Robust Accessible Toilets: A site for Inclusive Design out Crime
Lead Research Organisation:
Royal College of Art
Department Name: Helen Hamlyn Centre for Design
Abstract
Abstracts are not currently available in GtR for all funded research. This is normally because the abstract was not required at the time of proposal submission, but may be because it included sensitive information such as personal details.
Publications
Bichard J
(2012)
Tackling Ageing Continence through Theory, Tools & Technology (TACT3)
in The International Journal of Aging and Society
Bichard, J.
(2012)
Shelia Cavanagh Queering Bathrooms: Gender, Sexuality and the Hygienic Imagination
in Social & Cultural Geography Vol.13
Bichard, J.
(2013)
'Pee-democracy: Opening data to the Great British Public Toilet Map' in
Bichard, J.
(2016)
Diversity and Design: Understanding Hidden Consequences
Browne K
(2012)
Queering bathrooms: gender, sexuality and the hygienic imagination
in Gender, Place & Culture
Jo-Anne Bichard (Co-Author)
(2011)
Finding public toilets through applications and open data
Jo-Anne Bichard (Co-Author)
(2011)
Knowing where to 'go'
Ramster G
(2018)
How Inclusion can Exclude: The Case of Public Toilet Provision for Women
in Built Environment
| Description | Current design guidance that focuses on non-toileting behaviours (such as discouraging sexual contact, vandalism and illegal substance use), focuses on minority behaviour at the expense of access for the majority. This design perspective has been applied to wider publicly accessible space, creating a fortress approach that denies access. The most extreme example was the recent 'spike' design in doorways to discourage rough sleepers. |
| Exploitation Route | Communities can use the guide to assess options for managing local publicly accessible toilet provision, as well as design guidance on fixtures and fittings to maximise provision for all members of the community but especially older and disabled people and families with young children. |
| Sectors | Communities and Social Services/Policy,Construction,Healthcare,Leisure Activities, including Sports, Recreation and Tourism,Culture, Heritage, Museums and Collections,Retail,Transport |
| URL | http://www.rca.ac.uk/research-innovation/helen-hamlyn-centre/about/resources/publications/ |
| Description | Findings have been incorporated into a key community resource guide 'Public Toilets - How communities are responding to the closure of public toilets' produced by The Community Ownership Support Service, Development Trusts Association Scotland. Bichard has also been involved in consultations with Manidee Unlimited, a community group in Newport Wales who are seeking to take over the running of local public conveniences. The Great British Public Toilet Map is now in development to produce a smartphone application from its data and have had interest from major supermarket chains and satellite navigation companies. Bichard is now a committee member for the British Standards Institute and contribute to reviews of BS6465 (Public Toilets) and BS830 (Access to the Built Environment). |
| First Year Of Impact | 2013 |
| Sector | Communities and Social Services/Policy,Digital/Communication/Information Technologies (including Software),Education,Healthcare,Leisure Activities, including Sports, Recreation and Tourism,Government, Democracy and Justice,Transport |
| Impact Types | Societal,Policy & public services |
| Description | Citation in Community Ownership publication |
| Geographic Reach | Local/Municipal/Regional |
| Policy Influence Type | Citation in other policy documents |
| URL | http://www.dtascommunityownership.org.uk/resources/coss-publications/public-toilets---real-cost-spen... |
| Description | Citation in Promising Practice for the National Seniors Council Report on Social Isolation (Canada) |
| Geographic Reach | North America |
| Policy Influence Type | Citation in other policy documents |
| Impact | The Great British Public Toilet Map is being cited by a report to the Canadian Government. Promising Practice for the National Seniors Council Report on Social Isolation has identified the service the map gives as an important element in giving older people the confidence to leave their homes and socialise in confidence knowing toilet provision can be accessed, and thus a resource to challenge social isolation and loneliness, a major health concern on par with obesity and smoking (Mental Health Foundation, 2014). |
| Description | Completion of BS6465 Part 3 |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Policy Influence Type | Membership of a guideline committee |
| URL | https://www.googleadservices.com/pagead/aclk?sa=L&ai=DChcSEwiFuNXU4pLoAhVDwN4KHVd1B1MYABAAGgJ3Yg&oho... |
| Description | Development of standard for open data collection |
| Geographic Reach | Local/Municipal/Regional |
| Policy Influence Type | Influenced training of practitioners or researchers |
| Impact | Following a request from Gail Ramster for open data on public toilets, the Open Data User Group selected this provision as one of three to be requested of councils, along with planning and licensing of premises. The Local Government Association have, in consultation with Gail Ramster, developed a standard for toilet data and offer up to £7K to Local Authorities in exchange for these 3 datasets. Already 16 datasets have been published with dozens more in the application process. Ordnance Survey have also just changed their policy and now allow councils to publish their toilet location data, removing a huge barrier in this field. These two facts mean there will be a substantial increase in local government open data that TGBPTM is both expected and well position to respond to, should funding continue. http://schemas.opendata.esd.org.uk/PublicToilets |
| Guideline Title | For Your Convenience |
| Description | Patient information |
| Geographic Reach | Local/Municipal/Regional |
| Policy Influence Type | Citation in clinical guidelines |
