Looking to form my research question into a more concise and easily digestible question, I have iterated my current question of:
How can community practice encourage knowledge sharing on biophilic deisgn to promote the inclusion of nature in city spaces?
To now be:
Reflection
I feel this new iteration of my question clearly sums up the aims of my project whilst remaining concise and easily understandable to all, as previously I felt my question was slightly long-winded which led to it being a little conducing to some.
Through my recent period of evaluation on my project so far and how I want to progress my work, there has been some considerable evolution of my research question. The evolution of my research question and considerations can be seen below.
The focus on community in the new iteration of my research question is less of a change in direction and more of a union of the ambitions of my work this far. Forming a communtiy unites the past events, panel discussions, talks and stakeholder engagement I have hosted, as they community invites discussion around these interventions and pushes them even further. The community looks to expand upon these interventions by developing them through community discussion and input as well as focusing upon community discussion to include nature in differnet fields of work to ensure that it is included more within city spaces.
Over the past week, I have had space to take a step back from my work and truly look to evaluate my current direction and focus on my project due to illness stopping me from continuing on with practical work. This time has been invaluable to consider whether my current interventions and research question truly encapsulate the energy and motives of my work and what I wish to achieve.
I have included below my written workings that follow my decision-making process throughout the week and my evolution in evaluating where I am currently at and where I want to progress to. However, I then go on to summarise my thinking and consequential decision making to clarify my direction going forward as a result of this evaluation and reflection.
Progression of Reflection and Evaluation on Project Through to Evolution of Work:
Summary of Thinking and Evaluation of Project
Move away from simply reconnecting people to nature to consider the type of change I wish to make
This change initially being thought as an attitudional one but I feel this is best achieved through forming a community and community practise to create real change on a larger scale rather than small one off design events and talks ran by me – strength in numbers…
Strategic level change – also considering fact finding interventions to assess how people in the market react to this community
A community approach to build new attitudes in how nature is utilised in design, consequently results in reconnecting people to nature
So, my new direction in my work is much more specific and achieveable whilst providing a framework for real change. As, upon relfection I can now see my previous research question was quite diffused in its direction and purpose due to reconnecting people to nature being a broad focus.
Community approach also plays to my strengths of connecting with many top level stakeholders in my field and helps to connect all of the work I have been conducting in the background of my project such as meeting lost of biophilic, natural and sustainability experts
The group also adresses a key issue I have noticed through connecting with these experts and reaching out to differnet stakeholders. This being that the field of biophilia/natural design/ sustaibility led companies are very scattered across the internet and sites such as LinkedIn. This makes it very hard for professionals to meet each other but also for their knowledge to be combined and implemented in spaces in a new way. This knowledge can also then be shared with other industry professionals such as interior designers and architects that can be added into the community who can then implement the communtiy discussed ideas and concpets of natural design in their projects and also link with companies who can help make these ideas a reality.
I believe there is scope to combine my work and interests into building this professional multistakeholder community
The change to make is in percieving nature as a must have in design rather than a nice to have – this not only provides health and wellbeing benefits associated with intercting with nature, but can also help to meet sustianbility targets
Aim is to bring nature into city spaces are these are the spaces that desperately need the focus of natural design and also largely contain the people that feel most disconnected from nature (from my intervention findings and further reserach)
My work focusing on hospitality is still very relevant, only now there is wider scope for the application of nature in other city spaces, such as urban interior spaces and workplaces
Focusing on hospitality was seen as the correct way forward and entry point for my work at the begining as a sector with maxium impact. Hospitality was focused upon due to there being little applications of customer centric biophilic deisgn in the hospitality sector, hospitality having been hit so harshly by the pandemic and such design schemes and events helping to attract customers, the rise in sustainably counscious venues and the popularity of hospitality spaces leading to a vast sphere of influence among city dwellers that typcially ave minimal intercations with nature were all contributing factors.
However, with the progression of my work looking towards community building and practise there is a natural evolution away from limiting that community to the hospitality sector, as the communtiy can be of great benefit to multiple city spaces.
