Tag: (U1/2/3) Communication

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Outcomes of Herb Event Intervention at Chelsea Collage of Arts Cafe/ Courtyard

Over the course of Tuesday the 20th and Wednesday the 21st July I ran a Herb Event at the Chelsea Collage of Arts cafe and courtyard area, which is opposite the Tate Britain. The event aimed to connect customers of the cafe to nature by offering the opportunity to interact with the herbs, add them to their food and take cuttings of the herbs home with them. I asked the customers a series of 4 questions including the Inclusion of Nature in Self scale and 3 other questions based around the scale. The questions were asked before interacting with the herbs and again afterwards, with bookmark cards given out to everyone including a QR code on it to complete further questions about the event at home or reflect on whether taking herbs home impacted their connection to nature. Further details on the event can be found in my previous blog posts.

I will now unpack the outcomes of the event and a blog post of detailed analysis of the results from the google forms will follow in the coming days.

Overall

The small and open nature of the outdoor cafe courtyard area at Chelsea worked very well in being able to manage who had interacted with the herbs, who to go to to ask greater qs for feedback. This meant that I was able to ensure that almost everyone who utilised the cafe or passed by, was asked about whether they wished to participate in the event, which the vast majority did. It was also a good venue to talk to lots of people, as many people walk past; which was much better than a small cafe with limited customers.

Often I approached people who were sat, but I didn’t disturb people who were obviously busy eg: on the phone or typing. I did this to ensure I didn’t reply on people just coming up to me and being interested in what I was doing, as that rarely happened, maybe 5/6 times over the whole 2 days. I often said hi to people walking past and then got them talking to spark conversation and then often they would get involved.

Attracting people to the event

In hindsight it may have been beneficial to attract people to the event through advertising through social media postings, rather than just relying alone on the normal customers of the cafe to take part. However, the event already attracted a large amount of attention, with 40 participants over the two days and as I was running it myself without assistance if there was a lot more customers I may not have been able to talk and interact with all participants as I did.

Additionally, not bringing in outsider customers did provide for accurate testimony of typical customers to the cafe to see if they, as a representative of customers of hospitality spaces, were interesting in interacting with nature through the herb event. Whereas, if people had come to the event through social media postings they would already be interesting in connecting to nature through the event as that would have been what brought them to the space.

However, a medium between these two ways of attracting customers could have been putting posters of some sort around the local areas so that people nearby knew it was happening and to see whether this effected who attended the event and they engagement in it.

Set Up

I set up a table with a cloth I brought to make it stand out from the others, accompanied by my tray of herbs, some string to tie up cuttings of the herbs, scissors, some pre-made bundles of rosemary that I made in the morning of the Tuesday as well as the bookmark cards I had printed with my design featuring the QR code for the second google forms which include questions about taking the herbs home and extra detailed questions; as well as tips for how to utilise the herbs on the other side. I also brought a notebook to take notes of conversations I had and people I interacted with throughout the day.

Outcomes of Tuesday 19th July

Observation:

At the start of the event, I observed after talking to the first few participants that it was difficult to record before and after responses to the 4 connection to nature questions on the spot, as many people were only walking past the cafe or grabbing a to-go coffee. Therefore, these participants were mainly responding to the 4 initial ‘before herb interaction’ questions and then taking home some of the herbs; thus, gaining an ‘after interacting with herbs’ response to the connection to nature qs relied on people completing the 2nd google forms at home via the bookmark card handed to them. This is risky in relying on the participants completing the questions in their own time, but with peoples interactions with there herbs in this take away nature being so brief, it initially seemed one of the only ways to hopefully gain accurate information on whether their had been a change in their connection to nature.

Reflection:

For tomorrow’s event, I will try to get people to cut some of the herbs themselves and then ask the after qs straight away regardless of if the interaction has been short. I will just add that it was a short interaction in the added information box at the bottom of the first google forms, so that I know for future reference when analysing the results. This way at least then I will definitely get some guide of whether the event has changed their connection to nature even in the slightest way, as relying on people to complete questions at home on their own time is slightly worrying as it is unlikely to occur.

Observation:

I also observed that giving participants the QR code to complete the second half of the questioning at home initially meant that I didn’t know which participant gave which answers to the 1st and then the 2nd google forms, as there wasn’t a way to link the two.

Idea/ Reflection:

However, after my 5th participant I thought to start handing out participant numbers and added this section into both google forms, so I would be able to correlate the participant numbers between the two forms and so I can compare the answers. I quickly cut out squares of paper and wrote up to 26 participant numbers on them so I could hand them out to people with the herbs and bookmark cards. Hopefully this meant that everyone was able to remember their number and then they can add this information to the top of the 2nd google form when they come to fill it in, allowing for the comparison of their answers before and after herb events.

I felt this idea worked well and all the participants seemed to take to it and take their paper with the number on it with the same care as their bookmark and herbs. I was happy I was able to think and implement a solution to the issue on the spot and test it out whilst the event was on going.

Extra Observations:

  • Lots of people taking herbs home
    • Reflection: positive of the event meaning people like the herbs and that there is a want for people to take them into their lives and build a connection to nature.
  • Some people asking to take whole plants or if I was selling them.
    • Reflection: Maybe on a bigger budget events taking this concept could allow people to take whole herb plants home at the end.
  • People saying no to taking part as they were ‘too busy’, some said they ‘have enough plants already’, without actually realising what the event was about; also some people thinking I’m selling herbs and then them being disappointed.
    • Reflection: People who said they already have enough plants generally felt they already have a reasonable connection to nature and so maybe in future ways to connect people to nature without just physical plants may appeal more to these people.

