(U1/2/3) Research Techniques/ Obtaining New Knowledge – Page 4

19th July 2021

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).

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):

Which picture best describes you relationship with the natural environment? How interconnected are you with nature?

How do you rate your current connection to nature? On a scale 1-10 (1 being little connection)
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)
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):

(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).
(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).
(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).
How has interacting with the herbs during the herb event impacted you connection to nature?
Was it the physical presence of the herbs at the event that you enjoyed or specifically your interaction with them? and why?
Would you be attracted to visit a hospitality space if they were hosting events to incorporate nature and why?
What would you like to see from hospitality spaces to bring you closer to nature whilst visiting them?
Do you feel hospitality spaces make a conscious effort to bring nature to their customers? what examples do you like or dislike of this?
What attracts you to nature or spaces including nature and why? eg: planting for their health benefits, or natural colours as they are exhilarating
Which senses are most important to you to emulate an experience with nature, eg: smells, sounds, visuals, touch or tastes? Please give examples
Are you keen to strengthen your relationship to nature? and why?
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.

15th July 202115th July 2021

Visit to Tate Britain – Immersive Exhibits

I was due to visit Tate Britain to primarily see the Heather Philipson Rupture No1 exhibit on the 2nd July. However, due to some unforeseen circumstances I was unable to visit on that date. Subsequently, I instead visited the exhibition last Friday (9th July) and found the experience both intriguing and inspiring.

Heather Philipson – Rupture No1

Experiencing Philipson’s work was incredibly insightful as to how immersive events can be run. I will now unpack which aspects of the exhibit resonated with me the most and how they made be reflect upon how my own interventions may be run.

Reflection:

I found the use of the speakers becoming part of the exhibit itself rather than hiding them in a corner very intelligent; and something I may look to do when utilising a number of speakers in one space. I also loved the striking use of colour in the exhibit which made me consider the angle of changing the colour of light bulbs in spaces to create a more immersive experience, rather than simply projecting natural images onto the available wall space. The combination of static elements alongside sounds, colours and projections made me consider that I should certainty try to encompass static elements into my technology intervention such as plants or design features, where possible. All of these elements were really working in unison to create the experience and so I will look to developing a similar feeling in my work, not simply through utilising either technology with visuals sound and smells or physical deign features, I will also ensure to try and test both together.

Philipson also utilises projection onto walls and canvases as I am envisaging to do so in my intervention to utilise technology to create an immersive natural experience. The final two images display these moving projections utilised in the exhibit. It was interesting to see physically how it worked in the space, but also how people interacted with it. I observed individuals stood watching the changing projecting for a few moments rather than simply walking through some of the more static elements of the exhibit. This showed promise of the success of projecting moving natural images into hospitality spaces, as hopefully it will engage customers as the projections in Philipson’s exhibit were doing.

Djanogly Cafe

Whilst at the Tate, I explored their hospitality offering in their cafe. The cafe offers a reasonably large space that was basically empty on my visit. Therefore, there is scope to attract people from the exhibits and into this space by connecting them to nature. Especially considering the equipment being utilised in Philipson’s Rapture No1, there could possibly be an opportunity to utilise some similar technology that the Tate already has, in the cafe spaces, to create an immersive natural experience around their food and drink offering.

I enquired with the staff working about the possibility of running an intervention in the space for my project, but they informed me that the relevant staff member to talk to wasn’t there and they didn’t have their contact details to give out. So, I have since rang and emailed to enquired about interventions in this space and I am still awaiting a response.

Cooking Sections Salmon: A Red Herring

Additionally, whilst at the Tate, I stumbled upon the Cooking Sections Salmon: A Red Herring exhibit. This showcases the impact of human actions upon different animals, for instance people demanding the perfect pink shade in their salmon. This exhibit very cleverly utilised a completely white scene and projected differing lights onto the relevant sections as the narration went on.

Reflection:

I thought the idea of a blank canvas and utilising light to bring it to life and change it could be very useful in my own project. For example, in situations where it may not be suitable to bring in new apparatus of differing colours to a space, I could utilise lights differently to change the emotions and feeling of the space through colour by light.

Reflection:

Overall, my trip to the Tate was very worthwhile in providing inspiration as to the execution of my interventions. The visit excited me to get underway with my testing of such ideas, seeking to see if technology can be utilised to connect people with nature.

1st July 202127th August 2021

Immersive Art Exhibits With Hospitality Facilities

I have researched and comprised a list of immersive art installations and experiences which also host hospitality settings serving food and drinks. I am looking to contact these venues to ask if it would be possible to test my ideas and concepts in their spaces. Additionally, I am looking to visit some of these spaces over the coming days to gain inspiration for my ideas as well a knowledge into the practicalities of how immersive events are being run in these instances.

