Public Collaboration Lab
Lead Research Organisation:
University of the Arts London
Department Name: Central Saint Martin's College
Abstract
It is widely understood that the public sector in general and public services in particular need to be radically reshaped inorder to meet the needs of citizens in the context of diminishing public financing. Less well understood are the ways andmeans by which to do so. This one-year project explores the potential for, and value of, design-led research to addresssocietal challenges and to inform policy. It does this through establishing a 'Public Collaboration Lab' (PCL), a strategicresearch collaboration between local government (London Borough of Camden), the citizens they serve, and an HigherEducation institution (University of the Arts London).
The project will use social innovation approaches to engage citizens and other societal actors in the co-design and co-delivery of some aspects of public services. These 'public and collaborative' approaches to service delivery (servicesdelivered with and by citizens and other agencies) seek to mobilise citizens as 'active collaborative people' rather than'passive individual people', 'service participants' rather than 'service users' and recognise citizens as both 'people withneeds' and 'people as assets in meeting their own and each other's needs'. However, despite the growing interest in therole, objectives and impact of design in strategic public sector contexts, there is also an acknowledged gap inunderstanding design's contribution to such situations. This project is designed to address that gap.
Two interrelated action research activities will be delivered in parallel. The first will deliver a citizen-centred exploration ofexactly how such collaboration plays out in specific service contexts. For the pilot we propose to take the reform of LondonBorough of Camden's Library Services as our starting point. The second will explore the models, mechanisms andmeasurement of impact of the 'Public Collaboration Lab', evaluating the model and its wider potential as a means ofdemocratizing social and service innovation and informing policy.
The project aims to:
- Undertake a demonstrator social innovation project within a specially created 'public collaboration lab' to redesign publicservices through the application of collaborative design led approaches.
- Increase understanding of HEI institutions' roles in supporting innovation practices within local government throughdesign led action research.
- Explore the potential for co-design to democratize public service reform and improve pubic outcomes.
- Co-design evaluative frameworks for assessing the role of design in local government service reform.
- Propose means by which the pilot study could be upscaled within other contexts
A process of examination and distillation will create a body of material which will serve as the basis for a series ofcoordinated outputs, including journal articles, conference papers, a research blog, case study material, service and socialinnovations, as well as a public collaboration lab model, framework and tools for HE/LG collaboration. The PCL team willwork closely with Nesta, Public Service Transformation Network, the international DESIS Network of over 40 DESIS labs,Impact Hub Network, Social Innovation Exchange, King's Cross Knowledge Quarter, Age UK and others to disseminateand maximise real-world impact of the project outputs. Dissemination will be integrated within the collaborativemethodology of the project, by involving relevant users, practitioners and policy makers in research, ideation andimplementation. To disseminate the findings, the project team will target major events and publications in the localgovernment, public policy, design research, and design HE communities. The final evaluation report will be designed in aforward-looking manner so that the lessons and opportunities arising from this pilot can be applied in other contexts.
The project will use social innovation approaches to engage citizens and other societal actors in the co-design and co-delivery of some aspects of public services. These 'public and collaborative' approaches to service delivery (servicesdelivered with and by citizens and other agencies) seek to mobilise citizens as 'active collaborative people' rather than'passive individual people', 'service participants' rather than 'service users' and recognise citizens as both 'people withneeds' and 'people as assets in meeting their own and each other's needs'. However, despite the growing interest in therole, objectives and impact of design in strategic public sector contexts, there is also an acknowledged gap inunderstanding design's contribution to such situations. This project is designed to address that gap.
Two interrelated action research activities will be delivered in parallel. The first will deliver a citizen-centred exploration ofexactly how such collaboration plays out in specific service contexts. For the pilot we propose to take the reform of LondonBorough of Camden's Library Services as our starting point. The second will explore the models, mechanisms andmeasurement of impact of the 'Public Collaboration Lab', evaluating the model and its wider potential as a means ofdemocratizing social and service innovation and informing policy.
The project aims to:
- Undertake a demonstrator social innovation project within a specially created 'public collaboration lab' to redesign publicservices through the application of collaborative design led approaches.
- Increase understanding of HEI institutions' roles in supporting innovation practices within local government throughdesign led action research.
- Explore the potential for co-design to democratize public service reform and improve pubic outcomes.
- Co-design evaluative frameworks for assessing the role of design in local government service reform.
- Propose means by which the pilot study could be upscaled within other contexts
A process of examination and distillation will create a body of material which will serve as the basis for a series ofcoordinated outputs, including journal articles, conference papers, a research blog, case study material, service and socialinnovations, as well as a public collaboration lab model, framework and tools for HE/LG collaboration. The PCL team willwork closely with Nesta, Public Service Transformation Network, the international DESIS Network of over 40 DESIS labs,Impact Hub Network, Social Innovation Exchange, King's Cross Knowledge Quarter, Age UK and others to disseminateand maximise real-world impact of the project outputs. Dissemination will be integrated within the collaborativemethodology of the project, by involving relevant users, practitioners and policy makers in research, ideation andimplementation. To disseminate the findings, the project team will target major events and publications in the localgovernment, public policy, design research, and design HE communities. The final evaluation report will be designed in aforward-looking manner so that the lessons and opportunities arising from this pilot can be applied in other contexts.
Organisations
- University of the Arts London (Lead Research Organisation)
- AGE UK (Collaboration)
- University College London (Collaboration)
- Egbert H Taylor & Company Limited (Collaboration)
- Camden Council (Collaboration)
- Veolia Environmental Services (Collaboration)
- Iceni Projects (Collaboration)
- Lendlease (Collaboration)
- Somers Town Community Association (Collaboration)
- Camden and Islington Public Health (Collaboration)
- London Borough of Camden (Collaboration, Project Partner)
- University of the Arts London (Collaboration)
- Leafield Environmental Ltd (Collaboration)
- Saint Pancras Community Association (Collaboration)
- Living Centre Clinic (Collaboration)
- Mulroy Architects Ltd (Collaboration)
Publications
Manzini E And Thorpe A
(2018)
Weaving People and Places: Art and Design for Resilient Communities
in She Ji: The Journal of Design, Economics, and Innovation
MDes Service Design Innovation (London College Of Communication, University Of The Arts London)
(2015)
Exploring how Camden Home Library Service can be redesigned more dynamically, Final Project Report
Prendiville A
(2015)
Public Collaboration Lab, Interim Report for the Home Library Service
Salinas L, Thorpe A, Prendiville A And Rhodes S
(2018)
Civic Engagement as Participation in Designing for Services
Thorpe A
(2016)
Public collaboration lab
Thorpe A
(2018)
Tackling Social Isolation and Loneliness in Camden
Thorpe A
(2016)
The Routledge Companion to Design Studies
Thorpe A
(2019)
Tricky Design: The Ethics of Things
Thorpe A
(2015)
Designing Conditions for Active Redundancy
in Cultures of Resilience
Thorpe A And Rhodes S
(2018)
The Public Collaboration Lab-Infrastructuring Redundancy with Communities-in-Place
in She Ji: The Journal of Design, Economics, and Innovation
Thorpe, A
(2017)
Anatomy of local government/design education collaboration
| Title | Future Libraries Project (FLP) video |
| Description | Short video (filmed and edited by Lucy Jones), describing Future Libraries project. The project entailed research staff and students working with council officers and front line staff to design creative interactions that engage library users and other citizens in talking about their concerns, needs and desires relating to future libraries. |
| Type Of Art | Film/Video/Animation |
| Year Produced | 2015 |
| Impact | The video featured locally i.e. in Public Collaboration Lab (PCL) exhibition at Central Saint Martins Window Galleries (4th January - 12th February 2016) open to the general public. Furthermore, it was included in Camden Council offices exhibition, attended by various Camden Council departments, at Pancras Square (24th February 2016 - 11th March 2016). It was also included in 'Knowledge Quarter Community Engagement's Show and Tell' event at the Wellcome Trust, attended by large number of Wellcome Trust partner organisations. The video was also shared internationally. Dr Sarah Rhodes included the video in her presentation of PCL Future Libraries project to BFA Industrial Design students and academics at Wayne State University, Detroit. |
| URL | https://vimeo.com/135347608 |
| Title | Future Libraries project - Interactive exhibition at Restless Futures conference |
| Description | MA Industrial Design students exhibited 5 Future Libraries creative consultation tools on 11th June 2015 as part of the Restless Futures conference at Central Saint Martins. These include: Stitch Map' by Soizic Porhel and Marina Mellado, 'Library Bureau' by Andrea Nicholas De Montis, 'Library Expedition' by Bronka de Sage, 'Library Alchemy' by Joao Gil and 'Library Sticker Chart'by Lin Chen. Stitch Map is a thread map that creates a heat map. It allows us to analyse different user typologies, gathering information about the services, activities and spaces that visitors use in the library. The board creates a network heat map which highlights the most popular points, hence the tool makes the user write and reflect on which services they would preserve, create or ignore in the Future Library. Library Bureau toolkit is a board game for public engagement which intends to involve non-libraries users to create their ideal future libary - library floorplan, space specifications, facilities, activities inside and the potential users of their library. Library Expedition is a map which guides participants through "an adventure" rather than questionnaire and hence the participants are able to express their emotional connection to the library values in an unprompted way as well as to provide individual understanding of those values. Library Alchemy is a research tool developed around the metaphor of a cabinet of curiosity. It is shaped like a trolley due to its itinerant nature. The metaphor worked as a form of detachment from the prejudices of what a library means, and its ambiguous nature to leave openness to create an emotional relationship, unprescribing answers, and allowing a conversation to be expressed throughout the tool. Library Sticker Chart contains a series of stickers which visualize the library services that people use to value present and future services in different libraries. |
| Type Of Art | Artistic/Creative Exhibition |
| Year Produced | 2015 |
| Impact | Specialist academic and practitioner audience (circa 200 attending the Restless Futures conference) provided feedback on the consultation tools. The tools were recognised as making a tangible contribution to the discussion of 'democratising innovation' in that they demonstrated a novel way of bringing new publics into dialogue and decision making around the future scenarios for public services - in this case public libraries. A notable impact is commissioning of an engagement tool designed by the team for the King's Cross Knowledge Quarter (http://www.knowledgequarter.london) - to be used to help them map the community engagement activities of their members. |
| URL | http://www.arts.ac.uk/csm/whats-on-at-csm/restless-futures/ |
| Title | Knowledge Quarter Community Engagement exhibition |
| Description | The Public Collaboration Lab (PCL) exhibition featured at the 'Knowledge Quarter Community Engagement's Show and Tell' event at the Wellcome Collection (14th March 2016) and was attended by over 50 partner organisations (http://www.knowledgequarter.london/partners/). The exhibition displayed some of the initial practice-based, research explorations of the PCL so far, spotlighting the Future Libraries and Home Library Service projects, as well as outlining future developments. The students designed and produced creative consultation tools, as well as facilitating workshops with the stakeholders and producing visual documentation as the work unfolded. The exhibition is made up of a selection of these artefacts, videos, photographs, publications and information describing the process and outcomes |
| Type Of Art | Artistic/Creative Exhibition |
| Year Produced | 2016 |
| Impact | The exhibition introduced the work of the PCL to wider audiences in the London Borough of Camden. |
| Title | Market Stalls |
| Description | 3 market stalls co-designed for open digital production 3 market stalls manufactured for us by Somers Town residents via loan scheme co-designed with the Living Centre, Somers Town. |
| Type Of Art | Artefact (including digital) |
| Year Produced | 2018 |
| Impact | The Charlton Street Market project which focused co-designing a market of social value with local residents and community groups in Chalton Street London produced 3 markets stalls and a service model for their use that has been implemented by community partner The Living Center. The market stalls are available for use by residents and community groups to test business ideas, promote local clubs, events and activities and exchange products and services. One of the market stalls has been used as the platform for a community run fruit and veg stall bringing fresh fruit and veg to a neighborhood that did not have access to these healthy choices. the designs are 'open' and are being loaded to wiki blocks, an open design platform, so that communities wishing to make more of the market stalls can do so. |
| Title | Overcrowded Furniture |
| Description | A range of digital designs for furniture A public and collaborative service model for digital production and assembly of furniture |
| Type Of Art | Artefact (including digital) |
| Year Produced | 2018 |
| Impact | An output of the overcrowded living project delivered by the PCL and students from MA Industrial Design is a range of digital designs, physical prototypes and service model for adaptable furniture. The My Furniture Works system enables residents to adapt a range of furniture solutions to their own specification and dimensions prior to digital production and collaborative assembly. The service is being developed with Camden Council and Origin Housing and there are plans to pilot the service as a social enterprise in 2019. |
| Title | Public Collaboration Lab (PCL) exhibition at Camden Council |
| Description | Following its launch at Central Saint Martins, the Public Collaboration Lab (PCL) exhibition was updated and displayed at Camden Council offices at 5 Pancras Square (24th February 2016 - 11th March 2016). An invite to the exhibition was extended across various Camden Council departments, beyond existing PCL collaborations. The exhibition displayed some of the initial practice-based, research explorations of the PCL so far, spotlighting the Future Libraries and Home Library Service projects, as well as outlining future developments. The students designed and produced creative consultation tools, as well as facilitating workshops with the stakeholders and producing visual documentation as the work unfolded. The exhibition is made up of a selection of these artefacts, videos, photographs, publications and information describing the process and outcomes. |
| Type Of Art | Artistic/Creative Exhibition |
| Year Produced | 2016 |
| Impact | The exhibition will next feature at 'Knowledge Quarter Community Engagement's Show and Tell' event at the Wellcome Trust (14th March 2016) with invitees from over 50 partner organisations (http://www.knowledgequarter.london/partners/). |
| Title | Public Collaboration Lab (PCL) exhibition at Central Saint Martins Window Galleries |
| Description | The exhibition first featured at Central Saint Martins Window Galleries (4th January - 12th February 2016) and displayed some of the initial practice-based, research explorations of the PCL so far, spotlighting the Future Libraries and Home Library Service projects, as well as outlining future developments. The students designed and produced creative consultation tools, as well as facilitating workshops with the stakeholders and producing visual documentation as the work unfolded. The exhibition is made up of a selection of these artefacts, videos, photographs, publications and information describing the process and outcomes. |
| Type Of Art | Artistic/Creative Exhibition |
| Year Produced | 2016 |