| Impact | Charing Cross Hospital has included details of The Great British Public Toilet Map in resource for bowel cancer out patients. |
| Description | membership of British Standards Institute review committee BS6465 BS8300 |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Policy Influence Type | Influenced training of practitioners or researchers |
| Description | Improving wellbeing through environment interaction |
| Amount | £130,000 (GBP) |
| Organisation | Leeds City Council |
| Department | Public Health |
| Sector | Public |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 04/2016 |
| End | 05/2018 |
| Description | Nominet Trust |
| Amount | £20,000 (GBP) |
| Organisation | Nominet Trust |
| Sector | Charity/Non Profit |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 03/2014 |
| End | 10/2014 |
| Description | Public Health and Wellbeing Improvement |
| Amount | £132,000 (GBP) |
| Organisation | Public Health Agency (PHA) |
| Sector | Public |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 02/2016 |
| End | 01/2018 |
| Description | Summer Showcase |
| Amount | £10,000 (GBP) |
| Organisation | Open Data Institute |
| Sector | Charity/Non Profit |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 09/2016 |
| End | 11/2016 |
| Title | The Great British Public Toilet map |
| Description | The Great British Public Toilet Map (TGBPTM) is a website to help people find toilets, and the largest database of publicly-accessible toilets in the UK. Its aim is to create a national open dataset. The concept and pilot site was developed as an output from the TACT3 research project to improve access to public toilets for people of all ages, in response to the complexity of both today's public toilet provision and individual needs. The lack of such a resource meant existing maps, websites and apps were inaccurate, out-of-date and incomplete. We successfully won further funding from Nominet Trust in 2013 to further develop the website. |
| Type Of Material | Database/Collection of data |
| Provided To Others? | No |
| Impact | The research team identified government open-data initiatives as an opportunity to transform public toilet information, through engaging with local councils. Although councils were encouraged to publish open data, they did not know what types of information were of use to the public. TGBPTM has frequently been recognised by open data initiatives as it presents a people-centred application for open data to address a genuine social need. We included toilet data from the OpenStreetMap project, collected data from council websites and through 296 Freedom of Information requests (covering 83% of 406 relevant councils), and developed a crowd-sourcing interface so that individuals could add and edit toilet information themselves. We've sustained engagement from 10% of councils including officers adding or editing data on TGBPTM. Several councils provide a link to TGBPTM on their own website. We submitted a case to data.gov.uk to publish public toilet open data and remove the Ordnance Survey licence restrictions on public toilet locations that impinged councils from publishing open data. Our request was pursued by the Open Data User Group (ODUG) and the Local Government Association (LGA), supported by individual councils, bringing about change to Ordnance Survey's national policy by making public toilet locations exempt from derived data licence restrictions in September 2014. The raised profiles of public toilets, through TGBPTM lead to provision becoming one of 3 themes for a Local Open Data Incentive Scheme. This resulted in the first national standard for open data on public toilets developed with our input and using key elements of the research. 89 councils to date have published open data to the standard, each receiving £1000. Overall the number of councils publishing public toilet open data has increased from 1 in 2010 to over 100 today either in response to our direct requests or indirectly through the incentive scheme. The website has recorded 117561 unique users since it launched on World Toilet Day 2014. There have been 2930 edits via the crowd-sourcing interface including nearly 1000 toilets added by the public. Our press release led to articles in The Guardian, The Telegraph, The Mirror, BT.com and local news sites. Support from Crohn's and Colitis UK has emphasised how many people rely on toilet access to leave home and the importance of resources like TGBPTM. The charity's website had thousands of page views on World Toilet Day and TGBPTM receives 13% of its referred traffic from Crohnsandcolitis.org.uk. We are developing this mutually beneficial relationship through a proposal for a multi-charity consortium to: develop the map, launch an app, improve the database and ensure the project's sustainability. Our social media accounts enable further media contact, including an interview on BBC Radio 2 in January 2016. |
| URL | http://greatbritishpublictoiletmap.rca.ac.uk/ |
| Description | Assessment of current toilet provision |
| Organisation | Broadstairs & St Peters Town Council |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Public |
| PI Contribution | Assessment of public toilet provision in area |
| Collaborator Contribution | access to provision |
| Impact | a full report on provision with examples of anti-social behaviour and inclusive design recommendations taken directly from research. |
| Start Year | 2019 |
| Description | Great British Public Toilet Map |
| Organisation | Neontribe |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Private |
| PI Contribution | resourced open data for inclusion in web based application |
| Collaborator Contribution | converted open data to be read by web based application |
| Impact | Further funding awarded by Nominet Trust for continued development |
| Start Year | 2011 |
| Description | Incubation of GBPTM with Innovation RCA |