‘Terra Nexus’

25 artists coming together to create a maze of immersive micro-installations on the South Bank, all about ecology.
immersive art with a message, so you can lose yourself and better yourself at the same time
Unfortunately, this event stopped running on the 30th June.
But I am still going to contact the organisers to ask about collaborating on further events they may be involved in alongside how they felt the event went and if there was anything they would change for future events, so I can aim to learn from their experiences.

(Art Rabbit, 2021) and (Proposition Studios, 2021)

'Colony Collapse Disorder' by Food of War

Yayoi Kusama

Arguably the most famous immersive art experience in London at the moment is Yayoi Kusama’s Infinity Mirror Rooms.
Sadly, tickets are currently sold out and so I am unable to visit this exhibition.
However, it is being hosted at the Tate Modern which also homes the River Terrace serving food and drink and so I will contact them to enquire about testing in their spaces.

(Tate Britain, 2021)

Yayoi Kusama Chandelier of Grief 2016/2018 Tate Presented by a private collector, New York 2019 © YAYOI KUSAMA

Heather Phillipson

Hosted in Tate Britain’s enormous Duveen Galleries with a huge, free installation where viewers can meet mutant creatures and abandoned chunks of rotting technology, accompanied by enticing lighting schemes.
Rupture No 1: Blowtorching the Bitten Peach’ is at Tate Britain until January 23rd 2022.
The technology utilised in this immersive experience coupled with Tate Britain’s Djanogly cafe facilities could help to host a type of natural immersive eating experience strengthening people’s connection to nature.
Tate Britain does usually host a restaurant as well as this cafe, but that is closed at present. Looking to the future, if this restaurant reopens I will certainly contact them with regards to testing my project ideas.
Therefore, I plan on visiting this exhibition and talking to the organisers to see if there could be an opportunity to test my ideas in any capacity to utilise these facilities.

(Tate, 2021)

Tate Britain Commission: Heather Phillipson: Rupture No.1: blowtorching the bitten peach © Tate photography (Oliver Cowling)

Ryoji Ikeda

Ryoji Ikeda’s biggest ever European show sends viewers through room after room of stunning light and sound installations.
The instillation is at 180 The Strand until the 1st August 2021
I will contact The Strand to discover more about their hospitality facilities to see if it would be possible to test my ideas there, as there is little mention of food and drink facilities on their website.

(180 The Strand, 2021)

Ryoji Ikeda_180 Strand_Test Pattern_16.jpg

Van Gogh

The immersive experience of Van Gogh’s work is being held at 106 Commercial Street in a 19th century stable building, opposite Old Spitalfields Market
The exhibition features two storey projections in 360 degrees, with virtual reality sparking real interaction
It is run by Fever and Exhibition Hub, which I will contact looking to collaborate in testing my ideas with similar technologies they have utilised here but naturally on a smaller scale to begin with.
From what I can tell the exhibition doesn’t host an hospitality facilities, but the technology utilised to create the event could be incredibly beneficial in how to approach hosting a similar experience for my project

(Van Gogh Expo, 2021)

Van Gogh Exhibition: The Immersive Experience - London

Camden Art Centre

This art centre presents a slightly smaller venue which it may be more possible to test in
There are strong community ties and an ethos of connecting to everyone’s creativity, which offer a potentially strong engagement in my work
The centre hosts a cafe alongside a garden space, which would serve as a brilliant premises for testing immersive natural instillations around the food, and so I am going to get in contact with the centre to explore any testing opportunities there

(Camden Art Centre, 2021)

Sadly, many of the smaller galleries I have found with immersive exhibitions don’t host hospitality spaces which presents an issue as the don’t fit my criteria needed for a testing environment. This applies to spaces such as: Work Gallery, October Gallery, Free Space Gallery and many more.

Reflection

I will continue to research further immersive experiences across London, especially those which also host hospitality facilities. I aim to visit Tate Britain tomorrow to view the Heather Phillipson exhibit and I will post an update on my visit on my blog afterwards. Whilst I acknowledge it may be difficult to test my concepts with such large institutions as the Tate, I do feel contacting them is beneficial to gaining greater knowledge and inspiration into the practicalities of creating immersive events; and may even lead to contacts which will allow me to test. I feel that targeting the hospitality settings in these large institutions should provide a little leeway into being able to test in the spaces, rather than direclty asking to utilise their exhibition spaces. Targeting the cafes in this way may also be beneficial to them as it may attract greater customers to the spaces who would otherwise have stuck to only visiting the exhibitions. In a way, testing my concepts in the cafe turns the cafe into an exhibition and experience in itself.