| Impact | It introduced the Public Collaboration Lab to the wider UAL and London Borough of Camden audience, as well as the general public, and coincided with the Lumiere London light festival and CSM Public Launch event. CSM Public newspaper featured an article on PCL project by Principal Investigator Adam Thorpe and Co-Investigator Alison Prendiville (see pages 20-21: http://www.arts.ac.uk/csm/csm-public/csm-public-launch-event/). |
| Title | Public Collaboration Lab exhibition |
| Description | The Public Collaboration Lab exhibition was updated with new research outputs and exhibited at the 14th Participatory Design Conference, Aarhus University, Denmark between 15th and 19th August 2016. |
| Type Of Art | Artistic/Creative Exhibition |
| Year Produced | 2016 |
| Impact | The exhibition reached an audience of approximately 150, mainly design academics and practitioners. |
| URL | http://pdc2016.org |
| Description | The Public Collaboration Lab (PCL) project has delivered a portfolio of research activity resulting in the following developments and discoveries: 1. Literature review around the intersection of research and practice that informs the work of public social innovation labs at a local government scale. These include the fields of collaborative and participatory design, experiential learning, systems thinking and existing approaches to public innovation labs. This research brings this information together for the first time to inform the theoretical underpinning of local government/design education collaboration in public service and social innovation. 2. National (UK) survey of local government/design education collaboration. This online survey mapped the UK landscape for local government/design education collaboration resulting in insights relating to the number, scale and scope of collaborations of this kind. Also, the creation and documentation of data according to typologies of thematic focus, operational mechanism, funding mechanism, motivation, methodologies and stakeholder involvement in collaborations of this nature. 3. National (UK) and international interviews with stakeholders in local government and design education involved in local government/design education collaboration. These interviews have been transcribed and coded to inform the development an 'anatomy of design education/local government collaboration', detailing for academic and local government audiences insights relating to; Who (stakeholder involvement), What (collaborative mechanism), Why (motivations, objectives and thematic focus), Where (organisational sites of activity across the participating institutions) and How (operational and methodological considerations) local government/design education take place, reflecting on existing practices and learning and delivering recommendations and insights for practitioners in these fields. 4. A prototype for collaboration between a design Higher Education Institution (University of the Arts London) and a local government authority (Camden Council) that has delivered a series of collaborative design experiments that engage local government officers, design students, educators and researchers and residents and other stakeholders (private and third sector organisations) in the co-development and co-delivery of participatory design-led projects exploring the synergy between the learning objectives of design education and the operational objectives of local government. These experiments have focused on diverse operations activities including; public engagement and consultation, service transformation, behaviour change and community resilience. These collaborative experiments have acted as demonstrators of the potential for such collaborations and their value. Reflection on these activities has delivered insights and recommendations that have informed ongoing collaboration between the participating organisations and been shared with other local authorities and HEIs. Specific results have included models and guidance for future collaboration of this kind and strengthened local, regional and international networks across local government, design education and the third sector that have supported progression around co-production of public services. 5. An independent evaluation of the practices of the PCL conducted by the Institute for Local Government, University of Birmingham, has identified the value, strengths and weaknesses of this approach and informed recommendations for future collaboration of this kind. 6. An understanding of 'infrastructuring by project' that can help to deliver collaborative design practice supported by models of challenge driven education. In the context of the PCL the term infrastructure can be used to describe the socio-material 'scaffolding' around which organisational and personal collaborative networks and relationships are built, including the ways of working - the structures, artifacts, activities and attitudes that contribute to creating a supportive framework for collaboration. This infrastructure can be understood to operate at different scales and with different emphasis including the relational (focused on developing shared value and building trust between people), the operational (focused on developing operational understandings and building operational capacity) and the strategic (focused on identification of synergies and alignment of agendas of organisations such that their resources might be made accessible as infrastructure towards collective impact). Each emphasis can be fostered by different 'infrastructuring activities' towards achievement of the goal of a systemic infrastructure whereby the infrastructure is operational at all levels and systemic change can be achieved through multi-stakeholder/multi-sector collaboration. The PCL project has also contributed an exemplar of the role of design education in supporting 'quadruple helix innovation'/'open innovation 2.0' - a process by which complex societal challenges are addressed through collaboration between government, education, business and citizens. |
| Exploitation Route | Locally the research outcomes are being taken forward via ongoing collaboration between Camden Council and University of the Arts London who are developing and extending the PCL collaborative platform both online and offline and integrating third sector involvement further via collaboration with Voluntary Action Camden, Somers Town Community Association and The Living Centre. Dissemination and training events are also being delivered to colleagues interested in engaging in collaborations of this kind. Specifically, the learning form the PCL has been applied within the co-development and delivery of MAKE@Story Garden (M@SG) - a public space for creative collaboration situated behind the British Library. M@SG is a collaborative project delivered in partnership between Camden Council, Somers Town Community Association, University of the Arts London and Lendlease. M@SG supports the delivery of a programme of collaborative activities and projects that support public social innovation, reduce socialisation and loneliness, build employment and enterprise skills, support teaching and learning around STEAM (Camden is a STEAM Borough) and widen access to arts and culture. Nationally the research outcomes are being progressed via dissemination in collaboration with the project partners. Advisors to the project such as the Local Government Information Unit, who are a membership organisation with over 200 local authorities registered, and INLOGOV in Birmingham, who have an established network of local authority collaborators who are keen to review the results of their evaluation, offer opportunities to further disseminate project findings. There has also been dissemination activity linked to the DESIS-UK network of design universities engaged in research and teaching for design for social innovation in the UK. Whilst our continued delivery of local PCL projects [20] and the international dissemination of our results has occupied our time and resources at present, our plan is to apply for follow-on funding to deliver a series of regional workshops up and down the UK in collaboration with these partners and to work with local government officers and design educators to develop the insights and recommendations from the research into appropriate resources to enable local delivery of similar collaborative initiatives. The anticipated establishment of a 'thematic cluster' within the DESIS international network to transfer and scale learning around the topic of local government/design education collaboration received interest from Tongi University in China, Parsons University and Carnegie Mellon University in the USA and Polytechnico di Milano in Italy, amongst others, has since developed into a Thematic Cluster focused on 'Collaborative Cities'. The PCL work has contributed to the theory and practice around this international research cluster between 2017 and 2019. An EU H2020 research funding application to explore the co-creation of public services submitted in 2018 [Co-Plus] was well received but unsuccessful. It was shortlisted in case of any unclaimed funds but, perhaps unsurprisingly, all funds were claimed. The PCL has also contributed to the development and delivery of a successful EU Erasmus Plus Knowledge Alliance project [575063-EPP-1-2016-1-IT-EPPKA2-KA A Knowledge Alliance Between HEIs, Makers and Manufacturers to Boost Open Design & Manufacturing in Europe - OD&M] which enabled us to develop our challenge driven learning approach working in collaboration with international partners. The OD&M project has enabled us to co-deliver a methodology for the co-design of challenge driven learning projects and a digital platform that supports their delivery (https://odmplatform.eu/odm-platform/). Also, to prototype a learning recognition framework and digital badging system that enables all actors engaged in the projects to have their learning recognised. These tools and methods are being used locally in the London Borough of Camden and internationally by consortium partners to support the evolution of challenge driven projects involving citizens, government, business and academia. Learnings from the PCL linked to 'instrastructuring' through collaborative design experiments and 'quadruple helix innovation' have informed the development of a successful EU H2020 bid [T Factor - Unleashing Future-facing Urban Hubs Through Culture and Creativity-led Strategies of Waiting Time] which has just been awarded. The T Factor project explores how collaborative cultural and creative practices delivered in the meanwhile (the time between masterplan approval and final delivery of planned development) can contribute to 'infrastructure' 'quadruple helix innovation'- supporting government, community, academia and business to co-design and co-deliver social innovations that can be sustained as social enterprises. Within the methodology of the project, masterplans for development zones in six European cities will be interrogated. The themes identified within the masterplans will be used as the focus for a collaborative process of 'rapid prototyping in real life' whereby local cross-sectoral stakeholders will create prototype spaces and services utilising meanwhile spaces within the developments. The learning from these prototypes will be fed back into the masterplans to inform more permanent provision. |
| Sectors | Communities and Social Services/Policy,Creative Economy,Digital/Communication/Information Technologies (including Software),Education,Environment,Healthcare,Leisure Activities, including Sports, Recreation and Tourism,Government, Democracy and Justice |
| URL | http://www.publiccollaborationlab.com |
| Description | PCL co-developed and co-delivered a prototype for a public and social innovation lab focused on service, social and policy innovation at the local level. The lab centred on a partnership between the Design for Social Innovation and Sustainability Lab at the University of the Arts London (UAL DESIS Lab) and Camden Council. PCL shares characteristics that are common to other public social innovation labs: • Project teams are typically multi-stakeholder and multi-disciplinary. • Projects seek to understand the wider system whilst prioritising human experience. • Collaboration and co-creation with end-users of services and stakeholders are central to the work of the lab. • Approaches are iterative and agile following a robust design process framed as action research and challenge driven learning in 'real life' scenarios. However, PCL is differentiated by its primary emphasis on collaboration between design education, local government and the residents and communities they serve. Local Government Officers (LGOs) and design students, supported by tutors and academic research staff, worked with residents and other stakeholders via participatory design activities including collaborative and creative exploration, visualising and visioning workshops delivered as part of an ongoing portfolio of projects undertaken by the lab. During the term of the funding, participants have included 50 design students, 338 Camden residents, 134 council officers from 9 local authorities, 18 academics from 7 HEIs, 4 elected members and 127 other people engaged as representatives of third and private sector organisations. PCL located staff and students of design universities as societal assets capable of bringing design skills and competencies to bear on societal challenges, and the community context as an action-learning environment for all those involved. Participants shared knowledge, skills, experience and expertise working collaboratively to address local goals and challenges linked to the co-design and prototyping of public service and social innovations. PCL projects have provided participants with an opportunity for experimentation and reflection that contributes to the open innovation of public and collaborative services. The lab has introduced and integrated a collaborative design-led approach into the work of LGOs in the London Borough of Camden. Students, led by LGOs and experienced design research and teaching staff, deliver ethnographic design research developing and testing methods and tools for co-discovery and co-creation in the process. Projects addressed specific challenges and service areas such as; how to consult more meaningfully with citizens on public issues such as the future of libraries and the planning process; finding ways of increasing recycling rates; dealing with the effects of overcrowded housing and reshaping youth centres to facilitate the integration of Youth Services. These activities provided greater capacity for local government to engage with residents and other stakeholders. The open and collaborative nature of the projects fostered the assembly of publics around the issues of concern/service areas addressed. The participatory design process engaged the diverse actors assembled in a process of making visible their experiences, concerns and desires in relation to the issues and services considered and identifying and prioritising challenges and opportunities for intervention. Also, in collectively visioning new ways of addressing these challenges and opportunities. The outputs of these activities include rich qualitative insights that have supported decision making and priority setting by LGOs and politicians in the London Borough of Camden, as well as affording insights around cross sectoral collaboration (quadruple helix innovation/open innovation 2.0) to stakeholders further afield both nationally and internationally. Alternative possibilities for delivery of services and achievement of improved public outcomes have also been explored and proposed, feeding into service innovation and transformation in the service areas described. Depending on the nature of the projects they have involved residents in priority setting around service transformation, contributed to raise awareness and change behaviours to reduce costs to the public or redefined and redesigned ways of developing and delivering services to meet the requirements of reduced financial support from central government. The impact and value of these activities at a local level, on local government and the citizens they serve, can be seen in these comments from officers involved in the projects at both strategic and operational levels within the organisation. "PCL offers us the chance to explore new ways of collaborating with our partners and our communities, to design services that are based around the needs of residents. It is also allowing us to tap into the creativity and energy of Central Saint Martins staff and students, which is adding a completely fresh perspective to how we go about solving problems." Strategic Lead, Strategy & Change, Camden Council, 2016. "The probes worked really well on yesterday's visit. We left quite late because it helped the mother to think of the positives for her, about home and community - she said that it made her realise that the best option for her family would be to stay and make the most of the space. Of course her ideal option would be to move to a 3 bed. She also said that it felt as though you had all worked to personalise the tools which made her feel that we were there to help and understand and that even though she knew the underlying message was that she was unlikely to get a move quickly, she felt that the project was a positive move. She got quite emotional. But it was nice that the probes had helped her to think about her space differently. This will probably help with Homeswapper as it will lead to more positive adverts as she does have a lot to offer. She was very impressed with the skills swap - she was sure it would help bond the community." Lead Officer, Overcrowded Living project, Camden Council, 2016. Since the end of the funding period the value of the partnership between Camden Council and University of the Arts London has been recognised by both partner organisations and the work of the PCL has continued, delivering a further 20 collaborative projects involving research staff and students, LGOs, residents and community groups. The Camden Plan for 2018-2025 is framed under the narrative of 'shared endeavor' and