I had an incredibly interesting and creative conversation yesterday with Kristina Libby. Kristina took part in my first-panel discussion and we have kept in touch ever since. She is an expert in biophilic design having run projects looking at biophilia in the workplace and utilising biophilia concepts in creating a covid floral memorial. Kristina is also involved in technology in her work and she raised some very innovative points around utilising technology and nature together in the first panel discussion. Therefore, I was very keen to talk with her about how she feels technophilia could be applied in hospitality settings.
The key points of the discussion are below, or you can listen to the discussion by clicking the above video.
The Discussion
Considering an individual’s impact on the environment
Developing responsive spaces to demonstarte the message of individual’s impacts on the planet, similar to those utilised in ad campaigns
Can demonstrate climate change data eg: wildfire data
A part of biophilia that is missing – intellectual engagemnt with the environment
Utilse data emitted from phones to determine individual’s impacts?
How to make climate actions beautiful so that people feel the topics of sustianable actions are more approachable and allows them to realise their own power.
ICCP report – 10 years to impact climate change
All industries have some sort of responsibility
How do you emotionally encourage people ot act? – educating, entertaining and reconnecting people to the world
Technical spaces responsive to your immediate actions eg: flower grows as you move your hand
As people move they could develop a seemingly blank space into a more biophilic one – active participatory role in the environment
Utilsie Microsoft Kinect software – utilised in responsive art pieces – look to see if there are any collaborators interested to work on this – Kristina has a contact she is going to reach out to and ask if he would be interested in getting involved in developing something like this
Be careful of too much light in these spaces for projections as then projectors need to be of a very high calibre
Living walls that change and grow as you are in front of it?
Climate data projected in black and white in a space that is otherwise biophilic – the projection responds to the room in unexpected ways.
Utilise tech to demonstarte the importance of small actions in aiding nature and the climate crisis
Recycling container – when you throw something into it a virtual leaf grows in the projection onto the bin and adds to the tree/ forest – you can see your small addition to the bigger picture resultant from your sustainable efforts
Contextually responsive spaces can help to combat ‘ad blindness’ and will engage more people through its unusual form
Interative art pieces are typically modern and contemporary (espeically in New York) and so bringing a type of natural form and wonder into this arena could be really interesting
Parts of biophilia seem almost backward wanting things to turn away from tech, but there are ways that tech can be utilsied to move the efforts to connect people with nature forward
At the moment there is a void between ideas that are all biophilic or all modern, tech could help bridge the gap
Herb farm – every inch it grows the screen changes? or as people reach to touch the plants something chnages in the projections
Showcasing the benefits of interacting with physcial forms of plants eg: lavender has this positive impact on you/ farming lavander has these imapcts – when you hover your phone over a plant it showcases facts about the plant?
Vitrually growing a plant on a wall projection form the start of your meal/ when you arrive until the end – when you re enter a space and scan your phone the projection comes back up of your exact plant and begins to grow again – returning to the spaces continues your presonal expericene and connection to nature.
How do you create a space to be more than a space? what can the space teach us?
Chefs are often egar to educate through their food, but the restaurnt setting itself can also be a space to educate and connect people to the offering to translate their ethos
QR codes to order – create an AR experience for when people order, information about the food comes up as does a fitting experience of nature for the spaceeg: animals and trees or butterfiles across the screen
Communicate the ordering data back to people in the venue eg: X amount of people ordered the salmon today, salmon farming has this impact on nature.
Gamification to communicate natural experiences
AR/VR isnt full adpoted by people yet, so we can’t expect them to utilise it in a space of their own accord – we have to integrate it into an expericne that they are already familiar with if we want them to use it eg: menu ordeirng utilsing phones creates AR experience or instagramming food in places with specialised AR filter?
Gratitude for sustianbility posistive actions eg: utilsing a reusabel water bottle to fill up from a fountain could add a natural elemnt to a bigger piece of virtual projection artwork eg: grows a flower on the tree
Reflection
I am very keen to explore the ideas I discussed with Kristina further, as I believe they could result in some incredibly engaging, novel and original adaptations of nature into hospitality businesses. One of the ideas I am keen to research further first is the idea of utilising Microsoft Kinect to track movements of people interacting with projected images and then the images respond to their movement. If this is possible to do in the time frame, I feel it could reveal some very strong data around improvements to connection to nature in hospitality settings. The technology could be applied whereby natural elements grew from performing certain actions, or information about nature or ways in which the business are acting sustainably were projected on a wall as you walked past it. There are many applications if the technology can be harnessed to cater for hospitality spaces in the time.
I am also very keen to explore the AR ideas of making natural elements pop out as you get the menu up when ordering through a QR code. Seen as mobile devices are being readily used to order now after covid restrictions, it makes sense to incorporate nature into the ordering process and it could provide facts about the food or natural elements involved in the food-making process, as well as showing virtual nature around the venue.