I am very excited to explore this avenue further in my project, as I feel such immersive experiences are gaining a lot of traction in their own right around London at the moment. Therefore, combining my quest to connect people to nature with an immersive experience encapsulating the senses and evoking the benefits of biophilic environments could create vastly effective change and engage a multitude of people. Consequently, I am very hopeful exploration into this area may provide some fruitful insights and findings. Even if it does result that utilising technology is not the most effective way to connect people with nature, I am hopeful this avenue will at the very least help to engage venues and customers that may have otherwise been disinterested in a project looking to bring nature into spaces in a more traditional and physical sense.

I feel that supper clubs and further restaurant pop-ups will also be good spaces to host these technological tests to connect to nature and os they may be perfect venues, interested in such an immersive art and nature fusion of experience. Therefore, I will also look to contact supper clubs and more pop-up restaurants in the future.

Bibliography

Art Rabbit (2021) “Terra Nexus” Art Rabbit [Online] https://www.artrabbit.com/events/terra-nexus-proposition-studios Accessed 01/07/21

Camden Art Centre (2021) “Welcome” Camden Art Centre [Online] https://camdenartcentre.org Accessed 01/07/21

HackneyWicked

Proposition Studios (2021) “Terra Nexus” Proposition Studios [Online] https://www.propositionstudios.com/terra-nexus Accessed 01/07/21

Van Gogh Expo (2021) “Van Gogh the Immersive Experience” Van Gogh [Online] https://vangoghexpo.com/london/?utm_content=van-gogh-exhibition-london&utm_source=secretldn&utm_medium=post&utm_term=cta3 Accessed 01/07/21

Tate Britain (2021) “Tate Britain Commission, Heather Phillipson, Rupture No 1: Blowtorching the Bitten Peach” Tate Britain [Online] https://www.tate.org.uk/whats-on/tate-britain/exhibition/heather-phillipson Accessed 01/07/21

Tate (2021) “Yayoi Kusama: Infinity Mirror Rooms” Tate [Online] https://www.tate.org.uk/whats-on/tate-modern/exhibition/yayoi-kusama-infinity-mirror-rooms Accessed 01/07/21

180 The Strand (2021) “Exhibitions: Ryoji Ikeda” The Strand [Online] https://www.180thestrand.com Accessed 01/07/21

30th June 20211st July 2021

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.

30th June 202130th June 2021

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.

16th June 202129th June 2021

Technobiophilia

Technobiophilia: nature and cyberspace, By Sue Thomas

Thomas coined the term technobiophilia, founded in her discovery that the utilisation of nature metaphors in internet culture was the result of biophilia (Thomas, 2013).

Technobiophilia – the innate attraction to life and lifelike processes as they appear in technology (Thomas, 2013).

Even through the crowds of technology facing the modern world, we are still drawn to nature and incorporating nature in the technological innovations in our lives. We even term technological developments after accepts of nature, such as storing data ‘in the cloud’ or your computer ‘getting a bug’ (Barreiros et al., 2018).

In the book Thomas (2013) states that technobiophilia practises and artefacts contribute to wellbeing via a tech-nature balance (Thomas, 2013). However, looking to critically analyse this finding, I wonder if utilising technology to connect with nature could produce the same benefits or even increased benefits, than incorporating natural design through standard Biophilic design such as planting, colour, textures, sounds etc. In summary, if we incorporate nature in technology, do we get the same wellbeing benefits from interacting with nature in this way or are the benefits slightly lowered or even heightened?

Relating This New Knowledge Into My Project

If technology does provide similar levels of benefits as more traditional or standard biophilic schemes, there is a large potential to utilise technology in my project. Technology could be utilised to develop a method of implementing nature into hospitality spaces in a fully immersive and easily changeable manner. For instance, natural scenes accompanied by their soundscapes and scents could be shown in restaurants instead of standard art work. Of course there is the cost element of this application to consider, as the technology needed may be expensive. However, if done on a rental basis of the technology in a trail to prove its efficacy and then if the concept proves value, an investment could be made by businesses into the needed technology.

This link of utilising technology in my project directly relates to key discussions had in my panel discussion with the biophilic experts. It was raised that technology is currently overlooked a lot in biophilic design, with designers falling into the trap of thinking that technology and nature need to be kept separate. Additionally, in the panel the vast importance of creating dynamic and changing spaces has on the success of continuously attracting customers to spaces, as many shames require refurbishment after a few years in order to modernise and keep customers engaged. Technology if successfully utilised in the way I am envisaging could create changeable, dynamic and evolving spaces that fully immerses customers in nature and consequently improving their wellbeing by re-connecting them with nature. Creating such spaces not only addresses the key points raised in my expert discussion, but also the needs of the hospitality professionals I have spoken to throughout the course of my project so far. I have learnt that hospitality spaces are generally receptive to including nature in their spaces, but they cannot afford large scale refurbishments nor can the afford to be closed for the time these refurbishments need to take place. Therefore, utilising technology which can be easily implemented into existing spaces or even utilise some of the existing technology they already have, such as speakers, could help to create an immersive natural experience in the space without obstructing the business and instead attract greater customers in.