the collaborative design approach of the PCL has been championed by the leader of the council and the Chief Executive as an exemplary way of working to achieve this goal. Since August 2019, PCL has been working with council (Camden Council), community (Somers Town Community Association/The Living Centre) and commercial (Lendlease) partners in the provision of a public space for creative collaboration. Co-funded by all partners, MAKE @ Story Garden (M@SG) is a versatile community studio space for creative collaboration with and by the community, bringing together the skills and talents of those who live and work in the Somers Town and Camden area to address local issues and social challenges. The space hosts a diverse programme of college-led, community-led and partner-led events and activities in culture, arts and design. The facilities available include: hand tools, kiln, printing equipment, knitting and sewing machines, and digital tools including 3d printers and a laser cutter. The project is situated within The Story Garden, a meanwhile community garden behind the British Library in Somers Town. Programmed activities aim to support achievement of the following objectives: • Support local communities to address the complex societal challenges we face such as overcrowded living, rough sleeping, mental health, air pollution, social isolation and loneliness through challenge driven action learning projects that co-define, co-design and co-deliver social innovations that may be sustained as social enterprises. • Improve social cohesion and well-being; reducing social isolation and loneliness by connecting people through collaborative creative activities that offer opportunities for shared experiences and meaningful encounters with others. • Increase employability and entrepreneurship through skills development, training and networking - both formal and informal - linked to challenge driven learning and creative collaborations that provide and support opportunities for residents to work with businesses & local organisations to develop skills and experiences that help them towards employment and stimulate social enterprise. • Support delivery of Camden's STEAM agenda by providing a making space as a prototype STEAM hub providing facilities and resources, accessible to schools and the wider community, to access digital making tools and to support the development of 'fusion' skills that combine arts & technology, cited as vital to future workforce development. These skills will be developed within the wider scope of creativity, critical thinking, problem-solving and collaborative teamwork that enable people to realise an idea from concept to prototype (e.g. object, product, system or service). • Support inclusive development of the local area by providing the physical and relational infrastructure required to directly involve local communities affected by re-development in shaping the public realm for Euston 2020 and HS2 developments via creative engagement and co-visioning of future scenarios. • Widen access to arts and culture through an inclusive programme of collaborative creative activities. Between October 2019 - March 2020 and August 2020 - October 2020 M@SG has delivered: • 159 workshops/activities/events • 1,454 people engaged in activities including • 296 students involved in supporting activities • 158 residents/stakeholders engaged in project development, and • 5 Graduate Residencies established In March 2021 M@SG transfers to community leadership with PCL/CSM continuing as a partner in the delivery of this community asset. Specifically, PCL has created two public and collaborative service innovations that have provided employment and volunteering opportunities for local people as well as addressing local needs and goals; a bespoke furniture design and manufacture service that utilises open designs and digital manufacture to provide bespoke furniture solutions to overcrowded and first time residents, and a community market stall service that provides a platform for developing employment and enterprise opportunities for residents through the activation of council owned markets. Both of these PCL projects are being scaled through M@SG. Learning from M@SG is contributing to the development and delivery of Camden Council's Neighbourhood Hubs programme. The methods and tools for supporting cross-sector collaboration in address to local challenges developed through PCL and M@SG are contributing to the programming and activation of council owned spaces which, whilst awaiting development, are being brought into use as sites for community-led social innovation and enterprise. The PCL and M@SG experience and networks have also contributed to the development and delivery of a successful EU Erasmus Plus Knowledge Alliance project [575063-EPP-1-2016-1-IT-EPPKA2-KA A knowledge Alliance between HEIs, Makers and Manufacturers to Boost Open Design & Manufacturing in Europe - OD&M] which enabled us to develop our challenge driven learning approach working in collaboration with international partners. The OD&M project enabled us to co-deliver a methodology for the co-design of challenge driven learning projects and a digital platform that supports their delivery (https://odmplatform.eu/odm-platform/). Also, to prototype a learning recognition framework and digital badging system that enables all actors engaged in the projects to have their learning recognised. These tools and methods are being used locally in the London Borough of Camden and internationally by consortium partners to support the evolution of challenge driven projects involving citizens, government, business and academia. Learnings from the PCL linked to 'instrastructuring' through collaborative design experiments and 'quadruple helix innovation' have informed the development of a successful EU H2020 bid [T Factor - Unleashing Future-Facing Urban Hubs Through Culture and Creativity-led Strategies of Waiting Time] which has been awarded. The T Factor project explores how collaborative cultural and creative practices delivered in the meanwhile (the time between masterplan approval and final delivery of planned development) can contribute to 'quadruple helix innovation/open innovation 2.0'- supporting government, community, academia and business to collaborate in address to complex challenges - including co-designing and co-delivering social innovations that can be sustained as social enterprises. Within the methodology of the T Factor project, masterplans for development zones in six European cities, including the Euston development in the London Borough of Camden, will be interrogated. The themes identified within the masterplans will be used as the focus for a collaborative process of 'rapid prototyping in real life' whereby local cross-sectoral stakeholders will create prototype spaces and services utilising meanwhile spaces within the developments. The learning from these prototypes will be fed back into the masterplans to inform more permanent provision. A challenge that the project has had to navigate has been the 'churn' in local government staffing linked to restructuring. This has meant that for several months between 2017-18 the key relational connections between the college and the council became weakened temporarily. This challenge also had positive impact in that during this period community agendas led more of the work of the PCL. Having re-established full partnership with council teams during 2018, we have been able to implement the collaborative activities described above and are now better placed than ever to experiment further with quadruple helix/open innovation 2.0 in response to the social challenges amplified and arising from austerity, Brexit and catastrophic climate change. In the last year Covid-19 has exacerbated inequalities in the London Borough of Camden as elsewhere. PCL has been able to mobilise staff and students to deliver a portfolio of Covid-19 response projects including service design for emergency food distribution, digital service development for volunteer recruitment and training, online arts activities to support housebound residents and those suffering from poor mental health. As restrictions lift in 2021, PCL is working with council and community partners to deliver a new initiative called the 'Public Studio'. The Public Studio aims to support Covid recovery via implementation of proposals developed by CSM/UAL students working in collaboration with council and community partners. The Public Studio is funded by UAL and project implementation is match funded by council and community partners. For this reason, Public Studio projects must align with and support partners existing project plans and objectives - bringing additional capacity to achieving partners' Covid recovery goals. The studio brings together CSM/UAL students and graduates to work with young people from the local area supported by college, council and VCS staff. Students and graduates are paid via UAL funding and local young people are paid via the Government's Kickstart scheme (within the Public Studio the Kickstart UK living wage will be 'topped up' to London living wage). A portfolio of projects will be delivered by the studio over 6 months between March - August 2021. Each project will be delivered by a project team including: • Student/Graduate Lead: responsible for day to day delivery of project • Partner Lead: responsible for supporting project delivery from the partner perspective. Giving feedback on proposals, making introductions to relevant people and organisations. Connecting and coordinating with partner programmes through which projects will be implemented. • Academic Supervisor: responsible for supporting the graduate and project team in the delivery of the project. • VCS Supervisor: responsible for hosting the local young person and supporting them and the project team in the delivery of the project. In this way the Public Studio prototypes a community-KTP model that aims to meet local goals and challenges and address inequalities. In 2022, the partnership with Camden, initiated through the PCL project, continues to provide opportunities for collaboration, leveraging the art and design capacity of CSM/UAL in address to the goals and challenges of the council and community partners. Most recently, CSM/UAL, through the PCL, has partnered council and community partners in a successful application to the GLA Future Neighbourhoods 2030 programme. The consortium has secured £1.2 million to fund a portfolio of 10 action research projects prototyping neighbourhood responses to climate emergency. CSM/UAL is a lead partner in two of these projects; Circular Economy Chalton Street Market: Co-designing and delivering two refill stalls and one circular economy market stall to encourage behaviour change among local residents around waste and reuse. Somers Town Estate Greening: Developing an 'estate-based green pop-up maker space' with access to tools and materials for local residents to develop and share skills to support greening activities and create a greener future. CSM/UAL, through PCL, is also contributing to the development of a neighbourhood strategy that will explore future project opportunities. |
| First Year Of Impact | 2016 |
| Sector | Communities and Social Services/Policy,Creative Economy,Digital/Communication/Information Technologies (including Software),Education,Government, Democracy and Justice |
| Impact Types | Societal,Economic,Policy & public services |
| Description | Citation in LB Camden report to cabinet on Libraries |
| Geographic Reach | Local/Municipal/Regional |
| Policy Influence Type | Citation in other policy documents |
| Impact | Presentation of findings to council stakeholders contributed to the decision not to close any public libraries in London Borough of Camden. Findings were synthesised into a digital publication and short film summarising the project. Findings were circulated to council stakeholders in digital form and via exhibition. |
| Description | Future Libraries creative consultation findings |
| Geographic Reach | Local/Municipal/Regional |
| Policy Influence Type | Influenced training of practitioners or researchers |
| Impact | Future Libraries' creative consultation findings identified and demonstrated a synergy between local governments' operational objectives around public engagement and consultation and design educations' learning objectives linked to experiential learning in relation to design research methods and research through design. Findings form Future Libraries' creative consultations have fed into a report to the Cabinet Office informing decisions made regarding the future of Camden's libraries. The success of the project has catalysed further requests for collaboration with design education in citizen engagement and consultation in diverse local government service contexts including Planning and Development Management and Youth Services. Camden Council Legal Services feedback was positive about the potential for this new collaborative, creative approach to public engagement and consultation and stated that: "Cabinet Office guidance (published in 2012) on consultation principles states in particular that 'the information that is provided as part of the consultation should be useful and accessible and the objectives of the consultation should be clear. Instead of a formal written consultation, consideration should be given to more informal ways of engaging with stakeholders, for example e-mail or web-based forums, public meetings, working groups, focus groups and surveys.' The work the students have undertaken clearly achieves this aim, and provided some very useful and insightful data we may not have otherwise obtained. Whilst I don't think it would replace more formal written consultations, I think it is a very useful supplement to this, and could be used in a variety of ways (e.g. to narrow down options that can then be consulted on in more detail, or engage with more difficult to reach groups as part of the consultation itself)." Following this feedback the approach has been shared with local government officers from many UK local authorities concerned with consultation and engagement via free workshops hosted by Camden Council and University of the Arts London. |
| Description | A Knowledge Alliance between HEIs, Makers and Manufacturers to Boost Open Design & Manufacturing in Europe - OD&M (Scheme: Cooperation for Innovation and the Exchange of Good Practices - Knowledge Alliances) |
| Amount | € 984,865 (EUR) |
| Funding ID | 575063-EPP-1-2016-1-IT-EPPKA2-KA |
| Organisation | European Commission |
| Sector | Public |
| Country | European Union (EU) |
| Start | 09/2017 |
| End | 09/2019 |
| Description | Camden Can Innovation Fund |
| Amount | £25,000 (GBP) |
| Organisation | Camden and Islington Public Health |
| Sector | Private |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 04/2018 |
| End | 03/2019 |
| Description | Camden Council: Tackling Social Isolation and Loneliness |
| Amount | £10,000 (GBP) |
| Organisation | London Borough of Camden |
| Sector | Public |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 10/2017 |
| End | 03/2018 |
| Description | Camden Impact Fund - Homelessness |
| Amount | £70,000 (GBP) |
| Organisation | London Borough of Camden |
| Sector | Public |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 05/2018 |
| End | 08/2019 |
| Description | T Factor - Unleashing Future-facing Urban Hubs Through Culture and Creativity-led Strategies of Waiting Time (Scheme: EU H2020-SC5-20-3019) |
| Amount | € 7,998,425 (EUR) |
| Organisation | European Commission H2020 |
| Sector | Public |
| Country | Belgium |
| Start | 06/2020 |
| End | 06/2024 |
| Title | Creative engagement tools |
| Description | The collaborative design experiments delivered within the portfolio of the PCL project included the development and application of a suite of Creative engagement tools. Creative engagement tools are devices or implements designed to carry out a specific function, in this case, to creatively engage users, members of the public or other stakeholders in design research to elicit information. Creative engagement, or co-design tools as Daam et al. describe them, value people as the experts of their own experiences (Daam et al., 2013). These designed socio-material interactions were seen to engage and assemble new publics in the exploration of needs and values relating to public service and public policy innovation. Examples from the projects include: • Stitch Map • Library Bureau • Library Expedition • Library Alchemy • Library Sticker Chart |
| Type Of Material | Improvements to research infrastructure |
| Year Produced | 2016 |
| Provided To Others? | Yes |
| Impact | The tools engaged new audiences in insight gathering that contributed to the design of public services and pubic policy in relation to libraries, youth clubs, waste management, planning and community resilience. versions of these tools were used by the Kings Cross Knowledge Quarter in engaging stakeholders in mapping the communities they engage with. |
| Title | Online questionnaire for Higher Education Institutions and local governments |
| Description | Online questionnaire for Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) and local governments. The purpose of this questionnaire was to increase understanding of HEI's role in supporting innovation practices within local government, through design collaborations. The questionnaire consisted of three sections (1) organisation background, (2) projects that best represent the way in which the organisation collaborates with local governments (3) relationship with the organisation with other local authorities. An invitation to complete the online questionnaire has been emailed to 159 universities and colleges across the United Kingdom. There are no ethical or legal constrains, as the questionnaire is voluntary and anonymous. A questionnaire for local governments was sent out in March 2016. |
| Type Of Material | Database/Collection of data |
| Provided To Others? | No |