Conversations with Participants:

  • Lady and Baby
    • This participant was conscious of nature, as she was a veggie with no car and rarely flies, however she said she felt disconnected from nature due t o being in the city(3/10 or B on Inclusion of Nature in Self scale), but she was trying her best to get involved in nature so her kids felt the benefits.
  • Very Keen Gardening Lady
    • Stated that she felt interacting with real plants and nature, such as herbs in the event is better than other natural design techniques she had witness due to the touch, relationship and interaction you get from real plants.
    • She also stated that she struggles with how connected to nature she feels in London as she is lucky to have a garden but it is only small.
  • Ex Geography Teacher lady
    • Very keen gardener, loves herbs especially the smell and would be very keen to visit other places hosting similar events maybe on a larger scale.
  • Lovely Old Couple
    • She is a keen gardener, they took basil home to have with a tomato salad they were making that evening.

Reflection on Tuesday’s Event:

I noted the vast majority of participants in the event happened to be female today. I wonder if this is because women are more attracted to the way I was showcasing nature in the event or whether it was simply chance of who was walking by at the time of the event? Perhaps it was what was being shown at the Tate at the time attracting a more female crowd? These are all only speculations as I don’t have the answers to this questions, we will have to see if the results are similar on the Wednesday event to attempt to draw any type of conclusion on this matter.

Additionally, lots of participants were middle aged, this could be due to it being mid week and mid day. Other iterations of this intervention and events may look to be held at different point throughout the week to attract different crowds of participants.

Notes Taken During Tuesday Event:

Outcomes Wednesday 20th July

Today I made all participants answer the before and after questions, no matter the length of their interaction. But, I recorded the length of the interaction at the bottom of the form so this can be factored in when analysing the data. This allows for comparison of before and after connections to nature, rather than relying on people to complete this information on their own at home, which is unlikely to occur as at the end of Tuesday evening only 1 participant had completed the further questions out o the 19 I had spoken to that day.

I took notes through the day once again, from which the following observations and notes from conversations are resultant.

I also set up in a slightly different spot to hopefully reach more people walking past both around the collage and to the Tate, as my position yesterday was slightly more towards the Tate. This spot also help to give myself slightly more shade from the extreme sun as Tuesday was overwhelmingly hot.

Observations:

Observations:

  • Received lots of comments on how fresh the herbs were and how they looked.
    • Reflection: I think this is important to maintain throughout other events utilising plants/ herbs.
  • People really liked the idea of the event, but felt it was a little short to impact their connection to nature, as they were only passing through. They wanted to spend a longer time with the herbs.
    • Reflection: Maybe this greater connection could be achieved if the herb plants were enjoyed over a meal – I may suggest this at my meeting with Simon at The Marylebone Hotel to integrate physical herb plants with the enjoyment of meal, to elongate the interacting with nature.
  • Lots of people interested in future events and especially in adding their own herbs to meals.
    • Reflection: I could make a website adding a page showing events that I am running which I could send out to people. The webpage could include: my blog, what’s on/ events, online sharing group, about us, contact us. For now though, I could add an events section to my blog in the meantime.
  • Problem in going back to people’s answers once they had completed the ‘before herbs’ questions and then utilised the herbs on their food and I tried to return to the same form to finish the ‘after herbs’ questions but it refreshed and initial answers were lost.
    • Reflection: I then started to write down the initial answers to the before questions if I knew the participant was going to utilise the herbs on their food and then revisit the questions later on, so that their answers weren’t lost again.
  • Problem in some herb cuttings beginning to wilt in the sun for those who took them then stayed a while due to the extreme heat out today.
    • Reflection: This shows it might be best to utilise cuttings straight from the plant to add to food, as in a restaurant setting to also ensure maximum freshness; rather than any ideas of giving out her bubbles at the end of meal for people to take home with them.

Conservations with Participants:

  • Lady in Finance
    • Really liked the event, wants to see other events like it in the future and get involved.
  • Man from Gloucestershire
    • He spoke how he felt connected to nature due to living in the countryside. He said he would visit an event involving herbs on the table of restaurants or immersive natural experiences.
  • Man
    • Took basil home, felt reasonably connected to nature already and so he said that he wouldn’t be attracted to natural events as he already feels close to nature; but said he would enjoy the event if it happened to be in a space he was in.
  • Girl Londoner
    • Said she hasn’t been programmed to be with nature having grown up in London, but as the environmental awareness movement grows, so does her interest in nature and events like this she really likes to help do that.
  • 2 Girls Eating at the Cafe
    • Very few people ate at the acfe today, but 2 girls did and took part in the event adding the herbs to their food. One added parsley and chives to her beef tacos and the other chives to her salad (see below). They said they really enjoyed the experience of picking and eating the herbs and that it was a very unique event.

  • Man With No Garden
    • Said he likes nature but doesn’t often get to spend time in it, said the event made him want to go for a walk and spend time in nature. He took home some rosemary for his potatoes later.
  • Basil Girl
    • Took home basil to utilise for her salad, really liked the idea.
  • Lady With All The Herbs Already
    • She said she felt fully connected to nature, she lives in Richmond by the park and so spends lots of time by nature, so she felt the event had little impact as she was already at one with the natural world.
  • 3 Girls, all friends
    • 1 felt rather unconnected and they didn’t want to take any herbs with them as they were ‘a bad cook’ and the ‘ plants would die’. However, the other two took herbs home, one basil for her pasta and the other rosemary for her dinner. They also said that the short length of the event meant there was little impact to their connection.
  • Lady
    • Took basil home and loved the idea of being able to cook with it.
  • Technical Man at Chelsea
    • He had a severe allergic reaction to a plant recently which he surprisingly said made him feel more connected to nature than ever, as it was to him like nature was fighting back. He said he also got rid of his car recently for environmental reasons and that he would be interested in attending future natural events to help grow his connection even further.
  • Man Lecturer at Chelsea
    • Really liked the event and the idea of herbs being implemented alongside certain dishes in restaurants, to give that more personal connection.