Unlike many academic papers I have read and analysed to form the foundation for my work, recently I have looked to other sources of secondary information to help formulate new ideas and takes on how nature can be effectively introduced to hospitality settings.
Barnes, S. (2018) Rewild Yourself, Simon and Schuster, London.
Consequently, I have been reading ‘Rewild Yourself’ by Simon Barnes. This book isn’t to do with bringing nature into spaces at all, rather it is centred around people taking themselves to the outdoors to interact with nature. Resultantly, I found reading the text a very interesting experience to get my creative juices to flow in following the suggested ideas to ‘rewild’. I have found myself critically analysing and adapting these suggested methods of rewilding to discover how they can be utilised within the context of my work. This has led me to revert many of the ideas and working backwards with them to try and invent new ideas or ways in which similar forms of interacting with nature could be introduced into hospitality settings.
For instance, a suggestion to invest and utilise a good pair of waterproof trousers may seem meaningless in regards to my work. However, the book goes on the explore the new world and environment a pair of waterproof trousers helps you to unlock. Whether this be seeing new species that you would have otherwise missed as you wouldn’t have wanted to immersive yourself in the wet environment, or simply exploring the scenery and woodlands in adverse climates. The point being that the trousers offer a gateway to experience different environments. A similar concept can be applied into an event or experience in hospitality, with a. little thinking and reworking. An expel of this is that an event or experience could be centred around different weathers or climates and in each experience of the climate the customer is able to experience different aspects of nature. Some apparatus could be used as a gateway for each environment, whether this be through ordering a different dish (each pertaining to a new environment) or even in a bar setting thing could be done through different drinks; or even simply in the setting of the restaurants different areas could be presented to explore different nature weathers or environments. Even technology could be utilised to formulate this idea into a technobiophilic experience. These ideas are currently just that, ideas, but read this book has allowed for fresh perspectives to be taken on seemingly obvious parts of natural experiences.
Below I have included notes of aspects of nature I wish to explore further after reading this book. I will go on to develop these ideas further and look at the feasibility of them as I look to planning my next interventions, specifically my next intervention at the Chelsea College of Arts.
Weather
Experiencing different weathers/ climates as a part of a natural experience
Rain – sound and smell?
Heat – step off the plane heat smell? Sounds of crickets/ birds?
Just like the weatherproof trousers, I’m aiming to break down the barriers between inside and outside
Breaking down the self-imposed barriers to nature
Consider wildlife/ animals not just plants
Create immersive habitats? – focus them on different species? – creating an elongated meaningful connection to nature through the transfer of knowledge that customers can take into their daily lives, for instance, the names of basic species such as butterflies which they can then identify when seeing them around in their daily lives, consequently allowing them to feel closer to nature even after leaving the event/ experiences.
‘Open yourself up to the wild’
Viewing the ocean as a new and mythical world
Lose yourself in a new natural world – replicate unusual/ unique aspects of the ocean that aren’t commonly known
Strengthen connection potentially from the transfer of knowledge about the ocean – people may wish to pursue this information further and explore and learn more about the ocean.
Utilise idea of coral reefs – unpack and showcase their environment in an event
Aquascope/ bathyscaphe allows you to view the ocean like a snorkel but without getting wet.
Rivers?
People sat in different spaces like different tributaries (could also be like branches of a tree) – different tributaries would equate to a different natural experience, customers could more through the different tributaries throughout the experience.
Could be replicated for a wine tasting? – different drink for each tributary? Or a different food dish?
Nocturnal animals – could be referenced in evening experiences or events?
Bats – sonar sounds for communication in any way to play on this?
Utilise sonar tech in an event? – play on bats abilities to feel at home during the dark?
There are devices you can get to convert bat’s ultrasounds into humanly audible sounds – could utilise something similar?
Bat detectors, set to around 45khz
Stillness to take in wild ecosystem forms around you
Could be introduced in some form for a supper club type event, as everyone sits down for dinner and are silent, the projectors/ sounds/ smells of nature and wildlife begin to appear, as if you are sitting still in the natural habitat. This could set the tone for the rest of the natural experience.
Rainforest – most diverse ecosystem
Reveal what’s in the canopy/ around you that may be hard to see.
Explore the masses of wildlife in the canopy of the rainforest, unpack it and utilise different species in experiences
Hares/ Rabbits
Future idea that could be aimed at spring?
Dragonflies/ ladybirds/ butterflies – the invertebrate world of the small, bringing them into the human eye and world of the big rather than being overlooked.
Hummingbirds/ woodpeckers – represent bringing rare and interesting species inspiration into events that will attract people as it is uncommon for humans to encounter them. So, an event aimed to replicate interactions with racer species could bring the rare into the normal?
Bees
Replicate or take inspiration from the process of pollinating?