| Impact | The questionnaire has been instrumental in identifying collaborations between design HEI and local government that is not included in available databases (such as RCUK, HEFCE, REF) and so addresses a gap in knowledge. This research database provides novel information regarding the types of collaboration between design HEI and local governments, including but not limited to: financial support, design disciplines, thematic areas, scale of the collaboration, design contribution to public sector innovation, pathways through engagement, pathways through collaboration, etc. This research will inform the development of mapping of design collaboration between UK universities and local governments, and typologies that seek to provide guidance and facilitate collaboration. |
| Description | Co-visioning the Future City Farm |
| Organisation | Somers Town Community Association |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Charity/Non Profit |
| PI Contribution | Kentish Town City Farm (KTCF) is located between the wards of Kentish Town and Gospel Oak in the London Borough of Camden. Established in 1972, Kentish Town City Farm was the first city farm to be established in the UK. Today it is a charity that provides opportunities for people to connect with animals, nature and the environment in the heart of Camden. The farm is an educational resource for school children to learn about animal physiology, where food comes from and the natural world. The farm also provides therapeutic horse riding to people with special needs and offers a green outdoor space and opportunities to get involved in farm related activities to local children and families in Kentish Town and Gospel Oak, as well as those that come to visit from further afield. When this project started KTCF was under threat as it was not financially sustainable. Adam Thorpe, PCL Principal Investigator, collaborated with Camden Council officers and KTCF staff to lead students from MA Industrial Design at Central Martins, UAL (as part of their Publics unit) to co-vision the future of the farm and co-design service and product interventions that could support the realisations of this future vision. The project delivered a series of workshops and events at the farm that assembled different stakeholders around the issue of 'the future of the city farm', and engaged that public to; • discover their experiences, thoughts, feelings, goals and challenges in relation to their present and future use of the city farm; • define some priorities to be addressed through the project; • co-develop some proposals in response to these priorities, and; • co-deliver these proposals as prototypes and provocations for future action to shape the future of the city farm. |
| Collaborator Contribution | Kentish Town City Farm staff, council officers and local residents participated in a series of workshops and Kentish Town City Farm staff supported the students as volunteers at the farm to enable their research. |
| Impact | The project delivered a new signage system for the farm, a new model for community food growing and a mobile market stall for taking the farm out into the community. A project report detailing the research has also been provided to the farm and council to support future funding applications. |
| Start Year | 2019 |
| Description | Co-visioning the Future City Farm |
| Organisation | University of the Arts London |
| Department | Central Saint Martins |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | Kentish Town City Farm (KTCF) is located between the wards of Kentish Town and Gospel Oak in the London Borough of Camden. Established in 1972, Kentish Town City Farm was the first city farm to be established in the UK. Today it is a charity that provides opportunities for people to connect with animals, nature and the environment in the heart of Camden. The farm is an educational resource for school children to learn about animal physiology, where food comes from and the natural world. The farm also provides therapeutic horse riding to people with special needs and offers a green outdoor space and opportunities to get involved in farm related activities to local children and families in Kentish Town and Gospel Oak, as well as those that come to visit from further afield. When this project started KTCF was under threat as it was not financially sustainable. Adam Thorpe, PCL Principal Investigator, collaborated with Camden Council officers and KTCF staff to lead students from MA Industrial Design at Central Martins, UAL (as part of their Publics unit) to co-vision the future of the farm and co-design service and product interventions that could support the realisations of this future vision. The project delivered a series of workshops and events at the farm that assembled different stakeholders around the issue of 'the future of the city farm', and engaged that public to; • discover their experiences, thoughts, feelings, goals and challenges in relation to their present and future use of the city farm; • define some priorities to be addressed through the project; • co-develop some proposals in response to these priorities, and; • co-deliver these proposals as prototypes and provocations for future action to shape the future of the city farm. |
| Collaborator Contribution | Kentish Town City Farm staff, council officers and local residents participated in a series of workshops and Kentish Town City Farm staff supported the students as volunteers at the farm to enable their research. |
| Impact | The project delivered a new signage system for the farm, a new model for community food growing and a mobile market stall for taking the farm out into the community. A project report detailing the research has also been provided to the farm and council to support future funding applications. |
| Start Year | 2019 |
| Description | Future Libraries project |
| Organisation | London Borough of Camden |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Public |
| PI Contribution | In the Future Libraries project, led by Professor Adam Thorpe, Public Collaboration Lab (PCL) research staff and MA Industrial Design students at Central Saint Martins worked with Camden Council officers and front line staff to design creative interactions that engage library users and other citizens in talking about their concerns, needs and desires relating to future libraries. Linked to Camden Council exploring opportunities for reshaping Camden's Library Services due to reduced funding from central government, the aim of the project was to deliver creative consultations to find out what Camden's citizens value about their libraries now, and what they hope for the libraries of the future. Students and researchers contributed to Camden Council's public engagement and consultation around this issue by delivering the following: • Project planning meetings with the Strategy and Change team and service leads to co-define and co-design the project activities. • Scoping research in and around Camden's libraries to gain an understanding of the current situation in regards to citizen and staff activities, patterns of usage and perceptions. • Workshops with library staff to check the research findings to date and get feedback on initial insights and establish the focus of further qualitative research into citizens' values in relation to the future of libraries. The focus of enquiry informed the briefs for the creative consultation tools and methods to be designed and implemented. • Design development meetings with the Library Transition Manager and consultation lead. As the designers developed the designs for the creative consultation tools and methods they were iteratively tested and reviewed by Library Service staff and members of the public. • 250 face-to-face consultations with members of the public in and around Camden's libraries. The final creative consultation tools were implemented in various locations in and around libraries throughout the London Borough of Camden. • Future Library workshops (x 2) with members of the public (at Swiss Cottage and St Pancras libraries). The findings of the consultation informed the design of a workshop that every citizen who participated in the consultation activities was invited to. These workshops explored strategies for how the values of citizens might be combined and met within Camden's libraries in future, in the face of forthcoming reductions in public funding. • A presentation of findings to council stakeholders. Findings were synthesised into a digital publication and short film summarising the project. • Circulation of findings to council stakeholders. The digital publication and short film were circulated within the council. • Dissemination of the creative consultation approach to council stakeholders via presentations at council stakeholder events. |
| Collaborator Contribution | In the Future Libraries project, Camden Council Strategy and Change staff worked with research staff to co-design the project and coordinate its delivery and the dissemination of findings. Strategy and Change staff also participated in evaluative interviews to help understand the impact of this way of working in collaboration with design HE. Strategy and Change team collaborators coordinated and participated in: • Planning meetings with research team and service leads. • Workshop with library staff. • Future Library workshops (x 2) with members of the public (at Swiss Cottage and St Pancras libraries). • A presentation of findings to council stakeholders. • Circulation of findings to council stakeholders. • Dissemination of the creative consultation approach to council stakeholders via presentations at council stakeholder events In addition to participating in the activities described above, alongside Strategy and Change team colleagues, Camden Council Libraries and Registration Services staff worked with research staff to support the student designers in the iterative development of their creative consultation tools, participating in tutorials and testing activities. Also, in coordinating engagement with front line staff and citizens in and around Camden's libraries (via ad-hoc creative engagement activities and programmed public workshops). |
| Impact | The outputs of the project included: • 5 x creative consultation tools ('Stitch Map' by Soizic Porhel and Marina Mellado, 'Library Bureau' by Andrea Nicholas De Montis, 'Library Expedition' by Bronka de Sage, 'Library Alchemy' by Joao Gil and 'Library Sticker Chart' by Lin Chen) • A future library 'game' (workshop method and tools) • Digital publication of the project and findings, circulated to Camden Council stakeholders • Short film of the project and findings (10 minutes), circulated to Camden Council stakeholders. Outcomes of the project include: • Creative consultation findings have fed into council decision making processes via a report to the Cabinet Office. • Creative consultation is understood to be a valuable addition to existing statutory consultation methods and tools within the London Borough of Camden. • Creative consultation is being considered as an addition to existing statutory consultation methods and tools within other local authorities following dissemination workshops attended by other UK councils. Furthermore, the Future Libraries project has prompted more enquiries for support with public engagement and consultation via collaboration with design education from within other departments of Camden Council (e.g. Integrated Youth Services, Planning, Building Control and Development Management). |
| Start Year | 2015 |
| Description | Future Libraries project |
| Organisation | London Borough of Camden |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Public |
| PI Contribution | In the Future Libraries project, led by Professor Adam Thorpe, Public Collaboration Lab (PCL) research staff and MA Industrial Design students at Central Saint Martins worked with Camden Council officers and front line staff to design creative interactions that engage library users and other citizens in talking about their concerns, needs and desires relating to future libraries. Linked to Camden Council exploring opportunities for reshaping Camden's Library Services due to reduced funding from central government, the aim of the project was to deliver creative consultations to find out what Camden's citizens value about their libraries now, and what they hope for the libraries of the future. Students and researchers contributed to Camden Council's public engagement and consultation around this issue by delivering the following: • Project planning meetings with the Strategy and Change team and service leads to co-define and co-design the project activities. • Scoping research in and around Camden's libraries to gain an understanding of the current situation in regards to citizen and staff activities, patterns of usage and perceptions. • Workshops with library staff to check the research findings to date and get feedback on initial insights and establish the focus of further qualitative research into citizens' values in relation to the future of libraries. The focus of enquiry informed the briefs for the creative consultation tools and methods to be designed and implemented. • Design development meetings with the Library Transition Manager and consultation lead. As the designers developed the designs for the creative consultation tools and methods they were iteratively tested and reviewed by Library Service staff and members of the public. • 250 face-to-face consultations with members of the public in and around Camden's libraries. The final creative consultation tools were implemented in various locations in and around libraries throughout the London Borough of Camden. • Future Library workshops (x 2) with members of the public (at Swiss Cottage and St Pancras libraries). The findings of the consultation informed the design of a workshop that every citizen who participated in the consultation activities was invited to. These workshops explored strategies for how the values of citizens might be combined and met within Camden's libraries in future, in the face of forthcoming reductions in public funding. • A presentation of findings to council stakeholders. Findings were synthesised into a digital publication and short film summarising the project. • Circulation of findings to council stakeholders. The digital publication and short film were circulated within the council. • Dissemination of the creative consultation approach to council stakeholders via presentations at council stakeholder events. |
| Collaborator Contribution | In the Future Libraries project, Camden Council Strategy and Change staff worked with research staff to co-design the project and coordinate its delivery and the dissemination of findings. Strategy and Change staff also participated in evaluative interviews to help understand the impact of this way of working in collaboration with design HE. Strategy and Change team collaborators coordinated and participated in: • Planning meetings with research team and service leads. • Workshop with library staff. • Future Library workshops (x 2) with members of the public (at Swiss Cottage and St Pancras libraries). • A presentation of findings to council stakeholders. • Circulation of findings to council stakeholders. • Dissemination of the creative consultation approach to council stakeholders via presentations at council stakeholder events In addition to participating in the activities described above, alongside Strategy and Change team colleagues, Camden Council Libraries and Registration Services staff worked with research staff to support the student designers in the iterative development of their creative consultation tools, participating in tutorials and testing activities. Also, in coordinating engagement with front line staff and citizens in and around Camden's libraries (via ad-hoc creative engagement activities and programmed public workshops). |
| Impact | The outputs of the project included: • 5 x creative consultation tools ('Stitch Map' by Soizic Porhel and Marina Mellado, 'Library Bureau' by Andrea Nicholas De Montis, 'Library Expedition' by Bronka de Sage, 'Library Alchemy' by Joao Gil and 'Library Sticker Chart' by Lin Chen) • A future library 'game' (workshop method and tools) • Digital publication of the project and findings, circulated to Camden Council stakeholders • Short film of the project and findings (10 minutes), circulated to Camden Council stakeholders. Outcomes of the project include: • Creative consultation findings have fed into council decision making processes via a report to the Cabinet Office. • Creative consultation is understood to be a valuable addition to existing statutory consultation methods and tools within the London Borough of Camden. • Creative consultation is being considered as an addition to existing statutory consultation methods and tools within other local authorities following dissemination workshops attended by other UK councils. Furthermore, the Future Libraries project has prompted more enquiries for support with public engagement and consultation via collaboration with design education from within other departments of Camden Council (e.g. Integrated Youth Services, Planning, Building Control and Development Management). |
| Start Year | 2015 |
| Description | Health and Wellbeing project |
| Organisation | Camden and Islington Public Health |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Private |
| PI Contribution | This MA Narrative Environments project aimed to develop community insight and highlight opportunities for action, investigating individuals' stories around the relationship between their physical activity, their diet and their environment. The 'environment' goes beyond traditional definitions of the physical environment to include also the social, cultural, economic and psychological domains. The Public Collaboration Lab (PCL) provided a de-risked space for council staff, university staff, students and citizens to collaborate. The research team, led by Professor Adam Thorpe, taught MA Narrative Environments students at Central Saint Martins participatory and collaborative design-led approaches to engage citizens and other societal actors in the co-discovery of local issues and insights, the co-definition of local challenges and opportunities and the co-design and co-delivery of public interventions and services around the issues of health and wellbeing in St Pancras and Somers Town. |