Delving deeper in Thomas’s work around technobiopilia, it becomes apparent that she focuses on how technology could be utilised to enhance our experiences of nature or how nature can be brought more into our lives by technology via mobile tech such as smart phones, apps or wearables (Thomas, 2020). She wishes to develop a way of measuring the benefits to wellbeing that living a technobiophilic lifestyle can have. For example, an app or wearable tech that can measure heart rate changes based on different environments people are in (Thomas, 2020). Suggesting, my idea of developing immersive natural spaces may be a new and unusual take on her concept.

Reflections – the breakthrough moment

I feel that delving deeper into technobiophilia and looking at how to utilise technology in a beneficial way to connect people with nature has really been a breakthrough moment in my work. I believe trying to tackle re-connecting people to nature from this angle is so exciting and currently I can’t find it being done like this in any hospitality spaces which is such a groundbreaking thing for me. So far I have mainly been looking at new ways to combine design ideas that are partially out in the general field of biophilic design; but, this avenue feels new and even slightly liberating!

Next Steps:

I am looking to get in contact with Sue them stop discuss these concepts further over the coming week. I believe she was actually invited into class as a part of the guest speaker project so hopefully she will also be willing to assist in my work.

My big task over the coming weeks is to secure venues to begin testing my concepts in. I have a possible contact of a hospitality manager in Edinburgh, who seems keen but is yet to confirm if this keenness is more a reflection of their kindness. I also have contacts I have built through LinkedIn and Facebook groups that are hospitality managers, who I am reaching out to work with. However, last night I actually met a hospitality manager for the restaurant JOY at Notting Hill who seemed very interested in my work. I have been in contact with him today and I am hopeful something may come of that connection.

Bibliography

Barreiros, C., Veas, E. and Pammer, V., (2018) “Bringing nature into our lives.” In International Conference on Human-Computer Interaction (pp. 99-109). Springer, Cham.

Thomas, S., 2013. Technobiophilia: Nature and cyberspace. A&C Black.

Thomas, S. (2020) “Technobiophilic Design Challenges for Developers” https://suethomasnet.wordpress.com/whatistechnobiophilia/designchallenges/

22nd May 202126th August 2021

Arranging Panel Discussion and Reading ‘Design a Healthy Home’

Panel Discussion

Over the course of this past week, I have been busy organising my online panel discussion.

The panel aims to bring hospitality businesses together with biophilic and biomimetic experts to establish the most effective, innovative and manageable applications of nature that could be introduced into hospitality spaces to re-connect people with nature.
My project is looking to develop small scale applications of nature that can make an effective and impactful difference in the hospitality spaces, but that do not require full scale schemes and refurbishments of businesses; due to the time and monetary pressures large scale applications pose.

Consequently, the key question for discussion in the panel is:
How can nature be applied in hospitality businesses that serve food and drink to re-connect people with the natural world?

There will be a series of prompts, which will guide the discussion but the discussion will be predominately free forming.

Guideline of the prompts:

What aspect of nature do you think may be most impactful in hospitality businesses eg: light, sound, colour, planting? And how might effective introductions of these aspects look?
How may biophilic or biomimetic deigns be utilised to create impactful, smaller scale applications into hospitality businesses that serve food and drink?
What aspects of the hospitality businesses that serve food and drink may benefit most from applications of nature? Eg: seating/ furniture
How do you think these applications nature could be utilised to measure a connecting to nature, are measures such as the Nature Relatedness Scale, Inclusion of Nature with Self, and Emotional Affinity to Nature enough?

At present the confirmed speakers are as follows, with a few speakers in the hospitality industry still to finalise:

Kristina Libby – Biophilic Design
Leonardo Binetti – Biomimetic Design
Rajalakshmi Iyer – Biophilic Design
Simon Gardner – Hospitality Business General Manager

The panel is to take place on the 4th June 2021 at 1pm 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. The panel discussion will also be recorded and later uploaded to Nature. In Youtube channel so that it can be reattached at later stages.

I am still in the process to quirking extra representatives of the hospitality industry to take part in the discussion.

Design a Healthy Home

Additionally, over the past week I have started reading ‘Design a Healthy Home’ by Oliver Heath. This book is incredibly insightful into different aspects of applications of biophilic design that can be utilised in the home. So far I have been reading about the use of colour in Biophilic design and how colour can be utilised to replicate different moods and emotions conveyed in nature. Some of they key points and favourite pages are shown below, but I will continue to read through the chapters of this book and make detailed note some the coming weeks.

Heath, O. (2021) Design a Healthy Home, Penguin Random House, London.

12th May 202117th May 2021

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.

7th May 20218th May 2021

Defining Which Sector of Hospitality to Focus Upon

Throughout the evolution of my enquiry the term hospitality has developed within my research question. However, I have been advised to focus in on a more precise area of the field or a unifying term that describes the range of spaces I wish to address.

Hospitality spaces are being utilised as the focus for my project, as they are currently overlooked in biophilic design schemes and research. There is a growing volume of work looking to apply biophilic design in workspaces, healthcare spaces, hotel accommodation and even homes. However, hospitality spaces are largely left out. Hospitality has also been hit very hard by pandemic restrictions in the UK and I have a vested interest in the hospitality industry having worked a number of jobs in the sector and enjoy discovering new hospitality spaces in my free time; which drives my passions for this project.

Scalability:

Additionally, focusing on hospitality spaces is a way to make the aims of my project achievable in the scale of my masters project. Therefore, if my work is successful it could be scaled up to other sectors of the hospitality industry. When looking to ‘dream big’ into the future, if successful my work may even be scaled up to vastly larger schemes such as the ‘BiodiverCity’ in the Penang Islands, Malaysia that is currently being developed by BIG; the architectural firm ran by Bjarke Ingles (who I examined in my box of uncertainties project) (GQ, 2021). The BiodiverCity is pioneering in creating a sustainable global destination, connected by autonomous transport, transforming the mudflats of Penang into a greater future for Malaysia (DeZeen, 2020). My work in hospitality spaces could be incorporated into the hospitality spaces in a city scheme similar to this, to help achieve incredible large scale connections to nature.

What Is Hospitality?

Due to the ambiguity surrounding the term hospitality, I aim to eventually remove the term in my research question altogether to one more specific to an area of hospitality. Changing the term hospitality aims to narrowing the focus of my research further and making it truly achievable in the time scale. Consequently, the work below explains my process of working towards narrowing my research field in relation to the term ‘hospitality’.

When exploring the topic of hospitality further, I discovered hospitality and the hospitality industry to host two distinct definitions:

Hospitality:

A contemporaneous human exchange, which is voluntarily entered into, and designed to enhance the mutual wellbeing of the parties concerned through the provision of accommodation, and/or food, and/or drink (Brotherton, 1999).

The friendly and generous reception and entertainment of guests, visitors or strangers (Oxford, 2021).

Essentially hospitality involves voluntarily entertaining people and hospitality spaces include any space that is utilised to entertain people.

Hospitality Industry:

The hospitality industry is comprised of commercial organisations that specialise in providing accommodation and/or, food, and/or drink, through a voluntary human exchange, which is contemporaneous in nature, and undertaken to enhance the mutual well being of the parties involved (Brotherton and Wood, 2000).

So, the hospital industry essential monetises the service of hospitality. Therefore, the hospitality industry more accurately represents the spaces I wish to target in my project. the hospitality industry includes businesses which can implement applications of nature, that allow a connection to nature to be fostered by numerous individuals who frequent those spaces.

Hospitality Vs Entertaining

Hospitality – involves meeting needs (Lugosi, 2008)

Entertaining – involves giving pleasure (Tefler, 2000)

I discovered that this slight difference between the entertaining and hospitality is a nuanced concept (Tefler, 2000), but may be useful in distinguishing between the precise outcome of the experience in the space that I am trying to achieve.

Brainstorming around why hospitality spaces are utilised:

largely informal spaces
social interactive spaces
business meetings
work drinks
meeting friends/family
personal time – enjoying entertainment/ food or drink
networking
social media work – gathering content for posts or ad work promoting spaces
necessity, in need of food or drink

Different Sectors Of The Hospitality Industry – Which To Focus Upon?

Working from the definitions of the hospitality industry, there is a clear split of 2 key sectors within the hospitality industry, those that look to provide accommodation and those that provide food and drink. Subsequently, I explored biophilic design application in these different settings.

Hotels/ Accommodation Spaces

Hotels are one of the most widely utilised hospitality spaces in Biophilic deigns schemes, specifically in relation to their accommodation spaces (The Resident, 2019). They are seen most frequently with pioneering designs and huge comprehensive schemes re-energisning the spaces. For instance, in Singapore the Park Royal collection hotel at Marina Bay (Panpacific, 2021). Therefore, hotels having large comprehensive schemes require a large budget from the hotel and scale of consultancy operation to conduct the work. Both of which are out of the scale for my MA project. Additionally, due to these spaces already having a biophilic focus, my work will arguably have a lesser effect in these arenas. However, a way in which my work could have a small impact in hotel spaces would be to target struggling hotels with minimal budgets to build connections to nature in these spaces that cannot employ the big schemes. However, it is arguable the profound nature that this change would have, due to the amount of attention hotels are receiving, it will only be a matter of time before the large scale adaptations trickle down into the smaller hotels.

Pubs/ Bars – Restaurants – Pop-ups/ Events

Pubs/bars, restaurants and events spaces have very minimal focus at present in applying biophilic design. When biophilic design is applied in such areas it predominately includes simply adding a few plants into the space, making little impact. At present there are very few companies looking to employ biophilic deign specifically into events, but one company at the forefront of this venture into biophilic events is ‘Planted’. Planted Cities aims to run zero waste, biophilic events and is the first of its kind (Planted, 2021). Protype events for which was held last September and the first real event to hopefully take place in September 2021 at Kings Cross, which I have already signed up to attend. I have also reached out to contact Planted in the hopes of working with them in some capacity to achieve the goals of my project. Therefore, there is huge scope for addressing the spaces of pubs/bars, restaurants and pop-ups/ events with applications of nature. So, what do all of these spaces have in common? They serve food and drinks.

Reflection:

My project will not be focusing upon hotels, so I needed to find a term that encompasses spaces that involve the hospitality industry, entertaining, excludes hotel accommodation and serves food and drinks. The term needs to unify the spaces that I do wish to focus upon, being pubs/bars, restaurants, pop-ups and events. Consequently, my field for enquiry in my question became “commercial entertaining spaces which serve food and drink”. The term aimed to target the business element of the hostility industry, focusing upon the aim of pleasure from entertaining and removing ambiguity as to what constitutes hospitality; whilst specifying that the spaces sell food and drink.

However, I will continue my stakeholder engagement further to attempt to narrow in even further within the subsection of commercial entertaining spaces, which can be scaled to up include other fields of hospitality if successful.

Stakeholder Feedback/ Realisation:

When talking with stakeholders, both in hospitality businesses and biophilic experts, I began utilising the term ‘commercial entertaining spaces that serve food and drink’. However, when utilising this term multiple stakeholders needed greater clarification of which spaces I was in fact referring to. From these conversations I realised that the term ‘commercial entertaining spaces that serve and food and drink’ wasn’t actually effective in engaging with my stakeholders. Although the term does accurately represent the area I am aiming to target according to academic studies, it isn’t easily understandable from a public perspective, you have to be an expect in defining hospitality and what determines hospitality vs entertainment to understand the area I am targeting. Consequently, it was ineffective and required changing.

Decision – Working Phrase For The Area Of Hospitality

Therefore, I stepped back and looked again into a term that could be easily understood and accurately represented the field I am aiming to target. I also looked back at prior engagement with my stakeholders and when utilising the term hospitality I didn’t have any issues of understating the areas I aimed to target. Therefore I looked back further at utilising hospitality, but instead of hospitality spaces keeping the clear commercial element by stating hospitality businesses and the defining into serving food and drink. Subsequently, my working term is now ‘hospitality businesses that serve food and drink’.

Bibliography

Brotherton, B. (1999)”Towards a definitive view of the nature of hospitality and hospitality management.” International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management 11(4): 165- 173.

Brotherton B., Wood R.C. (2000). “Hospitality and hospitality management.” In: In Search of Hospitality: Theoretical Perspectives and Debates (eds. C Lashley, A Morrison), pp. 134- 156. Butterworth-Heinemann: Oxford.

DeZeen (2020) “BIG reveals masterplan for “urban lily pads” off coast of Penang Islands” DeZeen [Online] https://www.dezeen.com/2020/08/21/biodivercity-big-masterplan-penang-island-architecture/ Accessed 02/05/21

GQ (2021) “‘BiodiverCity’ is an alluring glimpse at how designers will take on climate change” GQ [Online] https://www.gq-magazine.co.uk/lifestyle/article/bjarke-ingels-biodivercity Accessed 02/05/21

Oxford (2021) “Hospitality” Oxford [Online] https://www.lexico.com/definition/hospitality Accessed 28/04/21

Panpacifc (2021)”Parkroyal Collection Marina Bay, Singapore” Panpacific [Online] https://www.panpacific.com/en/hotels-and-resorts/pr-collection-marina-bay.html Accessed 27/04/21

Planted (2021) “About Planted” Planted [Online] https://www.planted-cities.co.uk/what-planted Accessed 01/05/21

Telfer, E. (2000). “The philosophy of hospitableness.” In: In Search of Hospitality: Theoretical Perspectives and Debates (eds C Lashley & A Morrison), pp 38-55. Butterworth-Heinemann: Oxford.

The Resident (2019) “Experience urban forest bathing in London’s first biophilic hotel suites” The Resident [Online] https://www.theresident.co.uk/lifestyle-london/londons-first-biophilic-hotel-suites-filled-with-houseplants/ Accessed 01/05/21

6th May 20218th May 2021

Why Do We Need To Connect With Nature?

Once I had decided that the direction of my project was moving towards developing connections between people and nature, I began by brainstorming my ideas around connections to nature, which you can see below.

From this initial thinking, I developed 3 key areas that need to be addressed:

Why do we need to connect, or more precisely re-connect, with nature?
How will this re-connection be achieved?
How will this re-connection be measured?