Create a change in the taste of food before and after ‘pollination’
Reflection
I have really enjoyed reading this book and it has allowed me to re-evaluate my ideas and perceptions of what nature truly is. I feel it has helped me to consider new forms of nature and ways to introduce these parts of nature into the hospitality settings, allowing for connections with the customer to be formed.
Following the line of thinking reading this book has started, another idea I have been recently thinking about red Hibiscus, which is a flower that is commonly associated with summer. But, with Christmas and winter coming up I have thought of potentially utilising this flower as a theme for a natural event or experience framed towards winter. This would create a juxtaposition between winter and summer and allow for a mixture of seasons to be brought into one space, for an innovative natural experience.
I have recently confirmed the panellists and final details for my panel discussion happening on the 26th August at 1pm via stream yard. I am very excited to be hosting my second-panel discussion as I feel it will help to push my current work and future iterations of my interventions and project beyond the realms of the predictable and just my thinking by collaborating and discussing ideas with some of the top experts in the industry. I am also feeling a bit more confident the second time around and have worked on ironing out some of the slight issues that occurred in the last panel discussion. For instance, I am promoting the panel and asking panellists to do the same to try and secure a live audience for the event. I have also been more thorough in confirming how the platform stream yard will work and the time scale of the event. Finally, I have also tried to make the prompts I have sent out slightly more specific and clear to keep feedback accurate to the topics I wish the panel to cover. Images will again be utilised with the prompts wherever suitable to add clarity to the points discussed. For example, images of the Herb Event I ran at Chelsea or the online sharing group.
Details for the Panel:
The panel will run at 1pm UK time on the 26th August via Stream Yard, where an audience can view the discussion live via the link to Nature.In’s YouTube channel and comment any questions they have. Panelists have been asked to invite anyone they know that might be interested in viewing the panel online via the link to the Nature.In YouTube channel here: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCqNK8rZOlsj1UFpzT3pfuCQ
Pannel Aim: Discussing the most effective and impactful adaptations of the events and experiences that have already been conducted as a part of the Nature.In venture to re-connect people to nature in hospitality venues. Additionally, discussing new ideas and approaches of how to innovatively and dynamically introduce nature into hospitality venues, to target the senses and develop a personal connection to nature for each customer.
Prompts for the Panel: The panel will consist of working its way through the three main topics, these being the events and actions conducted so far as a part of Nature.In; followed by a final section of added thoughts of new ways in which to effectively bring nature into hospitality venues. The questions below are simply a guide for the discussion and we will spend as long or as short on each topic depending on the amount of feedback from the panellists.
Chelsea Collage of Arts Herb Event • The outcome of 2.5% improvement to people’s connection and 85% of participants stated that they would actively visit a hospitality venue if it was offering a natural event or experience are very promising. o How can we build on this? How can we make future iterations of similar events more dynamic and engaging? o How could it be ensured that interactions to nature were elongated, to improve the increase in connection to nature, as the shortness of the interaction was the most prominent feedback for a poor improvement in connection to nature?  For instance, having herbs on tables as table decorations? Or through the transference of knowledge through providing plants names or species typed? • Utilising of inclusion of nature in self scale (Schultz, 2002: Kleespies et al., 2021) to measure changes in connection was useful in it being a simple and short way of measuring connection, allowing for a multitude of respondents. o But, what other ways be utilised to better measure changes in connection to nature in a similar context? o Could there be a way to measure connection that doesn’t rely on self report activity? • How could other aspects of nature, not solely plants, be introduced into similar events to develop a connection to the natural world?
Online Sharing Group • This is currently being run via a Facebook group page to target the existing users of the site as a customer base. o Is there a more effective platform to utilise? o Are there more effective ways to grow the page and reach out rather than just posting it in various places? • The page is accompanied by an instagram page which is steadily growing its following. o Is this possibly a better space to collate peoples views on different applications of nature? • Are there any other ways to get discussions going online that can reach a large number of people to develop rich data into people’s views around applications of nature in hospitality spaces, that I have possibly overlooked?
Utilising technology to connect people to nature • Do you feel that technology can be utilised to aid the connection to nature rather than hindering it, as many feel we need to step away from modern technology to feel the benefits of nature? • I am looking at utilising projectors to display natural images around the canteen space of Chelsea Collage of Arts, as well as utilising diffusers to add the accompanying natural scent and speakers to add sound. For instance, creating a woodland experience involving moving woodland images, with diffusers projecting smells of pine and sounds of moving trees and birds. Or, if the food offering is Italian for instance, projecting images of tuscan hills, with the accompanying sounds and smells. o Do you feel there are any ways to improve this idea? • Do you have any other ideas of how to utilise technology to connect people to nature in hospitality spaces? o For instance, utilising existing technology that most hospitality spaces have? • I have considered how to utilise personal technology devices such as sports watches to measure heart rate changes in connection to nature, but this would involve a controlled group of participants taking part in a hospitality space. o Do you now of any other ways to do similar that overcomes this issue?
Thoughts for future ways to connect people to nature in hospitality venues • Any innovative, dynamic and engaging ideas or thoughts you may have to connect people to nature in meaningful ways within hospitality spaces.
Stream yard link: Below is the link to access the stream at 1pm UK time on Thursday the 26th August. https://streamyard.com/s3cxm6vq3v
Reflection:
I am intrigued to see how this discussion will flow and how in-depth and critical feedback from the experts will be, as this panel has a slightly different aim from my first panel. The first panel was more about outlining what the possibilities for change in the target area could be. However, this second panel aims to create change in connecting people to nature in hospitality spaces by directly collaborating with leading experts in the field to develop the most innovative adaptions of work I have already started, to create the most impact upon people’s connections to nature.
I have finalised all of the panellists for this discussion in securing 4 experts in biophilic and biomimetic designs. I have been very fortunate to recently secure Vanessa Champion for the panel who is the editor of the Journal of Biophilic design; which collates, articles, research, podcasts and videos around the latest in biophilia. Consequently, I am very excited to hear from her in the discussion as well as all of the other brilliant panellists. I will post an in-depth update on the panel and the prompts that will be utilised in my next blog post.
The Marylebone Hotel
I have recently followed up with Simon (Executive Head Chef at The Marylebone Hotel) to check in on whether there has been any progress on the ideas I proposed to him after our meeting a few weeks ago. Simon responded to inform me that the general manager of the hotel has been away on holiday over the past weeks and so my proposal will be reviewed over the coming week or so to look at hopefully hosting an event or experience in the hotel around September time. This is very promising for the future of my project and presents a very positive future and trajectory for where this work can be taken both in the near future but also past the point of the masters.
Chelsea College of Arts
I have also spoken with Dashnor at Chelsea College of Arts. I have been unable to host an iteration of my Herb Event at Chelsea in the form of another natural event or experience, due to summer holidays of staff and differing availabilities. This has been a slight change in my plans, as I would have liked to have another iteration of the herb event completed before the hand in for unit 2. However, I realise when working with external and large stakeholders it is something I have been unable to control. Therefore, I have now diverted my attention to other interventions I have developed over the independent study period such as my panel discussions with biophilic experts across the world and my online sharing group; which can be presented alongside my initial Herb Event.
Stakeholder Meeting – to discuss most effective ways to develop tehcnobiophillic events
I have contacted several experts to discuss how best to fuse the use of technology with creating natural events and experiences in hospitality spaces. All stakeholders have been briefed about the status of my project so far, the aims of my work and future goals for the venture. Although these meetings are designed to allow for collaboration with experts to help to develop the most effective technobiophilic event possible for the Chelsea canteen space; I have informed them that any other ideas around my project in how to connect people to nature in hospitality spaces are more than welcome to brought to the table and be discussed.
Experts collaborating with:
I have been speaking with Sue Thomas, who is a pioneer in the field of technobiophilia (see previous posts ‘technobiophilia; analysing her work). I am very excited to hear from Sue and work with her to develop engaging and innovative ways to bring nature together with technology. I am also interested to explore different ways to measure a change in people’s connection to nature utilising technology with her, as this is something she touches on in some of her written works. For instance, utilising sports watches to measure heart rates and changes in them dependant on connection to nature. Something similar could be very interesting to utilise in my work if possible.
I have also asked Kristina Libby if she would be interested in speaking further on technobiophilic events with me in a zoom meeting. This is due to her contributions in the first panel being centred around utilsing technology with nature; and her background in tech. She very kindly said she would love to work with me in developing these ideas further and so we have a meeting on Monday to discuss this.
Additionally, Hedi Lenaertz has also agreed to a meeting to develop ideas around technobiophilia events and experiences. Hedi is an experienced consultant, designer and keynote speaker on biophilic design. Therefore, her insight will be very useful on this topic. I have already been talking to Hedi via email to begin collaboration on ideas, and so I have very excited to speak further in a meeting.
Developing Scents for Technobiopilic Events
I am yet to hear back from any of the scent experts I contacted recently. However, it is still the summer holiday period for many and so hopefully I will receive a response soon. In the meantime, I will look to reach out to more scent experts in London to look to gain knowledge from them on utilising scents and possibly even work to create custom scents to utilise in my intervention events.
Timeline:
Meeting with Kristina Libby discussing technobiophilic events – 23rd August
Panel discussion – 26th August
Meeting with Hedi Lenaertz – discussing technobiophilic events – 31st August
Meeting with Sue Thomas – discussing technobiophilic events – 1st September
A potential event at The Marylebone Hotel – (around) 16th/17th September
Chelsea Canteen Intervention – (around) 22nd/ 23rd September
Reflection:
I feel that the plans and projections for my project into the future present a very promising future for this work. There is a clear scope and a market to introduce creating meaningful connections to nature in hospitality spaces through natural events, experiences and designs. I can’t wait to see how far this work can go and how many boundaries it can push.
At present I am further planning for my technobiophilic immersive natural event to run in September at the Chelsea Collage of Arts Canteen space. In this planning I am aiming to targeting customers senses to develop a truly immersive natural experience that accompanies the food offering of the venue.
During my recent tutorial, Jasminka suggested that to make the scents I utilise truly target customers sense of smell, I should contact scent experts. The experts can then pass on their knowledge around the effective use of scents and they may even be interested in collaborating to develop unique natural scents to utilise in the events.
Jasminka recommended a former CSM student, Maya Njie, as a scent expert and so I have since emailed her in the hope of getting to speak with her in a meeting to learn from her scent knowledge and potentially collaborate (see below).
I have also emailed scent experts around London that I have found through researching, as I didn’t want to put all my eggs in one basket as it were and hope Maya would be able to assist me.
Scent Exerts Contacted:
Lizzie Ostrom – Founder of Odette Toilette
https://www.odettetoilette.com
Emmanuelle Moeglin – Founder of Experimental Perfume Club
Fran Brown – Fragrance Consultant at Urban Apothecary
https://urbanapothecarylondon.com
Betty and Michael Hawksley – Founders of Les Senteurs
https://www.lessenteurs.com/pages/history
Reflection:
I feel gaining expertise in the area of scent can really help to add depth to my intervention and hopefully engage and attract greater customers. I believe that scent is one of the lesser targeted senses when it comes to natural design, but when interacting with physical plants it is one of the most intriguing and delightful aspects. Therefore, I hope the unique nature of this offering to re-connect with the natural world may prove successful.
I am currently in the process of arranging my next panel discussion to review the progress of my interventions and discuss the most effective and innovative adaptations of these interventions possible. I will utilise this opportunity to create a form of expert sounding board of ideas in the hope that this method can validate my research as well as helping it to push past the predictable.
I have reached out to everyone previously involved in my plane discussion. These individuals being biophilic and biomimetic design experts including: Kristina Libby (biophilic expert), Leonardo Binetti (biomimetic expert), Williem van Bolderen (biophilic expert) and Rajalakshmi Iyer (biophilic expert). I also asked these experts if they knew of anyone else who would be suitable for the discussion and if so to ask them to get in touch! (see below email).
I am also reaching out to experts that hadn’t taken part in the previous panel to try to create new angles of discussion and varying dynamics. This outreach has been largely conducted through messaging people on LinkedIn who have suitable roles in their profession fo ruth discussion (see list below).
The discussion will take place on the same platform as the previous panel, this being StreamYard, as this worked well. The recording of the discussion will also be uploaded to the Nature.In YouTube channel just as done previously. The discussion will run via a series of prompts yet again, however this time they will be images and questions centred around the results of my interventions, both those conducted at the Chelseas Collage of Arts, such as the Herb Event, as well as my online sharing group. This method of prompts for progression throughout the discussion also helped for seamless transitions between topics in the last panel whilst still allowing everyone to input as much a they desired on each topic; thus it is being employed once again.
For this panel there will again be the opportunity for a live audience to ask questions throughout the discussion, as it will be being live streamed on YouTube and so people will be able to comment on the YouTube video any questions they have, which the experts and myself will be able to discuss. I will spend greater attention to attract a live audience for this panel and get confirmation that some people will be in attendance, as for the last panel a live audience was invited, but sadly no one showed up at the given time. I will also try to gather questions from customers via the online sharing group, which can be but to the experts in the discussion, if people are unable at attend the live event. This will hopefully create more stimulating conversations around the future of my interventions.
Feedback:
So far I have heard back from Rajalakshmi who is sadly unable to attend the panel discussion this time due to being busy with her own work commitments. I have also heard from Leonardo and Kristina who are keen to take part in the discussion once again. Additionally, both Rajalakshmi and Leonardo both commented that they were impressed with the progress I have made on my project so far, which was very encouraging.
Experts in Attendance of the Panel
Confirmed:
Leonardo Binetti – Biomimetics expert (took part in previous panel)
Kristina Libby- Biophilic Expert (took part in pervious panel)
Possible Attendants Awaiting to Confirm Their Availability:
Catie Ryan – Biophilic Expert from Terrapin Bright Green (Large Biophilic Design firm in New York)
Heidi Lenarts – Biophilic Expert focusing on nature based workplaces
Bill Browning – Head of Terrapin Bright Green (he recommended Catie as he is on jury service)
Bettina Bolten – Biophilic design consultant, she is interested but on holiday at the time of the panel
Rajalakshmi Iyer- Biophilic expert (took part in previous discussion), busy with work commitments
Contacted ButNo Responses Thus Far:
Amanda Sturgeon – Biophilic expert in regenerative design
Vincent Callebaut – Biomimetics expert
Tejal Patel – Hospitality professional
Louise Fawcett – Hospitality professional
Williem van Bolderen – biophilic expert (took part in previous discussion)
Reflection
I will continue to contact more experts over the coming days so that I can ensure I have a solid base of experts confirmed. I aim for at leats 4 experts to be in attendance again, just as there were last time. I will also start to promote the panel via the online sharing group, Nature. In instagram page, as well as on other relevant Facebook and LinkedIn pages I am a member of.