| Collaborator Contribution | The Healthy Living Partnership, led by officers from Islington and Camden Health and in partnership with local stakeholders, provided community insights. MA Narrative Environments students provided a bridge between a range of different organisations and individuals. They mobilised citizens as experts by experience, as active collaborators and service participants as well as users, recognising citizens as both people with needs and as assets in meeting their own and each other's needs. Finally they articulated and visualised the narratives of local people that are seldom heard. |
| Impact | tbc |
| Start Year | 2017 |
| Description | Healthy Living in Somers Town |
| Organisation | Living Centre Clinic |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Private |
| PI Contribution | The Healthy Living Partnership is led by officers from Islington and Camden Health in partnership with local stakeholders. It aims to increase the proportion of residents from St Pancras and Somers Town wards in Camden who can eat well and stay physically active. Ultimately, the partnership aims to support health and wellbeing and to address the root causes of obesity. The partnership is working over the next three years to deliver a series of activities to meet three overarching aims: 1) To work within the St Pancras and Somers Town communities to understand the barriers to physical activity and a healthy diet, and the local assets that can be used to support healthier lives. This will involve working collaboratively across all levels, from organisations that influence the health and wellbeing environment to individual community members. 2) Based on those identified barriers and assets, to work with the local community and with local services such as health, education, play and leisure, businesses, and planning to shape and develop the environment, the service offer, the community's assets and other key determinants in order to more effectively meet and support the community's needs and improve health and wellbeing outcomes. 3) To evaluate and gather learning from this approach to inform both area-specific and borough wide future priorities, service developments and ways of working. This learning will help to further strengthen and enhance the delivery of Camden's ambition to make the borough a place where everyone has the opportunity to achieve and maintain a healthy weight. The Healthy Living in Somers Town project sits within the first aim of the partnership: developing community insight and highlighting opportunities for action. Groups of students, supported by researchers, worked with members/service users of the Living Centre, Somers Town Community Association and St. Pancras Community Centre to uncover and co-communicate individuals' stories around the relationship between their physical activity, their diet and their environment. The 'environment' goes beyond traditional definitions of the physical environment to include also the social, cultural, economic and psychological domains. It is important to note that whilst reducing obesity was a focus of the work, engagement with residents discussed 'healthy living and wellbeing' rather than 'obesity' per se. The project was led by Professor Adam Thorpe (Principle Investigator with the Public Collaboration Lab) and delivered a series of engagement and collaborative workshops with residents to contribute to the co-discovery of local social challenges to health and wellbeing and the co-creation of a public exhibition in the Living Centre that served as a 'creative consultation' with local people and publics to share the publics' concerns. |
| Collaborator Contribution | The partners contributed to co-ordinating workshops with their members and supported the student team in synthesising their findings. London Borough of Camden's Public Health team led the briefing of insights into local social challenges to health and wellbeing gained through the project. |
| Impact | 6 x Workshops 4 x Creative consultation tools. 1 x Public exhibition at Living Centre. Insights into barriers to healthy diet and active lifestyles in Somers Town and St Pancras ward that informed local public health strategy. 1 x Further application to the Camden Can Innovation Fund with proposal for a Cooperative Fruit and Veg stall for Carlton Street, Somers Town (awaiting outcome of application). The insights around barriers to healthy diet and active lifestyles for people living in the Somers Town and St Pancras ward of Camden contributed to an application to the Islington and Camden Public Health 'Camden Can Innovation Fund' for a 'People's Fruit and Veg stall'. The application was successful resulting in £25k funding which was used to co-create a community fruit and veg stall delivered as a social enterprise. |
| Start Year | 2017 |
| Description | Healthy Living in Somers Town |
| Organisation | London Borough of Camden |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Public |
| PI Contribution | The Healthy Living Partnership is led by officers from Islington and Camden Health in partnership with local stakeholders. It aims to increase the proportion of residents from St Pancras and Somers Town wards in Camden who can eat well and stay physically active. Ultimately, the partnership aims to support health and wellbeing and to address the root causes of obesity. The partnership is working over the next three years to deliver a series of activities to meet three overarching aims: 1) To work within the St Pancras and Somers Town communities to understand the barriers to physical activity and a healthy diet, and the local assets that can be used to support healthier lives. This will involve working collaboratively across all levels, from organisations that influence the health and wellbeing environment to individual community members. 2) Based on those identified barriers and assets, to work with the local community and with local services such as health, education, play and leisure, businesses, and planning to shape and develop the environment, the service offer, the community's assets and other key determinants in order to more effectively meet and support the community's needs and improve health and wellbeing outcomes. 3) To evaluate and gather learning from this approach to inform both area-specific and borough wide future priorities, service developments and ways of working. This learning will help to further strengthen and enhance the delivery of Camden's ambition to make the borough a place where everyone has the opportunity to achieve and maintain a healthy weight. The Healthy Living in Somers Town project sits within the first aim of the partnership: developing community insight and highlighting opportunities for action. Groups of students, supported by researchers, worked with members/service users of the Living Centre, Somers Town Community Association and St. Pancras Community Centre to uncover and co-communicate individuals' stories around the relationship between their physical activity, their diet and their environment. The 'environment' goes beyond traditional definitions of the physical environment to include also the social, cultural, economic and psychological domains. It is important to note that whilst reducing obesity was a focus of the work, engagement with residents discussed 'healthy living and wellbeing' rather than 'obesity' per se. The project was led by Professor Adam Thorpe (Principle Investigator with the Public Collaboration Lab) and delivered a series of engagement and collaborative workshops with residents to contribute to the co-discovery of local social challenges to health and wellbeing and the co-creation of a public exhibition in the Living Centre that served as a 'creative consultation' with local people and publics to share the publics' concerns. |
| Collaborator Contribution | The partners contributed to co-ordinating workshops with their members and supported the student team in synthesising their findings. London Borough of Camden's Public Health team led the briefing of insights into local social challenges to health and wellbeing gained through the project. |
| Impact | 6 x Workshops 4 x Creative consultation tools. 1 x Public exhibition at Living Centre. Insights into barriers to healthy diet and active lifestyles in Somers Town and St Pancras ward that informed local public health strategy. 1 x Further application to the Camden Can Innovation Fund with proposal for a Cooperative Fruit and Veg stall for Carlton Street, Somers Town (awaiting outcome of application). The insights around barriers to healthy diet and active lifestyles for people living in the Somers Town and St Pancras ward of Camden contributed to an application to the Islington and Camden Public Health 'Camden Can Innovation Fund' for a 'People's Fruit and Veg stall'. The application was successful resulting in £25k funding which was used to co-create a community fruit and veg stall delivered as a social enterprise. |
| Start Year | 2017 |
| Description | Healthy Living in Somers Town |
| Organisation | Saint Pancras Community Association |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Charity/Non Profit |
| PI Contribution | The Healthy Living Partnership is led by officers from Islington and Camden Health in partnership with local stakeholders. It aims to increase the proportion of residents from St Pancras and Somers Town wards in Camden who can eat well and stay physically active. Ultimately, the partnership aims to support health and wellbeing and to address the root causes of obesity. The partnership is working over the next three years to deliver a series of activities to meet three overarching aims: 1) To work within the St Pancras and Somers Town communities to understand the barriers to physical activity and a healthy diet, and the local assets that can be used to support healthier lives. This will involve working collaboratively across all levels, from organisations that influence the health and wellbeing environment to individual community members. 2) Based on those identified barriers and assets, to work with the local community and with local services such as health, education, play and leisure, businesses, and planning to shape and develop the environment, the service offer, the community's assets and other key determinants in order to more effectively meet and support the community's needs and improve health and wellbeing outcomes. 3) To evaluate and gather learning from this approach to inform both area-specific and borough wide future priorities, service developments and ways of working. This learning will help to further strengthen and enhance the delivery of Camden's ambition to make the borough a place where everyone has the opportunity to achieve and maintain a healthy weight. The Healthy Living in Somers Town project sits within the first aim of the partnership: developing community insight and highlighting opportunities for action. Groups of students, supported by researchers, worked with members/service users of the Living Centre, Somers Town Community Association and St. Pancras Community Centre to uncover and co-communicate individuals' stories around the relationship between their physical activity, their diet and their environment. The 'environment' goes beyond traditional definitions of the physical environment to include also the social, cultural, economic and psychological domains. It is important to note that whilst reducing obesity was a focus of the work, engagement with residents discussed 'healthy living and wellbeing' rather than 'obesity' per se. The project was led by Professor Adam Thorpe (Principle Investigator with the Public Collaboration Lab) and delivered a series of engagement and collaborative workshops with residents to contribute to the co-discovery of local social challenges to health and wellbeing and the co-creation of a public exhibition in the Living Centre that served as a 'creative consultation' with local people and publics to share the publics' concerns. |
| Collaborator Contribution | The partners contributed to co-ordinating workshops with their members and supported the student team in synthesising their findings. London Borough of Camden's Public Health team led the briefing of insights into local social challenges to health and wellbeing gained through the project. |
| Impact | 6 x Workshops 4 x Creative consultation tools. 1 x Public exhibition at Living Centre. Insights into barriers to healthy diet and active lifestyles in Somers Town and St Pancras ward that informed local public health strategy. 1 x Further application to the Camden Can Innovation Fund with proposal for a Cooperative Fruit and Veg stall for Carlton Street, Somers Town (awaiting outcome of application). The insights around barriers to healthy diet and active lifestyles for people living in the Somers Town and St Pancras ward of Camden contributed to an application to the Islington and Camden Public Health 'Camden Can Innovation Fund' for a 'People's Fruit and Veg stall'. The application was successful resulting in £25k funding which was used to co-create a community fruit and veg stall delivered as a social enterprise. |
| Start Year | 2017 |
| Description | Healthy Living in Somers Town |
| Organisation | Somers Town Community Association |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Charity/Non Profit |
| PI Contribution | The Healthy Living Partnership is led by officers from Islington and Camden Health in partnership with local stakeholders. It aims to increase the proportion of residents from St Pancras and Somers Town wards in Camden who can eat well and stay physically active. Ultimately, the partnership aims to support health and wellbeing and to address the root causes of obesity. The partnership is working over the next three years to deliver a series of activities to meet three overarching aims: 1) To work within the St Pancras and Somers Town communities to understand the barriers to physical activity and a healthy diet, and the local assets that can be used to support healthier lives. This will involve working collaboratively across all levels, from organisations that influence the health and wellbeing environment to individual community members. 2) Based on those identified barriers and assets, to work with the local community and with local services such as health, education, play and leisure, businesses, and planning to shape and develop the environment, the service offer, the community's assets and other key determinants in order to more effectively meet and support the community's needs and improve health and wellbeing outcomes. 3) To evaluate and gather learning from this approach to inform both area-specific and borough wide future priorities, service developments and ways of working. This learning will help to further strengthen and enhance the delivery of Camden's ambition to make the borough a place where everyone has the opportunity to achieve and maintain a healthy weight. The Healthy Living in Somers Town project sits within the first aim of the partnership: developing community insight and highlighting opportunities for action. Groups of students, supported by researchers, worked with members/service users of the Living Centre, Somers Town Community Association and St. Pancras Community Centre to uncover and co-communicate individuals' stories around the relationship between their physical activity, their diet and their environment. The 'environment' goes beyond traditional definitions of the physical environment to include also the social, cultural, economic and psychological domains. It is important to note that whilst reducing obesity was a focus of the work, engagement with residents discussed 'healthy living and wellbeing' rather than 'obesity' per se. The project was led by Professor Adam Thorpe (Principle Investigator with the Public Collaboration Lab) and delivered a series of engagement and collaborative workshops with residents to contribute to the co-discovery of local social challenges to health and wellbeing and the co-creation of a public exhibition in the Living Centre that served as a 'creative consultation' with local people and publics to share the publics' concerns. |
| Collaborator Contribution | The partners contributed to co-ordinating workshops with their members and supported the student team in synthesising their findings. London Borough of Camden's Public Health team led the briefing of insights into local social challenges to health and wellbeing gained through the project. |
| Impact | 6 x Workshops 4 x Creative consultation tools. 1 x Public exhibition at Living Centre. Insights into barriers to healthy diet and active lifestyles in Somers Town and St Pancras ward that informed local public health strategy. 1 x Further application to the Camden Can Innovation Fund with proposal for a Cooperative Fruit and Veg stall for Carlton Street, Somers Town (awaiting outcome of application). The insights around barriers to healthy diet and active lifestyles for people living in the Somers Town and St Pancras ward of Camden contributed to an application to the Islington and Camden Public Health 'Camden Can Innovation Fund' for a 'People's Fruit and Veg stall'. The application was successful resulting in £25k funding which was used to co-create a community fruit and veg stall delivered as a social enterprise. |
| Start Year | 2017 |
| Description | Home Library Service project |
| Organisation | Age UK |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Charity/Non Profit |
| PI Contribution | The Home Library Service (HLS) project, led by Dr Alison Prendiville, was coordinated by the Public Collaboration Lab (PCL) research team and paired seven MDes Service Design Innovation students from London College of Communication with HLS front line officers. The aim of the project was to explore the future of Camden's HLS through Service Design thinking methods and tools as part of a collaborative project. The students co-designed how the HLS may be reconfigured in the future through new relationships and technology, exploring opportunities for the service to be utilised to address other societal problems such as loneliness and related social care issues. Extensive prototyping and co-design methods were used to drive the project forward. |
| Collaborator Contribution | Camden Council's HLS team provided time to support students in their ethnographic work. They supported the students in training them to become HLS team members and were also involved in guiding the students on user requirements and HLS protocols. The Strategy and Change team members offered their time to understand the challenges facing current services, provided support with information and initiated meetings between key council officers and the students undertaking the research. They also gave their time to feedback on ideas and developments as the project progressed. Age UK offered space for co-design workshops, access to users and key members within the community. Age UK staff also attended presentations and provided input at workshops on issues facing the elderly within the community. North London Cares provided assistance to the students to inform the study, again through access to key staff and service users. |
| Impact | The students' outcomes were: • Ethnographic work on the HLS and its users. • A presentation to council officers from across departments on the value of the HLS and feedback on the fieldwork. • Interviews with a wide range of stakeholders involved in Adult Social Care. • Workshop at the Ideas Lab in a neighbouring London borough with elderly users. • Workshop at Age UK with non-HLS users - a co-design session was held at an Age UK coffee morning where the main findings were presented. The students then separated and showed individual concepts to different groups of elderly people. The exploration of possible service opportunities through technology, volunteers and as a form of Adult Social Care through a workshop with council officers from different departments and HLS team members meant that one of the project outcomes was that these service opportunities were fed into a consultation document on the future of the HLS and delivered to the Cabinet Office in October 2015. |
| Start Year | 2015 |
| Description | Home Library Service project |
| Organisation | London Borough of Camden |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Public |
| PI Contribution | The Home Library Service (HLS) project, led by Dr Alison Prendiville, was coordinated by the Public Collaboration Lab (PCL) research team and paired seven MDes Service Design Innovation students from London College of Communication with HLS front line officers. The aim of the project was to explore the future of Camden's HLS through Service Design thinking methods and tools as part of a collaborative project. The students co-designed how the HLS may be reconfigured in the future through new relationships and technology, exploring opportunities for the service to be utilised to address other societal problems such as loneliness and related social care issues. Extensive prototyping and co-design methods were used to drive the project forward. |
| Collaborator Contribution | Camden Council's HLS team provided time to support students in their ethnographic work. They supported the students in training them to become HLS team members and were also involved in guiding the students on user requirements and HLS protocols. The Strategy and Change team members offered their time to understand the challenges facing current services, provided support with information and initiated meetings between key council officers and the students undertaking the research. They also gave their time to feedback on ideas and developments as the project progressed. Age UK offered space for co-design workshops, access to users and key members within the community. Age UK staff also attended presentations and provided input at workshops on issues facing the elderly within the community. North London Cares provided assistance to the students to inform the study, again through access to key staff and service users. |
| Impact | The students' outcomes were: • Ethnographic work on the HLS and its users. • A presentation to council officers from across departments on the value of the HLS and feedback on the fieldwork. • Interviews with a wide range of stakeholders involved in Adult Social Care. • Workshop at the Ideas Lab in a neighbouring London borough with elderly users. • Workshop at Age UK with non-HLS users - a co-design session was held at an Age UK coffee morning where the main findings were presented. The students then separated and showed individual concepts to different groups of elderly people. The exploration of possible service opportunities through technology, volunteers and as a form of Adult Social Care through a workshop with council officers from different departments and HLS team members meant that one of the project outcomes was that these service opportunities were fed into a consultation document on the future of the HLS and delivered to the Cabinet Office in October 2015. |
| Start Year | 2015 |
| Description | Home Library Service project |
| Organisation | London Borough of Camden |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Public |
| PI Contribution | The Home Library Service (HLS) project, led by Dr Alison Prendiville, was coordinated by the Public Collaboration Lab (PCL) research team and paired seven MDes Service Design Innovation students from London College of Communication with HLS front line officers. The aim of the project was to explore the future of Camden's HLS through Service Design thinking methods and tools as part of a collaborative project. The students co-designed how the HLS may be reconfigured in the future through new relationships and technology, exploring opportunities for the service to be utilised to address other societal problems such as loneliness and related social care issues. Extensive prototyping and co-design methods were used to drive the project forward. |
| Collaborator Contribution | Camden Council's HLS team provided time to support students in their ethnographic work. They supported the students in training them to become HLS team members and were also involved in guiding the students on user requirements and HLS protocols. The Strategy and Change team members offered their time to understand the challenges facing current services, provided support with information and initiated meetings between key council officers and the students undertaking the research. They also gave their time to feedback on ideas and developments as the project progressed. Age UK offered space for co-design workshops, access to users and key members within the community. Age UK staff also attended presentations and provided input at workshops on issues facing the elderly within the community. North London Cares provided assistance to the students to inform the study, again through access to key staff and service users. |
| Impact | The students' outcomes were: • Ethnographic work on the HLS and its users. • A presentation to council officers from across departments on the value of the HLS and feedback on the fieldwork. • Interviews with a wide range of stakeholders involved in Adult Social Care. • Workshop at the Ideas Lab in a neighbouring London borough with elderly users. • Workshop at Age UK with non-HLS users - a co-design session was held at an Age UK coffee morning where the main findings were presented. The students then separated and showed individual concepts to different groups of elderly people. The exploration of possible service opportunities through technology, volunteers and as a form of Adult Social Care through a workshop with council officers from different departments and HLS team members meant that one of the project outcomes was that these service opportunities were fed into a consultation document on the future of the HLS and delivered to the Cabinet Office in October 2015. |
| Start Year | 2015 |
| Description | Let's Sort it Out! project |
| Organisation | Egbert H Taylor & Company Limited |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Private |
| PI Contribution | The 'Let's Sort it Out! - Tackling Waste Contamination to Increase Recycling' project involved Stage 2 BA Product Design students at Central Saint Martins who worked with dutyholders and stakeholders at Camden's Fellows Road and Chalcots estates as the council was exploring opportunities for reshaping Camden's Waste Management Services due to the reduction in their waste collection budget. The brief was set by the Public Collaboration Lab (PCL) research team, led by Professor Adam Thorpe, who worked with the students to develop participants' understanding of user behaviours and experiences through the application of participatory, human centred design approaches and methods including user observations and collaborative prototyping and testing. |
| Collaborator Contribution | London Borough of Camden Environmental Services and Housing teams supported the coordination and delivery of the project, Tenants and Residents Association (TRA) leads for the estates involved supported the community engagement and co-design workshop activity in the participating estates, hosted in the TRA halls. Briefing input and critical feedback in design proposals at key stages of the project was provided by Veolia Recycling and Waste Services, Leafed Environmental and Taylor bin manufacturers. |
| Impact | Tbc |
| Start Year | 2017 |
| Description | Let's Sort it Out! project |
| Organisation | Leafield Environmental Ltd |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Private |
| PI Contribution | The 'Let's Sort it Out! - Tackling Waste Contamination to Increase Recycling' project involved Stage 2 BA Product Design students at Central Saint Martins who worked with dutyholders and stakeholders at Camden's Fellows Road and Chalcots estates as the council was exploring opportunities for reshaping Camden's Waste Management Services due to the reduction in their waste collection budget. The brief was set by the Public Collaboration Lab (PCL) research team, led by Professor Adam Thorpe, who worked with the students to develop participants' understanding of user behaviours and experiences through the application of participatory, human centred design approaches and methods including user observations and collaborative prototyping and testing. |
| Collaborator Contribution | London Borough of Camden Environmental Services and Housing teams supported the coordination and delivery of the project, Tenants and Residents Association (TRA) leads for the estates involved supported the community engagement and co-design workshop activity in the participating estates, hosted in the TRA halls. Briefing input and critical feedback in design proposals at key stages of the project was provided by Veolia Recycling and Waste Services, Leafed Environmental and Taylor bin manufacturers. |
| Impact | Tbc |
| Start Year | 2017 |
| Description | Let's Sort it Out! project |
| Organisation | London Borough of Camden |
| Department | Strategy and Change |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Public |
| PI Contribution | The 'Let's Sort it Out! - Tackling Waste Contamination to Increase Recycling' project involved Stage 2 BA Product Design students at Central Saint Martins who worked with dutyholders and stakeholders at Camden's Fellows Road and Chalcots estates as the council was exploring opportunities for reshaping Camden's Waste Management Services due to the reduction in their waste collection budget. The brief was set by the Public Collaboration Lab (PCL) research team, led by Professor Adam Thorpe, who worked with the students to develop participants' understanding of user behaviours and experiences through the application of participatory, human centred design approaches and methods including user observations and collaborative prototyping and testing. |
| Collaborator Contribution | London Borough of Camden Environmental Services and Housing teams supported the coordination and delivery of the project, Tenants and Residents Association (TRA) leads for the estates involved supported the community engagement and co-design workshop activity in the participating estates, hosted in the TRA halls. Briefing input and critical feedback in design proposals at key stages of the project was provided by Veolia Recycling and Waste Services, Leafed Environmental and Taylor bin manufacturers. |
| Impact | Tbc |
| Start Year | 2017 |
| Description | Let's Sort it Out! project |
| Organisation | London Borough of Camden |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Public |
| PI Contribution | The 'Let's Sort it Out! - Tackling Waste Contamination to Increase Recycling' project involved Stage 2 BA Product Design students at Central Saint Martins who worked with dutyholders and stakeholders at Camden's Fellows Road and Chalcots estates as the council was exploring opportunities for reshaping Camden's Waste Management Services due to the reduction in their waste collection budget. The brief was set by the Public Collaboration Lab (PCL) research team, led by Professor Adam Thorpe, who worked with the students to develop participants' understanding of user behaviours and experiences through the application of participatory, human centred design approaches and methods including user observations and collaborative prototyping and testing. |
| Collaborator Contribution | London Borough of Camden Environmental Services and Housing teams supported the coordination and delivery of the project, Tenants and Residents Association (TRA) leads for the estates involved supported the community engagement and co-design workshop activity in the participating estates, hosted in the TRA halls. Briefing input and critical feedback in design proposals at key stages of the project was provided by Veolia Recycling and Waste Services, Leafed Environmental and Taylor bin manufacturers. |
| Impact | Tbc |
| Start Year | 2017 |
| Description | Let's Sort it Out! project |
| Organisation | Veolia Environmental Services |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Private |
| PI Contribution | The 'Let's Sort it Out! - Tackling Waste Contamination to Increase Recycling' project involved Stage 2 BA Product Design students at Central Saint Martins who worked with dutyholders and stakeholders at Camden's Fellows Road and Chalcots estates as the council was exploring opportunities for reshaping Camden's Waste Management Services due to the reduction in their waste collection budget. The brief was set by the Public Collaboration Lab (PCL) research team, led by Professor Adam Thorpe, who worked with the students to develop participants' understanding of user behaviours and experiences through the application of participatory, human centred design approaches and methods including user observations and collaborative prototyping and testing. |
| Collaborator Contribution | London Borough of Camden Environmental Services and Housing teams supported the coordination and delivery of the project, Tenants and Residents Association (TRA) leads for the estates involved supported the community engagement and co-design workshop activity in the participating estates, hosted in the TRA halls. Briefing input and critical feedback in design proposals at key stages of the project was provided by Veolia Recycling and Waste Services, Leafed Environmental and Taylor bin manufacturers. |
| Impact | Tbc |
| Start Year | 2017 |
| Description | MAKE@StoryGarden |
| Organisation | Camden Council |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Public |
| PI Contribution | Building on the learning and success of the MAKE in Camden pop-up (June 2018), PCL has been working with Camden Council, Somers Town Community Association / The Living Centre and the developer Lendlease to co-design and deliver a public space for creative collaboration. Co-funded by all partners, MAKE@StoryGarden (M@SG) is a versatile (and mobile) community studio/maker space for creative collaboration with and by the community. The space is comprised of 3 shipping containers and a decking area which provides a platform to bring together the skills and talents of those who live and work in the Somers Town and Camden area to address local issues and social challenges. The space is situated within The Story Garden, a meanwhile community garden located behind the British Library in Somers Town. M@SG hosts a diverse programme of college-led, community-led or partner-led events and activities in culture, arts and design. The facilities available to participants include: hand tools, kiln, printing equipment, knitting and sewing machines, and digital tools including 3d printers and a laser cutter. M@SG also provides a Programme Manager, 2 part-time Technicians and a part-time Designer in Residence to support delivery of projects and activities through the space. The space will be open for 1.5 years. In 2021 there is the option to move the facility to a new site in the heart of the Euston HS2 development area - neighbouring the Construction Skills College that will be built on the site to train local people with construction skills so as to equip them for employment in the development that will occupy their neighbourhoods for the next 20 years. The programmed activities and collaborative projects delivered through M@SG support achievement of the following objectives of project partners: • Support local communities to address the complex societal challenges we face such as overcrowded living, rough sleeping, mental health, air pollution, social isolation and loneliness through challenge driven action learning projects that co-define, co-design and co-deliver social innovations that may be sustained as social enterprises. • Improve social cohesion and well-being; reducing social isolation and loneliness by connecting people through collaborative creative activities that offer opportunities for shared experiences and meaningful encounters with others. • Increase employability and entrepreneurship through skills development, training and networking - both formal and informal - linked to challenge driven learning and creative collaborations that provide and support opportunities for residents to work with businesses & local organisations to develop skills and experiences that help them towards employment and stimulate social enterprise. • Support delivery of Camden's STEAM agenda by providing a making space as a prototype STEAM hub providing facilities and resources, accessible to schools and the wider community, to access digital making tools and to support the development of 'fusion' skills that combine arts & technology, cited as vital to future workforce development. These skills will be developed within the wider scope of creativity, critical thinking, problem-solving and collaborative teamwork that enable people to realize an idea from concept to prototype (e.g. object, product, system or service). • Support inclusive development of the local area by providing the physical and relational infrastructure required to directly involve local communities affected by re-development in shaping the public realm for Euston 2020 and HS2 developments via creative engagement and co-visioning of future scenarios. • Widen access to arts and culture through an inclusive programme of collaborative creative activities. Learning from PCL and M@SG is contributing to the development and delivery of Camden Council's Neighbourhood Hubs programme. The methods and tools for supporting cross-sector collaboration in address to local challenges developed through PCL and M@SG are contributing to the programming and activation of council owned spaces which, whilst awaiting development, are being bought into use as sites for social innovation and enterprise. |