There is naturally multiple applications for this professional community as hospitality is so closesly linked to the consumer market; therefore, my work up until now feeds into the creation of this community space almost seamlessly.
New Direction In Summary
Research Question:
How can community practice encourage knowledge sharing on biophilic design to promote the inclusion of nature in city spaces?
Stakeholders:
Primary stakeholders – Natural design experts and professionals interested in learning about and incorporating natural design
Secondary stakeholders – Owners of internal city spaces (having the opportunity to host the ideas of the community)
Tertiary stakeholders – Users of city spaces that now incorporate nature as a result of work from the Nature In Community, thus the benefit from the work of the project.
Interventions:
Professional Community via LinkedIn page, featuring collaboration and conversation in the group, as well as Clubhouse talks to share knowledge and Instagram for publicity
Natural Events – showcase what can be achieved through natural design when thinking innoavctively and collaboratively, but also utilsie these events being held at Chelsea College of Arts to add up and coming deisgners and creative practitioners that are sustianbly focused into the professional community group
Reflection
This period of evaluation and reflection on the direction of my project has been invaluable in working to create the most effective outcomes possible. I now feel passionate that I am working to develop interventions that actively target the key aims of my work and that combine all aspects and ambitions of my work into an impactful, engaging and challenging direction.
During the course of the independent study, my project has adapted and expanded slightly upon my initial broader thinking. However, the aims and goals of my work are still very much the same, so there have only been slight changes in the evolution of my question over the course of this work period, which can be seen below. I have kept the aspect of my question to be ‘hospitality businesses that serve food and drink’, because I still feel this best describes my target area as it removes other hospitality spaces such as hotel rooms from the project and focuses upon spaces like restaurants, pubs, bars, pop-ups, supper clubs etc.
Starting question at the beginning of the independent study:
How can nature be applied to hospitality businesses that serve food and drink to re-connect people with the natural world? ïƒ
Adaptations of Question:
How can natural designs, events and experiences introduced into hospitality spaces that serve food and drink improve customer’s connections to nature?
How can customers become connected to nature through visiting hospitality spaces that serve food and drink in cities?
How can customers become better connected to nature through visiting hospitality spaces that serve food and drink in cities?
Current question:
Reflection
I wish to inspire change in approaches to nature, to allow for increased connections to nature through unique methods within hospitality settings.
I feel my question now better communicates the scale of my work, within busy cities such as London, to target those customers who are feeling disconnected from the natural world due to the city life. Therefore, bringing nature into spaces that they are already frequenting, in hospitality spaces, can easily assist them in improving their connections to nature. This is directly based upon feedback from customers during the herb Event at Chelsea College of Arts. Even those who may be opposed or disinterested in nature can feel the benefits of nature in the spaces. The applications of nature aim to be so innovative and novel that people will want to get engaged with them and subconsciously or resultantly they will feel the impacts of nature and may then hopefully seek out nature in the future.
Moving from Project 5 to the present Project 6 there has been multiple iterations and developments in my research question, the process of which you can see explained below.
End of Project 5:
How can nature be intrinsically incorporated into hospitality spaces to evoke social interactions and improve wellbeing?
Following Iterations:
How can nature be applied in hospitality spaces to attract customers, encourage social interactions and improve wellbeing?
Evolved to this when looking to move away from just focusing on wellbeing, looking to encourage social interactions and also looking at engaging businesses in the project by aiming to attract customers.
How can biophilic design be utilised to form a connection between people and nature in commercial entertaining spaces?
The realisation of creating a connection was established at this point and so then evolving the question became around the wording of ‘hospitality spaces’.
Too specific in naming biophilic design, limits off any other possible applications of nature
Not specific enough in the space definition
How can commercial entertaining spaces that serve food and drink be utilised to create connections between people and nature?
Better in specificity of the targeted space
Focus has shifted away from nature here and to the arena of the space, need to get back to connecting with nature being the priority
Look at it being a re-connection, as we have drifted away from nature through evolution, it isn’t a new connection
How can nature be incorporated into commercial entertaining spaces that serve food and drink, to re-connect people with the natural world?