I am excited to run this second panel discussion, as I feel it will be a key opportunity to gain knowledge from experts in avenues I may not have considered to most effectively innovate and adapt my interventions.
I stumbled across the Selfridges Good Nature campaign by chance the other day and immediately felt their goals have a strong symbiosis with the aims of my project in connecting people to nature (less of the hospitality focus however).
The campaign is a part of Selfridges’ wider ‘project earth’ campaign which is Selfridges’ 5 year sustainability plan. Good Nature represents Selfridges move away from seasonal campaigns to demonstrates their focus upon reducing waste and encouraging their customers to embrace nature, throughout 2021. Good Nature instigates a return to nature through promoting different ways to enjoy the outdoors, one of these ways includes the garden centre exhibits I came across in the Selfridges store which hosts its range of ‘horti-coture’ fashion items and outdoor wear. The garden centre exhibits technical outdoor accessories and clothing, as well as collaborations with big brands such as North Face and Hunter.
After further research I discovered Good Nature began through a series of nature inspired images from artistic collaborators. This mood-board of images can be found on Selfridges website. The subsequent rest of the campaign includes online blog posts, guides to sustainable shopping, a podcast; as well as the physical ‘garden centre’ spaces I saw in the shop.
The podcast, named the Pleasure Series, aims to showcase ways of gaining the pleasures of nature. For instance, there is an episode on ‘the pleasure of gardening’ , ‘the pleasure of growth’ , ‘the pleasure of rituals’, ‘ the pleasure of sound’ and the list goes on. The podcast is intended to be listened to outdoors to provide a guiding force for experiencing nature by focusing upon encapsulating the healing powers and escapism that can be achieved from nature.
Good Nature ultimately showcases Selfridges’ suitability pledge, alongside the demand for an awareness and appreciation of nature by Selfridges client base; that has been heightened after the pandemic; which highlighted the importance of the outdoors in all of our lives.
My Action From The Discovery of Good Nature:
Due to resonating strongly with this campaign, I have since being trying to contact the people behind it to see if they would be interested in collaborating in any way. But, it has proven rather difficult to track down these individuals. I asked the people working in Selfridges at the time of my visit, but they weren’t sure who I should contact as they were only staff on the clothing counters. I have also rang Selfridges, but this was just a general number and they too were unsure who I should contact. So, I began a deep dive on the internet and discovered who styled the window display for the Good Nature campaign, Emily Outhwaite. I have emailed her and connected with her on LinkedIn in the hope that she will be able to point me in the direction towards the creators of Good Nature, or potentially even be able to directly help to see if any form of collaboration may be possible.
Reflection:
The seed packet given out by Selfridges as part of their Good Nature display inspired an idea. This being that possibly a similar intervention could be conducted by myself to provide seeds or a space where people could even grow their own piece of nature and progressively watch it grow. For instance, if there was the opportunity to plant your own seeds at a hospitality venue and it is as though you have left a part of you in that space and you can go back and watch it grow, develop and flourish. This could also inspire repeat customers to the spaces. This may work well in an informal cafe setting, but it would require upkeep form the venue owners to nurture the plants into growing. This is just a very preliminary idea at present, but I thought it to be an interesting train of thought.
Also in relation to the seed packets, they symbolise taking nature from the event further into the lives of the customers. This is something I have tried to include in my interventions so far with offering customers the opportunity to take herb cuttings home from my herb event, for instance. Re-connecting people to nature not only in the events themselves but further into their daily lives is something I will continue to try and achieve in later iterations of my interventions. The online sharing group I have recently developed also helps to benefit this strengthening of personal connection to nature beyond the scope of events. This is due to the group promoting not only good and bad applications of nature but also what spaces are displaying these aspects of nature, so that people can learn of more ways and places in which they can interact with nature.
Over the past week I have developed an online sharing group. This group aims to target customers of hospitality spaces and provide a space where they can post applications of nature that they like or dislike accompanied by short comments as to why they hold this opinion. This data can then be utilised to develop upon what people are liking, to create the most effective applications of nature to attract customers and get them engaged in nature.
Further advancements of the group, include developing a community whereby the group can be utilised to direct people to events which bring nature to people that I am developing as well as being a space to share other events and venues that are promoting natural design; so that people are able to get the knowledge of where to visit to build their connection to nature.
Facebook
The group has been created on Facebook, as this platform allows for members of the group to share their own images and add captions to it. This group also allows people to comment on the posts, which should help to spark conversation between members and begin the formation of a community.
I am the admin of the group and so I can approve people wanting to join. This process helps to ensure that everyone in the group is there for the right reasons.
I will attract people to the Facebook group by posting about in on the multitude of Facebook groups around natural design and also hospitality that I am a part of already (see below). I will also share about the group in the LinkedIn groups around these subject areas, that I am a member of to promote it further and get people engaged in it. Finally, I will share the group amongst my stakeholders that I have been in contact with the get them involved in the group. Once, people have joined the group they can share the link to their friends to join, I will just need to approve them and then they can get posting!
An example of a post can be seen in my first post below for inspiration for members.
Instagram
I am going to utilise the @nature.i.n instagram page to upload curated images from the Facebook group to showcase the best examples of natural design and events. I will also upload images of spaces and events that I come across so that it provides a specific and intriguing feed into the best places and events to go to experience nature (alongside those that I will be hosting myself).
I will also share this instagram page via the Facebook group and I will gain extra followers of similar such content by following accounts looking at nature, natural design or connecting with nature; as well as those accounts looking at hospitality and interacting with these accounts. I aim to grow a steady following on this account, so that in the future I can utilise this platform to promote the natural events and experiences I am running over the coming months. I will also post about these events in the Facebook groups and the community I nurture in this space will hopefully aid the success of my other ventures in the natural experiences and events, as the other part of my project.
Reflection
I am excited to see how this group can grow and evolve as it gathers members to create real change in how nature can be brought into spaces through utilising the direct feedback from customers of hospitality spaces. I am also intrigued to see how the group can form a space that directs people to applications of nature in spaces and encourages them to visit these spaces and absorb nature in anyway they can. This can also help to gain traction for attending natural events and experiences in hospitality spaces that can aid the entirety of my goal to re-connect people to nature in hospitality spaces. Even if people aren’t attending specifically just the natural events, experiences and designs that I am trialling, the group can help people to visit others promoting nature, which still aids their connection to nature.
Over the coming weeks I will continue to attract members to this group. I will also start to post some images in it myself to set an example of the types of things members might post. Additionally, I will begin too curate and add to the @nature.i.n instagram feed and direct people in the Facebook group to there.
I will unpack the following results gained from the 1st google forms which has collated data across both the Tuesday and the Wednesday of the event.
The data for rating connections to nature after interacting with herbs was only collated on the Wednesday and this is why there are only 22 respondents to those questions rather than 40. This was due to on the Tuesday I deemed the interactions with the herbs from people only passing through the cafe for a quick coffee etc to be too short to impact their connection to nature. So, I was relying on people completing the questions on the second google form once they were home to achieve an ‘after herbs’ result. This is because passersby of this sort were the main people I interacted with through the event, as they were the predominate customers of the cafe. However, after getting home on the Tuesday evening and reviewing the answers submitted in the 2nd google forms from the 19 people I had spoken to that day, only 1 had completed the form. Therefore, I realised on the Wednesday it was necessary to ask everyone the before and after questions then and there, in the hope of achieving some form of comparable data between before and after the herb interactions. Even up to this day only 3 people have given any answers on the 2nd google form, but only 1 has completed the majority of questions, the other two have only answered the first three questions!
The 1st Google Forms
The vast majority of participants in my event were females, although tis was predominately over the first day, with the Wednesday being more balanced between males and females. Across the 2 day event I managed to reached the majority of age ranges in some proportion, which I was happy with in gaining a sample of the public in relation to customers of hospitality spaces, as under 18s are less likely to visit hospitality spaces of their own accord.
Inclusion of Nature in Self Scale
Here we observe the top 3 most connected options (E, F, G) to hold 47.5% of the responses when asked at the start of the event. This almost being half of the participants, in this sample, means that the customers were already feeling fairly strongly connected to nature on the whole. The least connected option of A and B held the least amount of responses with only 7.5% of the vote.
When the question was asked again after taking part and engaging in the herb event, 50% of responses were the top 3 most connected options. This slight change (2.5%) in reported connectedness to nature suggests that there is strength in the event to impact connection to nature, which is very promising as it also had high engagement with 40 participants. To increase the rate of the change in connectedness, options such as lengthening the interaction with nature, creating more immersive interactions and transferring knowledge through the interaction may be beneficial. Consequently, these ideas will be interwoven into future iterations of the event.
However, I must be aware that the change in connection observed here between the two sections may partly reflect bias in answers from participants that think I want their answers to go up between asking the question before and after. Therefore, they may have reported a higher score after the event, even though I did assure participants I wanted truly honest answering throughout and there was no judgment in any answers given.