| Collaborator Contribution | Camden Council officers contribute to the co-design and co-delivery of projects, convening relevant stakeholders, participating in workshops and supporting implementation of outputs. Somers Town Community Association lead on community engagement and all community facing activities ensuring the needs and priorities of local people shape the evolution of the space and its programme of activities. Lendlease's emphasis is in addressing the theme of social isolation and loneliness, through their Loneliness Lab initiative, with the intention being that through collaborative projects with local stakeholders learning around how the design of public and shared space can create connectedness. Central Saint Martins/UAL lead on the management and coordination of the space and the programme. Building on the PCL's ethos of 'learning together by doing together', the CSM team engages students and academics within collaborative projects as well as developing research and KE opportunities through M@SG. |
| Impact | Between October 2019 and February 2020 M@SG has: • Delivered 99 workshops/activities/events • Engaged 1003 people in activities • Involved 262 students in supporting activities • Engaged 75 stakeholders in collaborative project development The outcomes of these outputs are being evaluated and will be reported on in due course. |
| Start Year | 2019 |
| Description | MAKE@StoryGarden |
| Organisation | Lendlease |
| Country | Australia |
| Sector | Private |
| PI Contribution | Building on the learning and success of the MAKE in Camden pop-up (June 2018), PCL has been working with Camden Council, Somers Town Community Association / The Living Centre and the developer Lendlease to co-design and deliver a public space for creative collaboration. Co-funded by all partners, MAKE@StoryGarden (M@SG) is a versatile (and mobile) community studio/maker space for creative collaboration with and by the community. The space is comprised of 3 shipping containers and a decking area which provides a platform to bring together the skills and talents of those who live and work in the Somers Town and Camden area to address local issues and social challenges. The space is situated within The Story Garden, a meanwhile community garden located behind the British Library in Somers Town. M@SG hosts a diverse programme of college-led, community-led or partner-led events and activities in culture, arts and design. The facilities available to participants include: hand tools, kiln, printing equipment, knitting and sewing machines, and digital tools including 3d printers and a laser cutter. M@SG also provides a Programme Manager, 2 part-time Technicians and a part-time Designer in Residence to support delivery of projects and activities through the space. The space will be open for 1.5 years. In 2021 there is the option to move the facility to a new site in the heart of the Euston HS2 development area - neighbouring the Construction Skills College that will be built on the site to train local people with construction skills so as to equip them for employment in the development that will occupy their neighbourhoods for the next 20 years. The programmed activities and collaborative projects delivered through M@SG support achievement of the following objectives of project partners: • Support local communities to address the complex societal challenges we face such as overcrowded living, rough sleeping, mental health, air pollution, social isolation and loneliness through challenge driven action learning projects that co-define, co-design and co-deliver social innovations that may be sustained as social enterprises. • Improve social cohesion and well-being; reducing social isolation and loneliness by connecting people through collaborative creative activities that offer opportunities for shared experiences and meaningful encounters with others. • Increase employability and entrepreneurship through skills development, training and networking - both formal and informal - linked to challenge driven learning and creative collaborations that provide and support opportunities for residents to work with businesses & local organisations to develop skills and experiences that help them towards employment and stimulate social enterprise. • Support delivery of Camden's STEAM agenda by providing a making space as a prototype STEAM hub providing facilities and resources, accessible to schools and the wider community, to access digital making tools and to support the development of 'fusion' skills that combine arts & technology, cited as vital to future workforce development. These skills will be developed within the wider scope of creativity, critical thinking, problem-solving and collaborative teamwork that enable people to realize an idea from concept to prototype (e.g. object, product, system or service). • Support inclusive development of the local area by providing the physical and relational infrastructure required to directly involve local communities affected by re-development in shaping the public realm for Euston 2020 and HS2 developments via creative engagement and co-visioning of future scenarios. • Widen access to arts and culture through an inclusive programme of collaborative creative activities. Learning from PCL and M@SG is contributing to the development and delivery of Camden Council's Neighbourhood Hubs programme. The methods and tools for supporting cross-sector collaboration in address to local challenges developed through PCL and M@SG are contributing to the programming and activation of council owned spaces which, whilst awaiting development, are being bought into use as sites for social innovation and enterprise. |
| Collaborator Contribution | Camden Council officers contribute to the co-design and co-delivery of projects, convening relevant stakeholders, participating in workshops and supporting implementation of outputs. Somers Town Community Association lead on community engagement and all community facing activities ensuring the needs and priorities of local people shape the evolution of the space and its programme of activities. Lendlease's emphasis is in addressing the theme of social isolation and loneliness, through their Loneliness Lab initiative, with the intention being that through collaborative projects with local stakeholders learning around how the design of public and shared space can create connectedness. Central Saint Martins/UAL lead on the management and coordination of the space and the programme. Building on the PCL's ethos of 'learning together by doing together', the CSM team engages students and academics within collaborative projects as well as developing research and KE opportunities through M@SG. |
| Impact | Between October 2019 and February 2020 M@SG has: • Delivered 99 workshops/activities/events • Engaged 1003 people in activities • Involved 262 students in supporting activities • Engaged 75 stakeholders in collaborative project development The outcomes of these outputs are being evaluated and will be reported on in due course. |
| Start Year | 2019 |
| Description | MAKE@StoryGarden |
| Organisation | Somers Town Community Association |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Charity/Non Profit |
| PI Contribution | Building on the learning and success of the MAKE in Camden pop-up (June 2018), PCL has been working with Camden Council, Somers Town Community Association / The Living Centre and the developer Lendlease to co-design and deliver a public space for creative collaboration. Co-funded by all partners, MAKE@StoryGarden (M@SG) is a versatile (and mobile) community studio/maker space for creative collaboration with and by the community. The space is comprised of 3 shipping containers and a decking area which provides a platform to bring together the skills and talents of those who live and work in the Somers Town and Camden area to address local issues and social challenges. The space is situated within The Story Garden, a meanwhile community garden located behind the British Library in Somers Town. M@SG hosts a diverse programme of college-led, community-led or partner-led events and activities in culture, arts and design. The facilities available to participants include: hand tools, kiln, printing equipment, knitting and sewing machines, and digital tools including 3d printers and a laser cutter. M@SG also provides a Programme Manager, 2 part-time Technicians and a part-time Designer in Residence to support delivery of projects and activities through the space. The space will be open for 1.5 years. In 2021 there is the option to move the facility to a new site in the heart of the Euston HS2 development area - neighbouring the Construction Skills College that will be built on the site to train local people with construction skills so as to equip them for employment in the development that will occupy their neighbourhoods for the next 20 years. The programmed activities and collaborative projects delivered through M@SG support achievement of the following objectives of project partners: • Support local communities to address the complex societal challenges we face such as overcrowded living, rough sleeping, mental health, air pollution, social isolation and loneliness through challenge driven action learning projects that co-define, co-design and co-deliver social innovations that may be sustained as social enterprises. • Improve social cohesion and well-being; reducing social isolation and loneliness by connecting people through collaborative creative activities that offer opportunities for shared experiences and meaningful encounters with others. • Increase employability and entrepreneurship through skills development, training and networking - both formal and informal - linked to challenge driven learning and creative collaborations that provide and support opportunities for residents to work with businesses & local organisations to develop skills and experiences that help them towards employment and stimulate social enterprise. • Support delivery of Camden's STEAM agenda by providing a making space as a prototype STEAM hub providing facilities and resources, accessible to schools and the wider community, to access digital making tools and to support the development of 'fusion' skills that combine arts & technology, cited as vital to future workforce development. These skills will be developed within the wider scope of creativity, critical thinking, problem-solving and collaborative teamwork that enable people to realize an idea from concept to prototype (e.g. object, product, system or service). • Support inclusive development of the local area by providing the physical and relational infrastructure required to directly involve local communities affected by re-development in shaping the public realm for Euston 2020 and HS2 developments via creative engagement and co-visioning of future scenarios. • Widen access to arts and culture through an inclusive programme of collaborative creative activities. Learning from PCL and M@SG is contributing to the development and delivery of Camden Council's Neighbourhood Hubs programme. The methods and tools for supporting cross-sector collaboration in address to local challenges developed through PCL and M@SG are contributing to the programming and activation of council owned spaces which, whilst awaiting development, are being bought into use as sites for social innovation and enterprise. |
| Collaborator Contribution | Camden Council officers contribute to the co-design and co-delivery of projects, convening relevant stakeholders, participating in workshops and supporting implementation of outputs. Somers Town Community Association lead on community engagement and all community facing activities ensuring the needs and priorities of local people shape the evolution of the space and its programme of activities. Lendlease's emphasis is in addressing the theme of social isolation and loneliness, through their Loneliness Lab initiative, with the intention being that through collaborative projects with local stakeholders learning around how the design of public and shared space can create connectedness. Central Saint Martins/UAL lead on the management and coordination of the space and the programme. Building on the PCL's ethos of 'learning together by doing together', the CSM team engages students and academics within collaborative projects as well as developing research and KE opportunities through M@SG. |
| Impact | Between October 2019 and February 2020 M@SG has: • Delivered 99 workshops/activities/events • Engaged 1003 people in activities • Involved 262 students in supporting activities • Engaged 75 stakeholders in collaborative project development The outcomes of these outputs are being evaluated and will be reported on in due course. |
| Start Year | 2019 |
| Description | MAKE@StoryGarden |
| Organisation | University of the Arts London |
| Department | Central Saint Martins |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | Building on the learning and success of the MAKE in Camden pop-up (June 2018), PCL has been working with Camden Council, Somers Town Community Association / The Living Centre and the developer Lendlease to co-design and deliver a public space for creative collaboration. Co-funded by all partners, MAKE@StoryGarden (M@SG) is a versatile (and mobile) community studio/maker space for creative collaboration with and by the community. The space is comprised of 3 shipping containers and a decking area which provides a platform to bring together the skills and talents of those who live and work in the Somers Town and Camden area to address local issues and social challenges. The space is situated within The Story Garden, a meanwhile community garden located behind the British Library in Somers Town. M@SG hosts a diverse programme of college-led, community-led or partner-led events and activities in culture, arts and design. The facilities available to participants include: hand tools, kiln, printing equipment, knitting and sewing machines, and digital tools including 3d printers and a laser cutter. M@SG also provides a Programme Manager, 2 part-time Technicians and a part-time Designer in Residence to support delivery of projects and activities through the space. The space will be open for 1.5 years. In 2021 there is the option to move the facility to a new site in the heart of the Euston HS2 development area - neighbouring the Construction Skills College that will be built on the site to train local people with construction skills so as to equip them for employment in the development that will occupy their neighbourhoods for the next 20 years. The programmed activities and collaborative projects delivered through M@SG support achievement of the following objectives of project partners: • Support local communities to address the complex societal challenges we face such as overcrowded living, rough sleeping, mental health, air pollution, social isolation and loneliness through challenge driven action learning projects that co-define, co-design and co-deliver social innovations that may be sustained as social enterprises. • Improve social cohesion and well-being; reducing social isolation and loneliness by connecting people through collaborative creative activities that offer opportunities for shared experiences and meaningful encounters with others. • Increase employability and entrepreneurship through skills development, training and networking - both formal and informal - linked to challenge driven learning and creative collaborations that provide and support opportunities for residents to work with businesses & local organisations to develop skills and experiences that help them towards employment and stimulate social enterprise. • Support delivery of Camden's STEAM agenda by providing a making space as a prototype STEAM hub providing facilities and resources, accessible to schools and the wider community, to access digital making tools and to support the development of 'fusion' skills that combine arts & technology, cited as vital to future workforce development. These skills will be developed within the wider scope of creativity, critical thinking, problem-solving and collaborative teamwork that enable people to realize an idea from concept to prototype (e.g. object, product, system or service). • Support inclusive development of the local area by providing the physical and relational infrastructure required to directly involve local communities affected by re-development in shaping the public realm for Euston 2020 and HS2 developments via creative engagement and co-visioning of future scenarios. • Widen access to arts and culture through an inclusive programme of collaborative creative activities. Learning from PCL and M@SG is contributing to the development and delivery of Camden Council's Neighbourhood Hubs programme. The methods and tools for supporting cross-sector collaboration in address to local challenges developed through PCL and M@SG are contributing to the programming and activation of council owned spaces which, whilst awaiting development, are being bought into use as sites for social innovation and enterprise. |