| Organisation | Royal College of Art |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | A collaborative agreement has begun with Innovation RCA to incubate the Great British Public Toilet Map (also in partnership with long term collaborators Neon Tribe) to develop the key data held by the map into a smart phone application. This partnership shall also he[p explore data licensing opportunities. |
| Collaborator Contribution | Partners Innovation RCA will hold 20% of our company Public Convenience in return they will provide access to social enterprise networks and possible investors. |
| Impact | The collaboration was finalised in the forst week of March 2017, but we are confident we will have released the smart phone application by the end of the year. |
| Start Year | 2017 |
| Description | This Way Out: Dementia signage for toilets |
| Organisation | Swansea University |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | We have outlined a reseach paper which we will be submitting for peer review and then will begin a research outline to be submitted to AHRC. Our specific contribution has focusd on design research eveidence in this area. |
| Collaborator Contribution | patners have specifically contributed to dementia and gerontology expertise in the area. |
| Impact | "This way out: Dementia-friendly signs in Public Toilets" draft research paper |
| Start Year | 2016 |
| Description | assessment of current and future proposed toilet provision |
| Organisation | Wellcome Collection |
| Department | Wellcome Libary |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Charity/Non Profit |
| PI Contribution | assessed current design of provision and made suggestions for future proposed provision to include accessibility and gender neutral provision. |
| Collaborator Contribution | Undertook community and user-centred studies |
| Impact | a new suite of toilet provision including changing places and indecent non-gendered cubicles. |
| Start Year | 2019 |
| Title | The Great British Public Toilet Map |
| Description | The Great British Public Toilet map now holds the largest database (10,000+) of Publicly Accessible Toilets available throughout the UK. The website provides location and access details of toilets and gives users the opportuniyt to comment, rate, add or delete toilet provision. |
| Type Of Technology | Webtool/Application |
| Year Produced | 2011 |
| Impact | The Great British Public Toilet map has been cited in Canadian reports togovernment, included in patient information literature and the influence the standardisation of open data collection for local authorities. |
| URL | http://greatbritishpublictoiletmap.rca.ac.uk/ |
| Company Name | Public Convenience |
| Description | Public Convenience is developing The Great British Public Toilet App. This will be a location-based smartphone application that collects, shares and creates open data generated thorugh The Great british Public Toilet Map to help people find public toilets. |
| Year Established | 2016 |
| Impact | Have applied for ODINE EU funding for further development |
| Website | http://greatbritishpublictoiletmap.rca.ac.uk/ |
| Description | Community presentation and consultation |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Invited speaker at community event to discuss future toilet provision in the area and how community might take over and run local toilet provision. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2017 |
| URL | http://www.maindee.org/blog/toilets-public-space-and-social-justice |
| Description | Interview |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A broadcast e.g. TV/radio/film/podcast (other than news/press) |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Interview with BBC World Service 'Tech Tent' Disability Works Special to discuss technological applications for disabled people |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2017 |
| URL | http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p04t4kcm |
| Description | Lewisham Pensioners Forum |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | Yes |
| Geographic Reach | Local |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | given the intimate nature of the discussion - people approached the research team after the meeting to further the discussion. Some particiaptns became intersted in the research methodology of design participation and have become people centred research partners in projects. Audience expressed agreement that researchwas being conducted inot the area of public toilet provision - but expressed desire for more facilties to be made available. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2011 |
| Description | Pecha Kucha 20x20 |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Pecha Kucha 20x20 brings speakers together to present thier work or subjects that interest them. This presentation is given on International Women's Day and introduces the spatial discrepency in the design of publicly accessible toilets in the UK. It is open to members of the public. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2016 |
| URL | http://www.pechakucha.org/cities/bexhill-on-sea/events/5671b6de73a7595c8b000003 |
| Description | Spoken word event |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | I gave two talks on toilet design and provision to members of the public as a contributor to a regional (Eastbourne - Nov 17 and St Leonards on Sea - Jul 17) cabaret event |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2017 |
| URL | https://bavardbar.co.uk/past-bavards/ |
| Description | United Nations Global Leaders Forum |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Policymakers/politicians |
| Results and Impact | Presented work on toilets to the 5th Safe Cities and Safe Public Spaces Global Leaders Forum within the theme of Integrated Action and Building to Scale: Safe and Empowering City and Public Space Initiatives with Women and Girls. Over 300 international attendees including international delegation of city mayors. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |