., 2015).
To record this diverse measure of wellbeing and resultantly there are multiple methods to measure it . One of the most used measures involves structured self report scales to measure self acceptance, which looks to encourage the acceptance of personal strengths and weaknesses (Ryff et al., 2004). Unlike Hedonic wellbeing, this measure requires reflective self report, which can cause complications in what standards the individual is comparing their current status to.
Life Evaluation:
This measure involves a people’s wholistic assessment of the quality or goodness of their life (Steptoe et al., 2015).
Applying this measure includes utilising processes such as the 11 step Cantril Ladder, where individuals place themselves on the scale from 1 being the worst life possible, to 11 being the best life possible (Cantril, 1965).
Analysis of Measuring Wellbeing:
The measures of eudemonic wellbeing and life evaluation are harder to apply in the setting of my project, as they involve wholistic assessments of a person’s life. Therefore, external factors to my applications of nature may be impacting the outcome of this measure of wellbeing. Such wholistic measures are also conducted over a long time scale, which isn’t suitable for the parameters of my MA project and would be work conducted in the future out of the MA setting. Additionally, all of these self reporting measures of psychological states can be unreliable sources of data, due to both unconscious and conscious biases that lie in individuals.
Alternative Methods of Measuring Wellbeing:
Brainwave Technology
Brainwave technology to measure wellbeing was something suggested to me in the feedback from my dragons den presentation.
Upon further research I have discovered that brainwave activation occurs naturally during active and resting states, but external forces can create activity waves (Desai et al., 2015). This activity is recorded via electroencephalograms to measure differences in waves (alpha, beta, the and gamma) (Desai et al., 2015).
Therefore, there is the possibility of measuring brainwaves before and after an interaction with natural elements incorporated into spaces.
The technology needed to measure such brainwaves would be difficult to access and bring to the setting of a hospitality space.
However, brainwave technology could be useful if hospitality spaces were to remain closed due to pandemic restrictions, as it could be a way to quantify people’s emotions towards biophilic design elements if they were shown a digital rendering of the designs, rather than physically experiencing the design applied in the space.
Reflection:
After conducting this research into measuring wellbeing and then talking with Dr Nigel Oseland (Environmental Psychologist and Professor at UCL), I began to consider that wellbeing may not be the most advantageous measure for my project. I noted that the most suitable measure of wellbeing to apply in my project would be hedonic wellbeing, however due to the subjective psychological reporting nature of this measure I was unsure of its academic validity and rigour. In my meeting with Dr Oseland, he suggested that utilising social interaction may be more specific and beneficial measure of the success of my biophilic design. This was due to the issues I had raised, but also resultant from wellbeing being vastly studied in the field and most beneficially examined over a long period of time. From my research into measure of wellbeing I concurred that there is an overwhelming quantity of research in the field of biophilic design, linking biophilia to improved wellbeing (Browning et al., 2014).
Due to these issues raised around utilising wellbeing as a measure, I looked to move away from wellbeing in its general sense and move towards measuring social interactions. Social interactions are spontaneously evoked through the application of biophilic design (Salingaros, 2015) and they improve personal wellbeing through creating a release of oxytocin, which creates physiological anti-stress responses; thus, reducing stress and anxiety.
Measuring Social Interactions
I considered the following methods to measure social interactions in spaces which may occur resultant from applying nature into hospitality spaces.
Group Sizes
I considered measuring how groups increase over the durations of their visit – this was suggested to me in my stakeholder engagement with Katarina Libby, a Biophilic Design expert.
Length of Stay
Looking at how long customers stay and how many people they interact with whilst they’re in the space, through observational study
Customer Satisfaction
However, other elements can impact satisfaction and it is hard to gain base sample for before and after interaction with the biophilic elements, as it is so subjective.
Quantity of Social Interactions
Either the quantity of interactions between one group/party and other in the space, or possibly measuring the quantity of individual social interactions that occur in the space before and after biophilic elements are introduced into the space.