Seemingly better iteration
After stakeholder engagement questioning the arena I was offering to, it required revising
After conducting my in-depth research and conversations with some of my stakeholders, my question has evolved again. I am maintaining wellbeing as a measure, as well as social interaction, but the change comes in really focusing upon making nature intrinsic to the hospitality spaces.
In looking to evolve my question further in the future my next thoughts are to study how the increased customers and consequential revenue brought to the hospitality spaces as a result of the biophilic adaptations could be measured and possibly include this angle into my research question. Also, in regarding of deciphering how to apply measures I am looking to narrow in on how to measure wellbeing. Additionally, I am focusing on defining hospitality and narrowing in on which aspect of the industry I wish to address in making my change, which will again result in the evolution of my question.
After reflecting on the feedback to introduce a measuring factor into my question, I developed a new iteration which now includes wellbeing as the measure. Additionally, as a result of the research I have undertaken so far, I decided to alter the wording of ‘spaces in which food is consumed’ in my question to be ‘hospitality spaces’ as to more accurately describe the arena I wish to insight change into.
After the feedback from the presentation of my question and interventions, it was suggested that moving away from the wording of ‘restaurant’ may assist my project as to make it more open.
Creating my box of uncertainties really got the ball rolling to then push my thoughts around sustainable building with nature to their limits and really explore a space that felt almost uncomfortable and scary to try and develop the most pressing and effective question possible.
At first I began quite fixed and limiting in my thinking looking at especially the coral from my box of uncertainty. I examined how possibly the material of dead coral resultant of the mass coral bleaching crises could be repurposed as a material for construction. I was also almost subconsciously limiting myself when thinking about building to mean a literal building. So, after acknowledging these thresholds I had placed upon myself I began trying to open up my thinking in including nature in its entirety and to look at structures rather than strictly building. Opening up my thinking in this way was always useful to apply more accurately to my skill sets, as I am not a materials expert nor an architect.
I then took the ideas developed through this initial thinking to my tutor David. David helped me to visualise the links between my different iterations of my questions, as he advised to go back and examine what is the key aim that is present in all of my questions, to help myself focus upon one of the aspect that is most important to me. This reflection upon my questions really helped me to focus my thinking, as previously I was trying to tackle so many things, but not accurately addressing any of them. Therefore, I established my key aim to be intrinsically linking nature with the built environment in structures, with a focus upon improving wellbeing through these structures. David also placed emphasis on defining why I wanted to study this question/ topic and why it was important to me. This approach led to to thinking about brining the entirety of myself to the project, not simply my academic ambitions, and so I began to list my passions involving health/ fitness and food/ cooking. Subsequently, I utilised my passion for food to define the area of study in which to intrinsically link nature into the built environment, whilst aiming to improve wellbeing. Thus, my question was born:
“How can nature or natural structures be utilised to evoke social interaction in restaurants?”
After defining my question, I went on to establish two mini interventions, each one aimed at a key part of the question. Part 1 being – the use of nature in natural, sustainable structures and Part 2 being – the evoking of social interactions in the spaces of restaurants. So, the combination of both of these elements aims to create natural, sustainable solutions which combat the climate crisis, but also improve wellbeing through promoting social interactions.
My first intervention involved assessing perceptions towards the needs for sustainable building and nature’s role in this. Participants were provided with a poster demonstrating the impacts of traditional construction methods on the ocean and asked to annotate their thoughts around the poster going off three provided prompts.
The second intervention aimed to action changes towards people’s habits of social interactions around food. Participants were asked to record their feelings towards social interactions around meals, specifically dinner, as this is the most prominent meal of the day for most people. Dinner in the home was utilised to imitate interactions in restaurants due to current covid-19 restrictions meaning restaurants are closed.
I have included my full journal for this project below which demonstrates all of my thinking and decision making in developing both my question and my interventions, as well as showcasing the outcomes of my interventions.
Below exhibits the inner workings of how I developed my intervention addressing perceptions towards the need for sustainable building and nature’s role in this. The poster utilised in the intervention was developed utilising a multitude of research from academic papers make sure that all figure utilised are accurate and precise.