Rating Connection to Nature 1-10
Overall, the responses to the rankings of connectedness mimic that of the answers given to the inclusion of nature in self scale. The majority of answers are 7-10 on the scale and there is a slight increase in the scores given after the event. Subsequently, I feel that asking participants to rank their connection 1-10 may not be necessary next time, when also using the inclusion of nature in self scale. I only included this answer to gain greater detail into peoples connection by giving it a numerical value, but I realise the answers are rather similar to that of the scale and I feel that the scale is more accurate in targeting the relationship to nature I am trying to assess.
Rating Concern for Nature 1-10
The results for this question are skewed very much towards the higher end of the scale, with no responses for 1-4 on either the before or after questioning. This suggests concern for nature to be something rooted very highly amongst customers of this space. Therefore, concern for nature itself could be something worked into further interventions. For instance, creating sustainable events, or providing people with information of easy ways that they can assist nature; even helping them to assist nature through taking part in an intervention, however that may be achieved. This is something I will look into developing into future interventions.
With all of these answers scoring so highly, I am aware that there could be social biases taking rule here whereby there is so much coverage in modern news around the worries for the planet and nature and how much we should all care for it, that this may have been reflected in the answers of participants. People may feel that they should be concerned for nature even if they aren’t, which may have created some dishonest answering.
Rating Motivations to Help Nature 1-10
There is slightly more variation in answering here than with the concern question, suggesting that although people are worried for nature, they may not feel they can or want to act in its best interests. This could be interesting to try and create interventions that do actively aid nature, but that are also very easy for customers to get involved in, for instance having herbs as table decorations or edible flowers, which people can pick, eat and learn about . This could then make people want to grow, use and interact with these parts of nature once again; thus aiding nature. However, the answers were again predominately high scoring, suggesting that the majority of customers do feel strongly to act for nature and so this can be a clear way to attract people to events and experiences, that are in the interest of nature.
Just as with the concern answers, motivation also scored highly across everyone, suggesting again people may have answered this way because they feel they should. Of Course, there is the other side of the argument that suggests maybe everyone is very concerned for nature with the effects of climate change becoming evermore present on the planet and so it could be their honest answering.
The majority of interactions over the entirety of the event were rather short, as hardly anyone actually sat and ate at the cafe, most just passed through for a quick coffee. Therefore, it was hard to make a big impact on people’s connection to nature. So, in the next iterations of the event I aim to make the interaction with nature more impactful through being slightly longer where possible.
The 2nd Google Forms
Sadly, there is very little knowledge to be gained from the 2nd google forms, which asked additional questions for feedback about the event, as well as repeating the 4 questions above but asking them about after having taken cuttings of the herbs home, if there had been any impact to connection to nature. Only 3 out of the 40 participants who were all given the QR code to the forms have completed any answering, but no one has fully completed it and so there is little to evaluate from this forms. The only clear take away is this people are very unlikely to complete forms in their own time through this methodology, and so gaining responses then and there is vastly a better option.
If anymore responses are posted on the 2nd google forms over the coming days I will be sure to do an analysis of the findings.
Take Aways:
Having studied the results from the google forms and the feedback I recorded during the event, I have established the following parameters need to be incorporated into future iterations. There was a strong uptake in the event and a small change in connection (2.5%) despite interaction with the event begging short for most participants, which shows promise in the event and means that it can definitely be built upon to create even greater change in strength of connection to nature, see below ways for how to consider doing this:
The interaction with the natural elements needs to be longer to evoke a change in people’s connection to nature. Making events more immersive, or transferring knowledge may also be tested out to achieve this goal.
85% of 40 people asked said that they would be attracted to a venue specifically if it was offering an experience with nature. The others would said that they wouldn’t be strictly attracted to visit the space, but many said they would still enjoy the natural elements once there but it wouldn’t draw them to the venue on their own. Suggesting there is a big market for natural events, experiences and designs.
Needs to collate guaranteed before and after answers to the questions surrounding connection, as people rarely fill in forms after the event.
Utilise inclusion of Nature in Self Scale as predominate measure, ask to rate concern and motivations to act for nature 1-10 if possible, but not as essential.
The questions asked around connection need to be kept short to ensure engagement remains high.
The event needs to bring nature to the people, as they feel far removed from it in the city.
Create events to aid people’s concern for nature, which will also attract these people to the events. For instance, sustainable events, or providing people with information of easy ways that they can assist nature, or assisting nature through taking part in the event itself
To get people motivated to act in the interest of nature create interventions that do actively aid nature, but that are also very easy for customers to get involved in. These events can then also attract those already motivated to help nature, as they will be aiding it even further.
The biggest breakthrough here is demonstrating that events like this can improve people’s connection to nature, even in a small way.
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.
OverallReflection 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.