Quality of Social Interaction
Quality of the interaction linked to wellbeing
Reflection
After exploring many avenues of how to measure social interactions in spaces and their bearing on applications of nature, I still felt this wasn’t the exact direct I was trying to articulate within my project. Measuring social interactions is very hard to determine whether that exact application of nature is what is causing the social interactions and I erased that socially interacting with each other wasn’t what I was trying to achieve, I was trying to achieve people interacting with the application of nature. Subsequently, I explored getting people into the spaces to interact with the applications of nature in the first place. I therefore examined how people are attracted to spaces and nature, and whether the profits of the spaces could be increased by the application of nature.
Attracting Customers and Increasing Profits
Attracting customers and increasing profits is the driving factor for hospitality spaces, to make money, and so this is what will get the businesses involved in my project. Getting the businesses involved in my project is crucial in allowing biophilic design to be widely applied and consequently creating lasting change.
I considered measures such as:
Measuring quantity of customers before and after the nature is added
Asking customers what attracted them to the space
ie: did they come due to the design features or was it something else such as the food offering?
Measuring if customers interacting with certain elements of nature more than others, to suggest that element hosts greater attraction?
Recording business profits before and after biophilic elements are added
This would be extremely hard to pinpoint what was causing the changes in profits and many businesses would be very reluctant to hand over the details of their books.
However, when engaging with my stakeholder in the hospitality industry, I discovered that actually many hospitality business are paying increased attention towards being more sustainable and creating a natural environment for their customers (see below images of conversations with stakeholders). This revelation allowed me to set away from the thinking that the only way I would get hostility businesses involved would be if I could prove that the application of nature would increase their profits. Therefore, I was able to step back and really pin point the exact measure and catalyst for the change I am trying to see.
Reflection, Realisation and Change – Getting to my true aim and measure…
After conducting all of this work and delving deep into different measures to utilise in my project, I still felt that my question and direction of my project was missing the mark of what I was aiming to achieve overall. The reason for this I now realise is that I had so many aims floating around in my head that I didn’t even know the true aim of the project myself. Therefore, I decided to take a step back and look at the bigger picture.
Consequently, I began to try and succinctly write the aim for my project, as I mentioned, I felt that I was trying to examine too many issues at once which was really holding me back. So, what is it that I want to achieve? I began by attempting to write down my aims, which initially led to around 300 words of blurring lines and unclear sentences. However, after a lot of personal introspection, I finally rooted down to the core of what I really want, this being to get people connecting with nature and appreciating its benefits in a way that I have; especially over the lockdowns where I spent lots of time in the garden at home. Additionally, growing people’s connection with nature in such a way will allow a relationship to form between the person and the natural world, which will hopefully raise their awareness and want to protect the natural world, in small ways in their lives, to tackle climate change.
In my stepping back and re-evaluation, I also looked back over my body of work in investigating measures. I realised that when assessing social interactions, what I was actually trying to achieve was to get people to interact with nature, rather that measuring interactions between people in the spaces. Also, in regard to wellbeing, I was trying to achieve an internal improvement to wellbeing through exposure and interactions with nature. Even when looking at attracting people to the spaces to increase profits, I was really trying to bring people to interact with the nature and form a… CONNECTION, that would ultimately result in them spending time and money in the spaces boosting profits for the venues.
So there is it the link between everything that I had been completely missing and the summary what I wish to measure and develop through the work in my project is a CONNECTION WITH NATURE. The diagram below aims to visually display this.
To the left you can see my representation of the endless loop and cycle of my ideas that I was looking to measure and explore. They all fed into each other in some way and from stakeholder feedback and secondary research I viewed them all to be of near equal importance, making no clear stand out direction for my project. Hence, the feeling of an endless loop whereby all measures were fair measures but none truly encapsulating the essence of the work I wish to conduct. However, looking to the diagram on the right hand side, it can be seen that when the various measures are put together there is a clear link between them all, which combines them. This link being that they are all rooted in people forming a stronger connection to nature. Developing upon individuals’ connection to nature will consequently impact factors of improving wellbeing (Browning et al., 2014), evoking social interactions (Salingaros, 2015), attracting customers an increasing profits (Browning et al., 2012) that have been seen to be resultant from exposure and interaction to nature in existing academic works, as outlined.