Reflection on Wednesday’s Event:

Great day today, so happy to have reached out to 40 participants over the 2 days! It was a quicker start today and got slightly slower towards the end. I really enjoyed talking to all the participants and getting their take on and experiences with nature.

Some people of course didn’t want to get involved, but out of those I directly asked I only received 3 ‘no’ s today and everyone else I asked took part. I was careful to ensure my questions were short and easy to answer which I feel was a big key to my success in gaining so many participants.

I also noticed a more balanced uptake in the event between women and men today, as well as more younger participants; suggesting yesterdays result may have bene a slight fluke.

Overall Reflection on Events:

The event did very well to attract people in and get them to take the herbs home. Therefore, the vent was successful in getting people to interact and think about nature. But, it was less effective in impacting their connection to nature due to the short time spent at the event by most participants. This also meant there was limited impact upon participants hospitality experience, as most people were passers-by as the cafe wasn’t overly busy, especially on the Tuesday it was quite quiet. Most of the cafes customers were to-go coffee and snacks, so it was hard to get talking to anyone who was staying in the area longer for food and get them to add herbs into that food. The small impact on hospitality experiences however, clarified that the aim of this project is to connect people to nature, with hospitality venues being the setting rather than impacting the hospitality experience being the focus pf the project.

In trying to get people involved in the event and wanting to connect with nature I think it may be beneficial to promote the benefits of interacting with nature. This may especially help to attract those that are less connected to nature to begin with as they may be unaware of the impacts nature could have on them, something many people have discovered over the lockdowns. This promotion of benefits may be done through internet promotion or signage, which needs greater attention to be paid to it in the next iterations of this event.

I am hoping to get feedback from the 2nd google forms over the coming days as participants have had time to reflect on the event, as at present only 3 out of the 40 people involved in the event have responded via the QR code to the 2nd google forms for added feedback and reflections on taking herbs home. Hopefully people feel slightly obliged to take part after talking to me at the event as well as taking herbs and my bookmarks home with them.

The use of the QR codes on the bookmark cards was reasonably well received, I think this is especially due to the mass implementation of QR codes for ordering at hospitality venues over covid times.

Overall, I’m very proud of how the event went over the past few days having put lots of work into the set up for it and running it all myself. I felt it produced a great start for the future testing of interventions in hospitality spaces as part of my project and provided lots of insights to work on to develop stronger iterations of such events into the future.

Evaluation of Self Report Method:

The majority of people reported that they felt reasonably connected to nature, but this could be due to the feedback being self report. Therefore, participants may be answering in a way that they feel I want them to answer, or that they should answer which may result in inaccurate testimony. Or, maybe it was just that people attracted to the event are those that already have a relationship with nature, and so they already felt reasonably connected making them want to grow this connection as they enjoy this natural relationship and want it to flourish.

Talking to 2 girls that participated demonstrated the limitations of utilising this type of self report measure, as the second girl to participate tried to ‘one up’ the answers of the first participant as so to appear better by being better connected to nature.

This could potentially be rectified through anonymous feedback forms. For instance, at another event a form could be given out at the start and filled in and then redistributed before then end (if everyone was to take part at the same time). Or, if the event was to occur at the same time as a meal an anonymous feedback form could be given out with the menus and then another with the bill to ensure there isn’t pressure on the answers given. However, there is always the risk here that people may not actually complete the forms. So, there is the trade off, possibly slightly bias results from self report or possibly no results from incomplete feedback forms.

Themes Taken From Feedback of Event:

People liking nature, but being in London feeling disconnected from it. Many people very keen to grow their relationships wit nature, just don’t know how they can do so in the city. Therefore, future events should try to reach people in this space through bringing nature to spaces they already occupy eg: hospitality spaces in accessible and meaningful ways.

Short nature of just talking then taking herbs home, for the passerby meant there could be little impact on they overall connection to nature.

People were very receptive to seeing plants and herbs and wanting to get involved with them, especially in hospitality setting like this as people commented it was unique and unusual, which always grabs people’s attention.

Participants are very keen to attend future natural events and experiences that help them to connect to nature and many wanted to know how they could be updated as to when they would be.

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Preparing for Herb Event Intervention at Chelsea Collage of Arts

Event Details

Below outlines my plans with the Chelsea Collage of Arts for my Herb Event running next Tuesday and Wednesday, as agreed to by Dashnor the head of catering.

On Tuesday and Wednesday next week (20th and 21st July) between the hours of 11am- 4pm I will be running a Herb Event. This will involve me bringing an array of herbs to the site and setting up a stand in the middle of the outdoor cafe seating area with these herbs.


I will be present during all of this time and will ask customers if they would like to come and pick some of the herbs to add to their food or to take home with them. This will be done to measure whether this interaction with nature in the hospitality setting improves their connection to nature. Consequently, I will ask customers to complete a very short series of 4 questions utilising the academic measure of the inclusion of nature in self (Schultz, 2002: Kleespies et al., 2021) to rank their connection to nature on a scale of 1-10 initially, before providing them with the herbs. Then, before they leave I will re-ask the questions and see if their answers have changed at all, to determine if there has been a change in their connection to nature.