1- Why do we need to re-connect with nature?

Humans have an innate connection to nature. However, due to technological advancements, extended working hours and processes such as urbanisation we have become distant from the natural world (Bragg et al., 2013). On average people spend 90% of their time indoors (Opinium, 2018), and given the current restrictions with the pandemic this figure has undoubtedly been heightened even further! Subsequently, being indoors already immediately removes us from the natural world in its traditional sense. However, there are many different methodologies which will be tested and adapted throughout the course of this project to bring the natural world to the indoors; effectively bringing the natural world to the people.

Connecting to nature is the amount that an individual includes nature in their personal identity (Schultz, 2002). Connection includes understanding the complexities of nature, good and bad and accepting it as a whole (Nisbet et al., 2009). Connectedness to nature is also an indicator for subjective reports of wellbeing, for example connection to nature has been taken to include feelings of peacefulness, developing a sense of place and a respect for nature (Hine et al., 2009).

Having a strong connection with nature is important because…

Nature Deficit Disorder is the human implications of a disconnect from nature. The disorder involves costs of diminished attention rates, increased mental and physical illness and reduced use of the senses (Louv, 2005). Originally this disorder was focused upon children, however in more recent academic study it has also been observed in adults. Reconnecting adults with the natural world is not only important for their personal health and lives, it is also important to pass on experiences of the natural environment to their children, otherwise connection to nature will eventually be lost due to a term referred to as ‘extinction of experience’ whereby children spend less and less time in nature as adults are disconnected from it (Pyle, 2003).

The implications for connecting people with nature, in the setting of hospitality spaces that serve food and drink is demonstrated again through the diagram below.

2- How will this re-connection to nature be achieved?

Reconnecting with nature will be achieved through implementing biophilic, biomimetic and natural design features into hospitality spaces.

Therefore, the connections will be developed through exposure. Exposing people to natural design in informal spaces that they typically visit for leisure allows people the freedom to explore the applications of nature and soak in their benefits, consequently developing their personal relationship and connection with nature.

Through applications of biophilic design, many spaces that we spend a great deal of time in are being adapted to bring in the benefits of nature, such as in the workplace, healthcare spaces and hotel accommodation. Consequently, providing an opportunity to learn from these applications of nature and build off them to apply nature into hospitality spaces but instead aimed to evoke re-connection to nature.

The scientific evidence for the exposure to nature having a positive correlation with improvements to personal health both physical and mental, is continuing to increase (Defra, 2011). Subsequently, re-connecting people with the natural world via exposure to natural elements is firstly of benefit to the individual and their health; secondly it may allow for increased attention to be paid the future survival of the natural world.

3- How will this re-connection with nature be measured?

A baseline level of connection to nature will need to be established to conduct this work. Baseline studies of general populations and granges already exist in academic work and so they may be utilised in my project.

To measure the changes in connection to nature there are limited measures, as it is an emerging concept (Schultz et al., 2004).

Key measures of connectedness to nature :

Connection to Nature Scale

Single-factor measure
Developed by Mayer and Frantz, 2004
Based on the principle of the ‘Land Ethic’ by Leopold (1966)
Defines connection to nature as “an individual’s affective, experiential connection to nature” (Mayer and Frantz, 2004, pp.504)
Considered primarily a trait measure but there is an adapted version for measuring state (which previous University of Essex research has shown to be responsive).

Nature Relatedness Scale

3-factor measure – self, perspective and experience
Developed by Nisbet, Zelenski and Murphy, 2009.
Nature relatedness describes individual levels of connectedness with the natural world and comprises the cognitive, affective, and physical connection we have with nature (Nisbet et al., 2011).
“Self” = “an internalized identification with nature, reflecting feelings and thoughts about one’s personal connection to nature” (Nisbet et al., 2009).
“Perspective” = “an external, nature-related worldview, a sense of agency concerning individual human actions and their impact on all living things” (Nisbet et al., 2009)
“Experience” = “a physical familiarity with the natural world and the level of comfort with and desire to be out in nature” (Nisbet et al., 2009)
Considered a trait measure.

Inclusion of Nature with Self

Single-item question
Developed by Schultz, 2002
Designed to measure the extent that individuals include nature as part of their identity. Schultz considers ‘inclusion’ to involve caring about nature (affective), connectedness (defined here as cognitive) and commitment (behavioural).
The question asks participants to rate their connectedness to nature by choosing one of seven pairs of circles that differ in their degree of overlap.
The question can be used as either a state or a trait measure (there are two different wordings) (Schultz, 2002).

Environmental Identity Scale

Developed by Clayton, 2003
Designed to assess the extent to which individuals identify with the natural environment and environmental causes.
24-item scale which looks at spending time in nature, enjoyment of nature, learning about nature, responsibility for nature and ‘oneness’ with nature.

Emotional Affinity to Nature

Developed by Kals, Schumacher, & Montada, 1999
4-factor measure
Emotional affinity toward nature is described as being the love or affection towards nature (107) and the hypothesis is that this emotional affinity should increase nature-protective behaviours.
The 16-item scale consists of four subscales: Love of nature, Feelings of Freedom, Feelings of Safety, and Feelings of Oneness with Nature.
Considered a state measure.

At present, for my project I am looking to employ the measures of connectedness to nature of: Nature relatedness scale, Inclusion of nature with self, and emotional affinity to nature. These scales may be employed by following a group of regular customers to a specific hospitality business over a period of time, if the relationship is built up with customers and business owners to allow this. Otherwise, the measures may be employed on an individual visit by visit basis. The nature relatedness scale may be useful in gaining a sense of how peoples opinions to the wider natural world differ depending on their interactions with nature. Emotional affinity to nature may be utilised to gauge personal feelings towards nature, perhaps pertaining to changes in emotional state and wellbeing. Inclusion of nature with self may allow individuals to define succinctly, due to the one question nature of the measure, the connectedness to nature. However, I will continue to explore if any other measures of connection to nature may be more suitable for my project, as my work evolves.

Re-connecting With Nature

In the endeavour to re-connect with nature I have developed a working title for a consultancy or organisation that I aim to form to establish this goal. ‘Nature. In’ aims to bring nature back into spaces in which it is currently excluded. This inclusion of nature will begin in hospitality spaces that serve food and drink and will be scaled up to other hospitality settings if it proves to be successful.

The aim to reconnect people with nature in hospitality spaces, which are typically visited for leisure provides people with the freedom to explore feeling connected to nature, along with feeling its benefits, such as becoming re-energised. Consequently, people will return to nature to feel the benefits once again, thus growing their relationship. People may even give back to the natural world that they have formed a relationship with, by caring for it and subsequently helping to tackle the climate crisis.

Creating this re-connection is not a step away from the change I previously proposed at the end of Project 5 (see below). Instead forming a re-connection to nature, as proposed, is the single-strand accumulation of all the different aspects that were involved in my previously proposed change; thus, it embodies the same change I wish to see.

Bibliography

Bragg, R., Wood, C., Barton, J. and Pretty, J. (2013) “Measuring connection to nature in children aged 8-12: A robust methodology for the RSPB.” University of Essex.

Clayton, S. (2003) “Environmental identity: A conceptual and an operational definition.” Identity and the natural environment: The psychological significance of nature, pp.45-65.

Defra (2011) “The natural choice: securing the value of nature, Natural Environment White Paper.” The Stationery Office, London.

Hine R, Pretty J and Barton J. (2009) “Research Project: Social, Psychological and Cultural Benefits of Large Natural Habitat & Wilderness Experience: A review of current literature. Report for the Wilderness Foundation.” Available at: http://www.essex.ac.uk/ces/occasionalpapers/Kerry/Literature%20Review%20for%20WF.pdf

Kals, E., D. Schumacher, and L. Montada (1999) “Emotional affinity toward nature as a motivational basis to protect nature.” Environment & Behavior 31, no. 2: 178–202.

Louv, R. (2005) Last Child in the Woods: Saving Our Children from Nature-Deficit Disorder North Carolina, Algonquin Books.

Leopold A. (1966) “A Sand County Almanac: With Other Essays On Conservation from Round River.” Oxford University Press.

Mayer FS and McPherson Frantz C. (2004) “The connectedness to nature scale: A measure of individuals’ feeling in community with nature.” Journal of Environmental Psychology, 24, 503-515.

Nisbet E, Zelenski J and Murphy S. (2009) “The Nature Relatedness Scale: Linking Individuals’ Connection With Nature to Environmental Concern and Behavior.” Environment and Behavior vol. 41 no. 5 715-740

Nisbet E, Zelenski J and Murphy S. (2011) “Happiness is in our Nature: Exploring Nature Relatedness as a Contributor to Subjective Well-Being.” Journal of Happiness Studies, Vol 12, 2, pp. 303-322.

Opinium (2018) “Brits spend 90% of their time indoors” Opinium [Online] https://www.opinium.com/brits-spend-90-of-their-time-indoors/ Accessed 30/04/21

Pyle RM. (2003) “Nature Matrix: reconnecting people and nature.” Oryx 37(2): 206–214

Schultz, P. W. (2002) “Inclusion with nature: The psychology of human-nature relations.” In P. Schmuck & W. P. Schultz (Eds.), Psychology of sustainable development pp. 62-78. Norwell, MA: Kluwer.

Schultz, P.W., C. Shriver, J.J. Tabanico, and A.M. Khazian (2004) “Implicit connections with nature.” Journal of Environmental Psychology 24, no. 1: 31–42.