Additionally, forming a connection between people and nature steps my project away from the realms of the predictable in what is already being studied in the field, into a new arena. The new arena of a connection also provides opportunity to get individuals to take agency over their relationships with the natural world and care for it, aiding the climate crisis. This aims to tackle getting those people who would be typically uninterested in the climate crisis engaged in a refreshing way.
I will go on to unpack how I look to measure and test forming a connection with nature, as well as the importance of connecting with nature in my next blog post.
Bibliography
Browning, B., W.D., Ryan, C.O., Clancy, J.O. (2014). “14 Patterns of Biophilic Design.” New York: Terrapin Bright Green, LLC.
Browning, B., Garvin, C., Fox, B., Cook, R. (2012) “The Economics of Biophilia” New York: Terrapin Bright Green, LLC
Cantril, H. (1965) “The pattern of human concerns.” Rutgers University Press; New Brunswick, NJ.
Desai, R., Tailor, A. and Bhatt, T. (2015) “Effects of yoga on brain waves and structural activation: A review.” Complementary therapies in clinical practice, 21(2), pp.112-118.
Kahneman, D., Krueger, A.B., Schkade, D.A., Schwarz, N. and Stone, A.A. (2004) “A survey method for characterizing daily life experience: The day reconstruction method.” Science, 306(5702), pp.1776-1780.
Ryff, C.D., Singer, B.H. and Dienberg Love, G. (2004) “Positive health: connecting well–being with biology.” Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B: Biological Sciences, 359(1449), pp.1383-1394.
Salingaros, N. A. (2015) “Biophilia & Healing Environments: Healthy Principles For Designing the Built Environment.” New York: Terrapin Bright Green LLC.
Seaford, C. (2011) “Time to legislate for the good life.” Nature, 477(7366), pp.532-533.
Steptoe, A., Deaton, A. and Stone, A.A. (2015) “Subjective wellbeing, health, and ageing.” The Lancet, 385(9968), pp.640-648.
With the brief of Project 6 in mind, I started this week by considering what an early intervention for my project might look like.
Below you can see my initial spider diagram outlining what an intervention involves and ideas for possible interventions I may look to action in my project. The most notable ideas being to establish a form to represent my idea in a simple way. Also, looking at creating focus groups with hospitality businesses or biophilic experts to allow ideas to be explored in a group session as to what the most effective approaches for biophilic design application in hospitality spaces may look like. And finally, looking at a form of process in an online feedback group, possibly on Facebook, where users could post their favourite uses of biophilic forms or rate hospitality spaces they have visited according to their biophilic properties.
I noted that one of the biggest obstacle I need to overcome is around how to engage people in my idea and have them easily understand it. At present, when I have been engaging with my stakeholders I feel I have fallen into the, often unrecoverable, trap of losing my audience in the first minute or so of conversation. Upon reflection I think this is has been to do with crowding my stakeholders with unfamiliar terms and complex multifaceted ideas, rather than breaking the ideas down into their simplified component parts. Consequently, I began exploring how I could develop a simplistic, visual way to express my idea and engage my audience.
As you can see below, I then went into a brainstorming session where I dug deep into visual ways in which I could express my key concepts/ ideas. The main way I thought about doing this was through utilising a metaphor, which everyone already understands, to showcase my ideas of nature intertwining with spaces and also how adding biophilia to a space can increase customers attraction to that space and improve wellbeing.
Evolution of Ideas Resultant From Brainstorming
I initially though of roots intertwining as they grow to form a new bigger root, to represent biophilia being added in hospitality spaces and consequently creating a greater space. However, I worried that this idea was slightly misleading and it is still a bit blurry in its message. I realised from this idea that I definitely wanted to steer clear of utilising nature in this metaphorical representation, as I felt it made lines between my message too blurry, keeping the concepts very different helped to provide clarity.
Then I moved my thinking on to being around puzzles. How a puzzle can be seemingly incomplete and then the extra pieces are added into it and so a new object is formed; thus, representing adding in biophilia to create a new functioning space. However, with this representation I feared it implied that existing hospitality spaces are incomplete and functioning poorly, which isn’t an assumption I wanted to present my stakeholders with, especially not one I wanted to showcase to hospitality business owners, as this could more than likely cause offence to them.
Consequently, my ideas moved back towards the idea of nature being woven into spaces and looked at different materials which are woven. I then came across ideas which showcase newspaper being twisted and woven together to form a bag. I thought of this concept showing how the material of nature could be worked and interwoven together to form a new object/ space. However, the use of only one material here I felt lacked the moulding together of the space with nature that I wanted to try and encapsulate.
Subsequently, I moved into thinking of things that are moulded together. For instance, play dough or even in welding two materials together. Again these concepts would show the benefits of a seamless union of nature and hospitality spaces to create something new and highly beneficial. But again, I struggled to find these ideas truly captivating and encompassing of my idea as a whole.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n5JOzxJFnbk
So, I moved my thinking slightly and considered items or concepts that are fully functioning as they are, as their own entity, but that when an extra element is added it can produce dramatically heightened benefits. From this line of enquiry I first though of cakes (I must admit I was hungry) and how a cake without flour is still a tasty desert. But, when you add flour it becomes fluffy and irresistible. However, here I feared the message was that something had in fact been taken out of a standard cake (being flourless) rather than something added to a standard cake. And then came my eureka moment. Candles.
A standard unscented candle is what most people would consider as a ‘normal’ candle. This is a fully functioning candle that attracts customers as they are purchased in their millions globally (around 3 billion USD of candles sold 2018). However, scented candles are preferred by most consumers to unscented candles (Ideal Home 2019); thus, they attract even greater custom and they improve wellbeing due to their differing scents having a variety of benefits including reducing stress, helping with sleep and even concentration. Therefore, adding scent which is intrinsically woven into a candle, increases profits and improves wellbeing. Just as, intrinsically incorporating biophilic design into hospitality spaces aims to improve wellbeing and attract greater customers to the spaces, increasing profits of the hospitality businesses.
Formulating a video to showcase this idea of unscented vs scented candles demonstrating the concept of intrinsically adding biophilic design into hospitality spaces to create benefits to wellbeing and the businesses themselves, will be my tasks for the upcoming week.
Remaining Uncertainties in my Project
I am aware that current uncertainties still remain in my project, which include: what type of hospitality I will focus upon making my change in, as well as how I will measure social interactions, improved wellbeing and increased customers/ profits. I am still working on reducing the uncertainties in these areas.
In regard to what type of hospitality I will focus upon, I have been exploring secondary data around defining hospitality and which sectors may benefit more from the application of Biophilia. I also look to talk with more hospitality business as stakeholders to help further narrow in on the exact area of hospitality to focus upon.
However, regarding defining my measurements, I have had discussions with stakeholders that are experts in biophilic design applications and creating improvements to wellbeing through this application, as to how best measure social interactions and wellbeing. I will be developing a blog post on this further in the coming days. However, I need delve further into how to measure customers brought to the spaces as a result of the biophilic design application and/ or increased profits due to Biophilia.
After presenting my progress on Project 5 to my tutor and tutorial group, as well as in the Dragon’s Den, I noted the following takeaways to help me into the next steps of my project.
Develop my measures
How to measure wellbeing, social interactions and the possible customers/ revenue brought to business as a result of the application of the biophilic scheme
The dragons suggested looking ta utilising brain wave technology to measure wellbeing
Define hospitality
Move away from my woolly definition to decipher exactly which aspect of hospitality I want to create change in – this will also help to make the project achievable in the year of the masters and scalable for the future
Scalability
It was suggested by my peers that the is the scope for my project to create systematic governmental change into reclaiming spaces for nature in the future
Consultancy
It was developed amongst the feedback on my project that the best course of outcome for my project may be to develop a form of consultancy by which schemes may be created by myself utilising my research and applied to hospitality spaces to evoke social interactions and improve wellbeing.
A possible intervention could be to create a biophilic model for a hospitality business and apply it in some small scale for free in return for their allowance for me to utilise their space
The dragons raised the idea of looking at how biophilia is being applied in hospitals as a comparable for inspiration on the possibilities for the design schemes
Create profiles for my stakeholders and target audience
Note what they bring to the project and their different perspectives
Sustainable Development Goals
In my feedback from Richie, it was raised that I should examine the sustainable development goals to try and narrow in the scale of my project