I will also provide customers who wish to take some of the herbs home with a card that explains different ways to utilise the herbs, as well as a link to an online survey form where they can provide added information as to whether taking this herb home and utilising it has aided their connection to nature. Throughout the event I will also talk with customers to discover more about their views of nature and how they feel their connection to nature could be best improved. 

Acquiring the Herbs

I secured a basket from my neighbours who I spotted were throwing it out, which was highly convenient as it made the perfect herb carrier.

I visited 6 florists that were selling herbs, after the meeting at Chelsea on Tuesday, I tried to visit places close to the campus so there could be a shorter journey to transport the herbs. I asked if they would be able to secure a selection of herbs at wholesale cost from the flower market. I sadly discovered it has been very hard to get herbs recently as there is a shortage in Holland, but I left my phone number with them all to get in contact if they were able to secure any. However, after a few days I hadn’t heard anything back from the florists and so I took to the only other place I knew I could find potted herbs, the supermarket. So, on Thursday I went to my local supermarket and bought pretty much all of the potted herbs they had. I also got some smaller pots and compost from my local hardware store and took my new purchases home. I then repotted all of the herbs to make more smaller plants so they could grow and settle into their new pots in time for my first herb event on Tuesday. You can see the finished herb basket with my repotted herbs below.

Creating a Report Method for Measuring Connection to Nature

To record the impacts of the herb event I am going to utilise google forms. And there will be two separate google forms utilised in the event.

1st Google Forms

I will be the only one with access to this google forms, as I am going to utilise it as a quick and efficient method to record customers responses to my initial questions regarding their connection to nature, and then again once they have interacted with the herbs. I can then easily view all the inputted answers digitally, after the event and analyse whether interacting with the herbs during the event impacted their connection to nature at all.

The three questions asked in this form are related to the academic scale of the inclusion of nature in self, which was originally developed by Schultz in 2002. The inclusion of nature in self scale has 3 key components, these being:

Cognitive Component – nature as part of self?

Behavioural Component – motivation to act in the interest of nature?

Affective Component – concern for nature?

Schultz’s (2002) original inclusion of nature in self scale kept it very simple in asking 1 question which asks what diagram fits the person’s relationship with nature best (see below).

The Inclusion of Nature in Self Scale (INS, Schultz, 2002). | Download Scientific Diagram

Scultz’s measure has been developed upon through an extension of the inclusion of nature in self scale by Kleespies et al. (2021). This extended scale looks to create a version of the scale for people with lowered abstraction and imagination, such as younger people or those in need of support. Additionally, there is another extended scale developed by Martin and Czellar (2016). This scale proposes a 4 item development of the inclusion of nature in self to explore spatial metaphors in relation to self assessment of connection to nature. However, Martin and Czellar’s (2016) scale although may provide a greater validity of results, it is rather complicated and so I think this may put off the general public responding accurately in my event.

Subsequently, due to my unknown customer range at the Herb Event, as it is at a cafe open to the public, I am going to employ the extended inclusion of nature in self scale developed by Kleespies et al. (2021) (see below). This is because the scale includes younger people as well as those that may require assistance in imagination or abstraction, while still catering for the original target audience of the inclusion of nature in self scale. This is an academically rigorous scale which is still simple enough for the public too quickly and accurately respond too.

Sustainability | Free Full-Text | Measuring Connection to Nature—A Illustrated Extension of the Inclusion of Nature in Self Scale

To create added depth in my feedback, I will also ask three questions before and after interacting with the herbs, each addressing one of the three components outlined in the inclusion of nature in self; to assess the customers connection to nature.

Questions to be asked before and after interaction with herb event (1st google forms):

  1. Which picture best describes you relationship with the natural environment? How interconnected are you with nature?
Sustainability | Free Full-Text | Measuring Connection to Nature—A Illustrated Extension of the Inclusion of Nature in Self Scale
  1. How do you rate your current connection to nature? On a scale 1-10 (1 being little connection)
  2. How do you rate the strength of your motivations to act in the interest of nature? On a scale 1-10 (1 being little motivation)
  3. How concerned are you for nature? On a scale 1-10 (1 being little concern)

link to 1st google forms: https://forms.gle/bkRc8U7kJDf8PZgs5

2nd Google Forms

The QR code which links to this forms is included in the cards I will be giving out at the event alongside the herbs. The first 3 questions are aimed at people who take herbs home with them from the event and aim to address the inclusion of nature in self scale by again targeting the 3 components. This google forms can also be completed by people during the event if they are willing to provided added details in their feedback and reflections on their personal connection to nature, as the later questions are more general about the event and their relationship with nature.

The questions include (2nd google forms):

  1. (If herbs were taken home) How has the continuation of the event through taking the herbs into your daily lives, influenced you connection to nature? eg: are you inspired to grow your own herbs or plants or spend more time in spaces incorporating nature? Please also give your connection to nature a rating out of 1-10 (1 being little connection).
  2. (If herbs were taken home) How has interacting with the herbs in your daily life impacted your concern for nature? Please also give your concern for nature a rating out of 1-10 (1 being little concern).
  3. (If herbs were taken home) How has utilising the herbs at home effected your motivations to act in the interest of nature? Please also give your motivations a rating out of 1-10 (1 being little motivation).
  4. How has interacting with the herbs during the herb event impacted you connection to nature?
  5. Was it the physical presence of the herbs at the event that you enjoyed or specifically your interaction with them? and why?
  6. Would you be attracted to visit a hospitality space if they were hosting events to incorporate nature and why?
  7. What would you like to see from hospitality spaces to bring you closer to nature whilst visiting them?
  8. Do you feel hospitality spaces make a conscious effort to bring nature to their customers? what examples do you like or dislike of this?
  9. What attracts you to nature or spaces including nature and why? eg: planting for their health benefits, or natural colours as they are exhilarating
  10. Which senses are most important to you to emulate an experience with nature, eg: smells, sounds, visuals, touch or tastes? Please give examples
  11. Are you keen to strengthen your relationship to nature? and why?
  12. How do you attempt to connect with nature in your daily life?

link to 2nd google forms: https://forms.gle/9tBK7NudHZtTWm3V6

Hand Out Cards

I have designed and then found a printer to create physical copies of these cards to compliment the Herb Event (see below). The cards are designed to accompany taking some of there herbs home whether this be a small plant or a bunch of picked herbs. The cards feature some tips of how to utilise the herbs as well as the QR code to the 2nd google forms.

I am aware that once customers take the cards and herbs home they are possibly less likely to complete the google forms, as there will be no physical presence asking them to do so. However, I hope after interacting with them at the event and also in giving them something for nothing, in letting them take herbs home, that they will provide some useful feedback.

Once the event is completed I will review all feedback gained and look as to how I can build from this in future iterations of the intervention.

Bibliography

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.

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Intervention Outline/ Future Independent Study Plan

Overview of Confirmed Interventions

Possible interventions, yet to be confirmed:

  • Looking to develop a way to utilise personal technology or technology that venues already host to connect people to nature in a meaningful way.
  • Interventions in other hospitality venues – such as possibly the Marylebone Hotel, finding ways to connect people to nature that fits the ethos of the space but creates meaningful interacts and connection with nature.

Panel Discussions

Panel discussions, such as that which I hosted in June will be utilised to review the progress and findings of my interventions with experts. The discussion will also host a live audience where possible and will allow for meaningful discussion as to how to progress the interventions past the points of predictable and to fully meet the needs of the stakeholders in bringing nature into their lives. I am still in contact with the original members of the panel discussion and so I will ask if they are available to take part again. However, I will also reach out to new biophilic and hospitality experts to see if they wish to take part and add a new angle to the discussion.

Future Work with Chelsea Collage of Arts

The below email outlines my future ideas for interventions to work with the Chelsea Collage of Arts, all of which have now been agreed to by Dashnor (the head of catering). The first being the Herb Event running next week, followed by an intervention in the cafe area around the end of august and then a technobiophilic intervention in the canteen area in September once it is re-opened.

Online Sharing Group

I am looking to develop an online sharing group, where customers can share images of application of nature that they like or dislike accompanied with a short comment as to why they have this opinion. The group will be hosted on Facebook so that people can post their own images into it, but the best posts and ideas of what to post will be curated on Nature.In’s instagram page. I am looking to develop this group over the next week or so, so it can begin gaining traction and the ideas posted can be implemented into my interventions in hospitality spaces.

Interventions in Other Venues

I have a meeting with the head chef at the Marylebone Hotel on Thursday about possibly running some interventions in their space. This could be very exciting an interesting as it offers a more formal hospitality space to test my concepts in rather than then informal nature of the cafe and canteen space at Chelsea. If he is unable to assist in running an intervention at The Marylebone, I will also ask if he has any other contacts that may be interested in working on an intervention with me. So, hopefully further intervention possibilities may result from this meeting.

However, I am continuing in my outreach to hostility venues, pop-ups and events spaces to see if they would be interested in running interventions.

Reflection:

This is my overview plan for the coming months, as my works stands, however it is very susceptible to change as new opportunities arise. I am also still looking to create new interventions that feed off my pervious interventions to create more impactful iterations of them. I’m excited to have the wheels well and truly in motion for my project and I can’t wait to see how far I can take this work.

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Chelsea Collage of Arts Meeting

After my many emails and calls sent out over the past few weeks, I finally gained a positive and keen response last Friday!! The response was from the head of catering at the Chelsea Collage of Arts, who was very interested in my intervention proposals and wanted to meet at the Chelsea canteen sight.

So, a meeting was set for Tuesday 13th July. I was a mix of excited and admittedly slightly nervous, as this is the first real opportunity I have had where someone was very keen for me to test my proposed ideas and so I really wanted the meeting to go well. I spent the weekend prepping as much as possible. I developed mock ups of the canteen space to demonstrate what could be added where in preliminary interventions; ensuring no irreversible changes would be made to the space and keeping it relatively simple to avoid any severe interference with their day to day practises. The mock up of my initial intervention ideas for the space can be viewed below. I also developed a selection of natural themes that could be applied to the space dependent on their food offering, as I researched the canteen space and discovered that they have done themed food events in the past. Therefore, I thought I could potentially coincide these food events with an intervention to create a natural environment utilising technology that plays off the food. The list of these ideas can also be seen below.

During the pitch to the catering manager of Chelsea I spoke through the changes I wish to make for both the hospitality venues themselves and their customers through creating biophilic environments, which I have summarised below. I also addressed why I wish to test whether technology could aid connection to nature through utilising technobiophilia principles, alongside the importance of targeting the senses through scent and sound to create immersive natural environments that connect people to nature; and evoke the wellbeing benefits of interacting with nature.

Interventions in the Canteen Space

To my delight the pitch went very well. Dashnor, the catering manager was very interested in my proposed ideas to bring nature into their spaces and gave me the go ahead to conduct interventions in the Chelsea hospitality spaces. However, at present the canteen area is shut due to not enough students being on campus to sustain it and so only the cafe and courtyard area are currently open. Therefore, I agreed with Dashnor to move ahead with the technobiophilic intervention in the canteen area in September when more students are back on site and it is expected that the canteen area can reopen. Below I have included more pictures of the canteen space that I took on my visit. You can notice there is already small efforts made to bring nature into the space with their use of plants and natural materials such as wood, but there is plenty more that can be built off of this.

Interventions in the Cafe/ Courtyard Space

In the meantime, I have been granted access to test idea sin the cafe space as well as the large courtyard area that the cafe hosts tables in. This courtyard area is also opposite Tate Britain and the public are welcome to utilise the cafe facilities, making it a prime venue to target customers in.

Dashnor was very keen on my ideas of targeting the senses and also testing physical applications of nature that people could interact with. Consequently, I have developed the idea of a Herb Event that I am going to be hosting at the Chelsea cafe’s and courtyard area on Tuesday and Wednesday next week (20th and 21st July). The event will involve bringing a selection of herbs to the courtyard area which customers are able to come up and cut to add to their food, as the cafe offers a range of foods that change every few days including curry through to salads and sandwiches.

I will be present at the duration of the events to interact with the customers and to ask them about their relationships with nature, involving starting a conversation about how interacting with the herbs has impacted them, or not. I will ask customers a series of 3 short questions assessing their connection to nature before providing them with the herbs; I will then re-ask the questions before they leave to measure if there has been any change in their connection to nature. I will also provide customers with a QR code on cards I am having made to promote the event, which customers can scan to answer extra questions around their connection to nature and the impacts of the event; so that I can gain added feedback from the willing customers.

Additionally, there will be an opportunity for people to take some smaller herb plants home with them from the event or some picked herbs. This is to assess if taking the herbs into their daily lives impacts their connection to nature more greatly than just interacting with them during the event. Customers who take the herbs home will also be provided with a card featuring tips of how to utilise the herbs with certain foods, and will also feature the QR code to a google forms of additional questions reflecting on their experience in taking the herbs home.

Feedback from customers throughout the events will also be recorded to gain an understand of what customers are looking for to improve their connection to nature in these spaces and whether an offering like this would attract them to visit a hospitality space. This intervention will also help to establish the value of physical interactions with nature, which can be later compared to that of interactions to nature through technology. Pictures of the cafe site and courtyard are included below. Greater details on preparing for this intervention will be included in a later blog post.

Reflection:

I am so happy to have finally secured a venue in which I can being some physical testing of my concepts through interventions, especially that I can get stuck into testing so quickly as next week! It has been a long journey, but the struggle of continuing on in this line of enquiry to conduct testing in public hospitality venues has eventually been worthwhile. Although, I will still continue my pursuit of securing other differing hospitality venues to run interventions in, on the back burner, to ensure my project has the greatest outreach possible.

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Reaching Out To Potential Testing Venues

I have continued my reach out to secure sites to conduct testing of my interventions in by contacting the following venues and groups.

Venues contacted in this latest round of reach out:

  • Carousel – Creative Hub with guest chefs, workshops and exhibits
    • I emailed and called, they are having a staff meeting at the end of the week in which they will discuss the option fo collaboration and get back to me
  • Camden Art Centre – Gallery and exhibition space featuring a cafe
  • Tate Britan – Cafe space
    • After visiting the Tate last Friday I was unable to meet anyone who had influence over whether any testing in the space would be possible. Therefore, I have since emailed and called the venue in attempt to form any type of collaboration.
  • Cob Gallery – shows the work of emerging artists and offers refreshments
  • Horse Hospital – exhibition and events space
  • Proposito Studios – responsible for the immersive pop-up exhibition on the South Bank earlier this year
    • They are focused on raising awareness to ecology and the role of humans in ecology, thus alining very closely with the ethos of my project.
  • 180 Strand – exhibition space showing immersive works such as that of Ryoji Ikeda
  • Kitchen Theory – Immersive supper club running monthly dinner events targeting all the senses, they also have a podcast and design studio

As well as reaching out to external venues I have also contacted the cafes and bars of different UAL campuses in the hope that I may be able to run tests of my ideas on immersive natural experiences through technology here. I have contacted Chelsea Collage of Arts and London Collage of Fashion, as I was able to find contact details for them individually. However, I have also contacted the general student union for UAL to ask if they are able to help on this matter, as well as the catering operations for UAL and the events management for UAL. I also plan on going directly to the cafe at CSM and asking if there would be an opportunity to collaborate there.

Reflection

I have heard back from the Chelsea College of Arts and have a meeting arranged to meet with their head of catering on Tuesday, so that will hopefully be a very promising lead. I will also continue to pursue different venues that I see may fit my testing criteria in the on-going search to get my testing underway. After recently contacting a range of exhibition spaces and galleries but net focus of attention will move towards supper clubs and pop-ups bars/ restaurants in the hope of securing more opportunities for interventions.

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Securing Venues To Test My Ideas In

Obstacles In Securing A Testing Venue

At present, the largest challenge facing my project is in securing venues in which I can test the ideas I have developed so far in my project, through my work with biophilic and biomimetic experts, hospitality professionals and customers. Throughout my project I have worked with hospitality professionals to gather knowledge and develop ideas and these individuals have been very helpful in answering questions I have and adding to the development of more beneficial concepts. However, none of these contacts that I have made in the hospitality industry have been able to provide a space in which I can test my ideas as of yet.

Therefore, I have continually spent time contacting other hospitality businesses that serve food and drink in the hope I may find a space that is interested in my work and happy to allow me to test my ideas, in whatever scale they will allow. This endeavour took a back seat over the last week due to my illness, but its is a venture I am looking to put at the forefront of my work over the next week, as it is my most pressing obstacle to overcome.

I had a beneficial chance encounter at a pop-up restaurant the other week, called JOY in Notting Hill, which is focused upon sustainability and incorporates vast natural planting in their outdoor terrace. Whilst at the restaurant I met the manager of the pop-up and briefly presented him with my ideas for my project. The manager was very interested in my project and gave me his contact details, which was very promising and exciting as they are moving pop-up sites in July and so this may provide a brilliant opportunity to test ideas in a fresh site for them. I have since emailed the manager and had no further response, but I will attempt to contact him again once we get into July and I see they have moved to their new site.

Other Ways Of Testing

As a result of the issues I am facing in gaining a testing venue, I have begun to try and think of other ways to test my ideas.

Dinner Party:

Initially I have considered testing on a smaller scale in the form of a dinner party. The dinner party would involve presenting a certain cuisine such as seafood to lets say 6 people and projecting visuals of ocean seascapes along with accompanying sounds and candles of seaside smells. Then I would test how the individuals connection in nature changed from the survey at the start, during and end of the meal. The measure of connection may be conducted using simple self report questions, possibly utilising emoticons to demonstrate emotional states, as this is an easier way for participants to record their connection rate then the complex and lengthy connection to nature academic measures, such as the Inclusion fo Nature in Self. There is also academic rigour in simple emoticon self report measures, such as those utilised in airports which I discovered from Kristina Libby’s input in my panel discussion. Additionally, I further researched the validity of this measure through the works of Lassen et al. (2020) to discover its success.

However, testing in the setting of a dinner party like this isn’t very conducive to a real world experience. The participants would most likely be fiends of mine which would limit their objectivity on the project, as well as there being a very small sample size possible in a dinner party setting if I were to host it in my flat. Therefore, testing in a dinner party setting like this is as a last resort at present.

Restaurants and Cafes of Museums and Art Spaces:

In attempting to explain how I would display the visuals and create an immersive experience through my idea of incorporating biophilic design with technology; I found myself referring back to the recent surge in immersive art exhibits that I have seen popping up around London as examples of a similar experience that I wish to create in a hospitality setting. So, when I utilised the same method of explanation when talking to Richard recently, accompanied with my ongoing struggle of gaining a testing venue. Richard pointed out that if these art spaces already host similar technology to that I wish to utilise in my project and most art spaces have some kind of hospitality space which serves food and drink; why don’t I attempt to test my ideas in these spaces?

For me this was a big breakthrough moment and simply an angle I had completely overlooked. Consequently, my next task is to uncover suitable spaces hosting such immersive art exhibitions and that have hospitality facilities; and to them approach them to ask if it would be possible to test my ideas with them. I am in the process of curating a list of venues that fit these criteria, which I will explore in greater depth in my blog over the coming days. My plan is to not only email and call these venues, but to actually visits some of the immersive experiences myself over the coming days to hopefully be able to meet the people running the venue and form a personal bond with them. I also wish to gain inspiration from these immersive experiences for my project and to push to boundaries of what may be possible in the realm of technobiophilia.

Reflection:

Art spaces may prove very beneficial in testing the technology side of my concepts, but I am still keen to consider the more physical ideas I have around biophilic design and how they can be utilised to create dynamic spaces. Therefore, I will continue my quest in contacting hospitality venues to test in, as well as the art spaces which also host hospitality settings.

Bibliography

Lassen, N., Goia, F., Schiavon, S. and Pantelic, J., (2020) “Field investigations of a smiley-face polling station for recording occupant satisfaction with indoor climate.” Building and Environment, 185, p.107266.

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Collage Expressing My Ideas

Over the past week my progress in securing a testing venue, as well as developing my online sharing group has been halted due to illness. However, over this time I tried to continue doing what I could to progress my project. This work partly resulted in developing a type of mood board in the form of collages to present my current trains of thought. The first of which you can see below.

I began making my first collage thinking about what it is that I perceive nature to be. I considered natural forms and the organic spirit that I feel fully encapsulates nature. From this line of thought the above collage resulted which I feel demonstrates nature in a variety of forms, but with the theme of organic, free forming and dynamic examples of the natural world.

After developing my first collage I reflected upon what I had created and this led me into thinking about how nature in typically expressed through art. I thought of the changes I have observed taking shape in how nature in expressed in art simply through my day to day life and so I researched further around this. I studied paintings of nature this being observational or abstract works, as well as sculptures positioned back in natural spaces such as parks. In this research and line of thinking I developed the collage you can see below. I then compared my findings of how I see nature to be raw, organic and evolving in my first collage and how many artist impressions of nature perhaps move away from this dynamic and organic way of the natural world, in my second collage.

Therefore, creating these collages helped me to refine and demonstrate the gap that I wish to target through applying technology to develop immersive, natural experiences through my project. I wish to bridge the gap between the raw natural world and the collective artists’ view of nature by creating a form of instillation that showcases the organic, dynamic way of nature and making this an immersive experience; but allowing people to observe and experience this in their own way. For instance, creating a large projection of nature accompanied by sounds and smells of that scene can help to present the raw forms of nature and evoke the senses in hospitality businesses, without physically being in nature. Such an experience will evoke the benefits of biophilic environments; whilst also being presented as an art instillation which moves the artist impression of nature to be a more immersive one which is closer to that of experiencing the natural world itself.

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Difficulties Experienced in Establishing a Network of Hospitality Professionals

Over the past few weeks I have been actively trying to develop a network of hospitality professionals to engage in my project.

The main platforms I have utilised to gain these contacts have been Facebook through joining and becoming active participants in Facebook groups targeted at hospitality professionals. I have also joined hospitality groups on LinkedIn which are full of very useful and highly qualified contacts. Finally, I have utilised LinkedIn further by searching for hosiapilty professionals and contacting individuals who are involved in hospitality and asking them if they are interested in taking part in my work.

The predominate aim of reaching out to these hospitality professionals, at present was to gather participant speakers for my online panel discussion which is taking place later today (4th June) at 1pm. However, I have faced a problem in gathering hospitality professionals that work ‘ on the ground’ so to speak.

I was very keen to get some speakers involved who actively work in hospitality spaces that serve food and drink, so I could gather a real world view as to what may work in terms of natural applications in those spaces. But, I have faced the difficulty in accessing these individuals for a set timed panel discussion, due to their varying shifts for work and the majority of individuals not knowing their work rota util the week before. I know from my own experience working as a waitress that the rotas and timetabling can be put out rather last minute and be very flexible to change, and so I sympathise with them on this issue. In regard to my panel discussion however, this issue has meant that Simon Gardner in particular is no longer able to participate in the discussion, and neither is another hospitality worker I have been in contact with, Oliver Crawley who is an events manager.

Instead, I have managed to secure Williem van Bolderen, who is a founding partner of Studio Puisto architecture firm which focuses upon utilising Biophilic design in the development of hospitality spaces. Willem is highly regarded and will undoubtedly provide great insights for the discussion. Although, he is not a part of the ‘on the ground’ workers I initially considered targeting, I feel he will make a great addition to the team.

Reflection

Looking to the future and how to engage my ‘on the ground’ workers in hospitality, I will look towards methods that do not have to be conducted at a set time. But, rather the individuals can conduct the interventions at their own pace. This could even take the form of video submissions in response to prompts which could be compiled as a part of a larger instillation showcasing how ready hospitality spaces are to receive the change and what changes they would benefit from in terms of applications of nature.

Additionally, in the future I will initially place greater emphasis on engaging hospitality professionals, as I started out targeting biophilic and biomimetic experts first during this intervention. Having said that I certainly didn’t leave gathering hospitality professionally for the discussion to the last minute, as I have been trying to secure hospitality workers for several weeks. However, I do feel that it has been slightly easier to engage these experts in this kind of panel discussion, as it is something they are a lot more familiar with doing than hospitality professionals. Therefore, next time I will either change the format to one that hospitality professionals may be more comfortable engaging with, or I will simply place increased effort at the start of the project to engage hospitality professionals.

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What, Why, How, If Proposal and Reflections

Early Intervention Presentation Feedback:

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.

EdgeProp (2021) “Biomimicry: When nature and tech work together” Edgeprop [Online] https://www.edgeprop.sg/property-news/biomimicry-when-nature-and-tech-work-together Accessed 01/05/21

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.

HotBox (2021) “Visual and Sensory Cues for Wellness and Restoration” HotBox [Online] https://www.behotbox.com/blog/2021/04/22/visual-and-sensory-cues-for-wellness-and-restoration/ Accessed 01/05/21


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.

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My Second Early Intervention

Focus Group – Developing applications of nature with nature experts and hospitality businesses

For my second early intervention, I wish to produce an event to create change. I am in the process of organising a focus group which is taking the form of an online panel discussion, due to pandemic restrictions.

The focus group aims to bring hospitality businesses together with experts in biophilia in the aim of making change in how nature can be most effectively applied in hospitality businesses to re-connect people to the natural world.

The discussion will be relatively free forming, but a series of 3-5 prompts will be developed by myself to guide the conversation into the necessary areas.

At present the focus group is looking to take place on the 27th May, however this may change as people finalise their availability.

Confirmed Panellists:

  • Kristina Libby– Biophilic expert – worked on projects looking to incorporate biophilic design in workspaces to improve wellbeing and creativity
  • Leonardo Binetti – Biomimetics expert (mimicking natural materials, designs and systems with technology)
  • Rajalakshmi Iyer – Biophilic expert – examines emotional connections to applying biophilic deign

Possible Panellists:

  • Simon Gardner – General manager of hospitality businesses for 25 years

Panellists Waiting to Hear Back From:

  • Abid Butt – Host of ‘Hospitality Talks’ group, which investigates problems facing the hospitality industry

Other individuals involved in hospitality and biophilia have been contacted, but are unable to partake at present.

In my next steps I will look to engage more individuals specifically from the hospitality industry to take part in the focus group. I have secure more biophilia experts than individuals from the hospitality industry and I wish there to be a near equal balance in representative of both halves in the focus group.

Further Future Intervention – Developing application of nature with customers

In the near future I also look to make an intervention targeted at the customers of hospitality businesses.

This intervention will involve creating a space for an ongoing process, by developing an online sharing group. The group will utilise an existing social media platform, such as Facebook, to engage as many people as possible by extorting their existing user base.

The group will provide customers of hospitality businesses that sell food and drink to share images of applications of nature or just nature itself to the group. The images will then be analysed and utilised to develop the most effective, manageable and feasible applications of nature for my project. The data supplied by customers of hospitality spaces will be analysed for frequencies of certain key elements such as light, sound, water and greenery to calculate which of these larger sectors is most important to customers. There will also be subsections that will be analysed that will go into greater depth regarding how these sectors are being approached, for instance the use of planting for the greenery section. The approaches that people like will also be closely examined to see how they could be adapted to be used in hospitality businesses that sell food and drinks.

Creating this intervention is not currently underway, as it is still in the ideas development phase. But creating this intervention will become a top priority, once the intervention of showcasing my video to hospitality businesses and organising the focus group are underway.