| Collaborator Contribution | Camden Council officers contribute to the co-design and co-delivery of projects, convening relevant stakeholders, participating in workshops and supporting implementation of outputs. Somers Town Community Association lead on community engagement and all community facing activities ensuring the needs and priorities of local people shape the evolution of the space and its programme of activities. Lendlease's emphasis is in addressing the theme of social isolation and loneliness, through their Loneliness Lab initiative, with the intention being that through collaborative projects with local stakeholders learning around how the design of public and shared space can create connectedness. Central Saint Martins/UAL lead on the management and coordination of the space and the programme. Building on the PCL's ethos of 'learning together by doing together', the CSM team engages students and academics within collaborative projects as well as developing research and KE opportunities through M@SG. |
| Impact | Between October 2019 and February 2020 M@SG has: • Delivered 99 workshops/activities/events • Engaged 1003 people in activities • Involved 262 students in supporting activities • Engaged 75 stakeholders in collaborative project development The outcomes of these outputs are being evaluated and will be reported on in due course. |
| Start Year | 2019 |
| Description | Overcrowded Living project (Phase 1) |
| Organisation | Camden Council |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Public |
| PI Contribution | The Overcrowded Living project considers how design-led creative activities and collaborative processes can be used to engage residents and other stakeholders in generating insights into the challenges, needs and desires of different people living in overcrowded conditions and to identify opportunities to improve their situation and design the means by which to do so. The Public Collaboration Lab (PCL) research team, led by Professor Adam Thorpe, set the brief and supported MA Industrial Design students at Central Saint Martins deliver a series of co-discovery and co-creation workshops that helped identify key challenges and explored potential solutions to the overcrowded living problem in Camden. |
| Collaborator Contribution | Camden Council's front line staff, including those working for Public Health and Housing, provided access to overcrowded households and gave their insights and experience of working in this area. Residents in overcrowded housing discussed their challenges, needs and desires. MA Industrial Design students designed ways to: • Support residents who are living in overcrowded conditions where the option of moving to larger accommodation is unrealistic in the short to medium and long term. • Enable and support staff who are visiting/advising such households. • Help residents and staff to reimagine overcrowded spaces. • Enable peer-learning opportunities amongst residents and support web-based training resources which will enable front line staff to advise overcrowded residents (including videos). |
| Impact | The project provided the following outputs: • Design and application of tools and methods to enable collaborative research with residents and staff. • A set of visualised insights into the needs, desires, hopes and fears of people living in overcrowded accommodation (personas and scenarios). • A way of sharing these insights with the people that were engaged with along with design proposals in response to them. • A resolved design proposal that could be implemented by residents or staff or other stakeholders. • Space saving design/furniture for reducing impact of overcrowding. |
| Start Year | 2016 |
| Description | Overcrowded Living project (Phase 2) |
| Organisation | London Borough of Camden |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Public |
| PI Contribution | In 2016-17, Phase 2 of the project has seen 5 families living in overcrowded homes working with MA Industrial Design students at Central Saint Martins, council officers and researchers to co-design a range of adaptable furniture created specifically to address the challenges of overcrowded living. Collaborating families have co-created furniture that meets their needs and the students have developed these solutions into a modular furniture range that can be adapted to meet the diverse needs and spatial requirements of overcrowded families in Camden. The designs are digitally adapted and sized and then cut on a CNC machine to create bespoke flat pack products that can be assembled at home without glue, screws or nails. So far, the 5 collaborating families have co-produced bespoke furniture for their homes. The designers have also created a service proposition that means that many more families can benefit. Central to this proposition is a CNC that can be accessed by Camden residents and a place to locate the machine. The Public Collaboration Lab team are seeking funding and exploring the possible locations for a community maker space for Camden. It looks likely that Kings Cross Construction Skills Centre will host the machine in the new premises being built in 2020 and may be able to provide a temporary site in their car park in York Way prior to that. As part of this process we are exploring what Camden residents would make with access to a Community CNC as well as what other machinery residents might find useful in a Camden Community Maker Space. The project was led by Professor Adam Thorpe (Principle Investigator with the Public Collaboration Lab) and delivered a series of engagements and collaborative workshops with residents to contribute to the co-discovery of the challenges they face to co-create furniture and service solutions in response to these challenges. This project has been used as an exemplar within the Erasmus+ funded Open Design and Manufacture project that is running between 2017 and 2020 involving partners from Spain, Poland, Italy and the UK. |
| Collaborator Contribution | The participating housing officer on the project partnered in the direction and delivery of the project, including co-ordinating home visits with residents, participating in workshops, supporting the student team in collaborating with families and testing prototypes along with other council officers in other departments. |
| Impact | 2 x Workshops 10 x Home visits 3 x Creative consultation tools 6 x Furniture solutions 1 x Service proposition The furniture solutions co-designed within this project have since been developed further and the service proposition has been introduced to Camden councils housing team and Origin housing, a local housing association. There is potential for the service proposition to of benefit to over 4000 families living in social housing within the borough and also to be of benefit to first time residents who do not have furniture for the new homes. The service proposition is being developed and explored further as a social enterprise proposition and funding is being sought to do this. The scaling of the furniture project is dependent on the community having access to a CNC machine (a digital milling machine) so that furniture can be cut out to user requirements. The need for this machine has informed and inspired further collaboration with local partners, most notably Kings Cross Construction Skills College, to establish a public innovation and community maker space that can support thus kind of project. |
| Start Year | 2017 |
| Description | Reimagining Planning project |
| Organisation | Iceni Projects |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Private |
| PI Contribution | The Reimagining Planning project was a collaborative design sprint within the Public Collaboration Lab's (PCL's ) portfolio of collaborative design experiments. The project focused on a 4 week collaborative student project involving University College London (UCL) BSc Management Science and University of the Arts London (UAL) design students. The project was delivered in partnership with Camden Council and the PCL. It was led by Dr Lucy Kimbell (UCL design module tutor and UAL academic) in close collaboration with Professor Adam Thorpe (PCL). The project brought together students from diverse disciplines (Design and Management Science), users and non-users of Camden's planning system, and experts from different backgrounds (architects, planning consultants and planning officers) to collaborate to understand the planning system in the London Borough of Camden and the barriers to engagement with it as experienced by diverse publics. Also, to co-design and prototype ideas for better ways to engage people in processes of neighbourhood planning and development control in the borough. The PCL research team collaborated with the Strategy and Change and Planning and Development departments at Camden Council, UCL (Dr. Lucy Kimbell) and different departments within UAL to co-design and coordinate the project and support the teaching of students and delivery of site visits, field research and collaborative workshops with Camden residents. |
| Collaborator Contribution | Camden Council Strategy and Change team: Co-designing and coordinating the project, including enrolment and coordination of community researchers and workshop attendees. Camden Council Planning and Development Management team: Co-designing and coordinating the project, including enrolment and coordination of council officers in briefing the project team and coordinating and accompanying the site visits to 'live' planning applications and developments. Andrew Mulroy Architects: Briefing students and providing feedback to insights and proposals. Iceni Projects: Briefing students and providing feedback to insights and proposals. University College London, BSc Management Science: Coordination and delivery of the UCL student cohort and leading the tutoring linked to the UCL design module. Also, provided the premises. |
| Impact | Outputs of this collaborative project include: • A series of insights around diverse perspectives on engagement with the planning system. • A set of 'planning personas' to help inform/structure future planning engagement activities. • A set of proposals and prototypes for tools, methods and strategies for engaging a more diverse range of people within the planning process. Outcomes for different partners are listed below. Outcomes for UCL undergraduates: • Made tangible the abstraction of design thinking and gave insight into and experience of design methods and tools. • Through the project students developed their own understanding and expertise about the planning process and decision making. Outcomes for Camden Council Planning and Development Management team: • Articulation of insights and ideas around re-imagining the planning process. • Realisation of some of the reasons for lack of engagement of certain publics. • Re-emphasis of issues and challenges already known to the members of the team led to reflection and renewed intentions to 'act to resolve or address the issues raised'. Outcomes for Camden Council Strategy and Change team: • A cost neutral opportunity to greatly explore and extend the issue of planning engagement. • Learning from the project can be applied to a wide array of consultations and will be shared with engagement colleges. Outcomes for residents, users of the system, small businesses: • Some residents reported an increased ability and preparedness to participate in planning because they have more confidence to do so. Outcomes for expert participants (architects, consultants and activists): • Enabled experts to contribute to the process of reflection around the strengths and weaknesses and barriers and opportunities of the planning process based on their deep local knowledge of the planning system as users and campaigners. Enabled them to engage with Camden Council's Planning team in a different way. Outcomes for UAL/PCL: • Demonstrated that the process of learning through design and design methods can be grasped by non-designers. It showed that design methods can be learned and applied by a group of very young non-experienced non-designers in not much time (a sprint) with expert support / facilitation. i.e. it supports the argument that experiential learning works to develop design capacity at the same time as delivering useful insights into the design context. • Demonstrated how a design process can foster comfort amongst a diverse disciplinary group working with uncertainty. • Learned about the capacity of our collaborative infrastructure (cross agency/cross disciplinary team and ways of working) to be responsive to opportunity and context. • Understanding of an articulated design process as a 'boundary object' (Star, 1989) in the context of collaboration between and across disciplines and agencies. Consideration of the project itself as a boundary object, allowing both heterogeneity and cooperation in relation to critiques of the planning process. • Demonstrated scalability for the insights gained from the Future Libraries project i.e. If creative consultation/engagement can work within the complexity of the planning process then it can be useful in most instances of local government engagement and consultation. |
| Start Year | 2016 |
| Description | Reimagining Planning project |
| Organisation | London Borough of Camden |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Public |
| PI Contribution | The Reimagining Planning project was a collaborative design sprint within the Public Collaboration Lab's (PCL's ) portfolio of collaborative design experiments. The project focused on a 4 week collaborative student project involving University College London (UCL) BSc Management Science and University of the Arts London (UAL) design students. The project was delivered in partnership with Camden Council and the PCL. It was led by Dr Lucy Kimbell (UCL design module tutor and UAL academic) in close collaboration with Professor Adam Thorpe (PCL). The project brought together students from diverse disciplines (Design and Management Science), users and non-users of Camden's planning system, and experts from different backgrounds (architects, planning consultants and planning officers) to collaborate to understand the planning system in the London Borough of Camden and the barriers to engagement with it as experienced by diverse publics. Also, to co-design and prototype ideas for better ways to engage people in processes of neighbourhood planning and development control in the borough. The PCL research team collaborated with the Strategy and Change and Planning and Development departments at Camden Council, UCL (Dr. Lucy Kimbell) and different departments within UAL to co-design and coordinate the project and support the teaching of students and delivery of site visits, field research and collaborative workshops with Camden residents. |
| Collaborator Contribution | Camden Council Strategy and Change team: Co-designing and coordinating the project, including enrolment and coordination of community researchers and workshop attendees. Camden Council Planning and Development Management team: Co-designing and coordinating the project, including enrolment and coordination of council officers in briefing the project team and coordinating and accompanying the site visits to 'live' planning applications and developments. Andrew Mulroy Architects: Briefing students and providing feedback to insights and proposals. Iceni Projects: Briefing students and providing feedback to insights and proposals. University College London, BSc Management Science: Coordination and delivery of the UCL student cohort and leading the tutoring linked to the UCL design module. Also, provided the premises. |
| Impact | Outputs of this collaborative project include: • A series of insights around diverse perspectives on engagement with the planning system. • A set of 'planning personas' to help inform/structure future planning engagement activities. • A set of proposals and prototypes for tools, methods and strategies for engaging a more diverse range of people within the planning process. Outcomes for different partners are listed below. Outcomes for UCL undergraduates: • Made tangible the abstraction of design thinking and gave insight into and experience of design methods and tools. • Through the project students developed their own understanding and expertise about the planning process and decision making. Outcomes for Camden Council Planning and Development Management team: • Articulation of insights and ideas around re-imagining the planning process. • Realisation of some of the reasons for lack of engagement of certain publics. • Re-emphasis of issues and challenges already known to the members of the team led to reflection and renewed intentions to 'act to resolve or address the issues raised'. Outcomes for Camden Council Strategy and Change team: • A cost neutral opportunity to greatly explore and extend the issue of planning engagement. • Learning from the project can be applied to a wide array of consultations and will be shared with engagement colleges. Outcomes for residents, users of the system, small businesses: • Some residents reported an increased ability and preparedness to participate in planning because they have more confidence to do so. Outcomes for expert participants (architects, consultants and activists): • Enabled experts to contribute to the process of reflection around the strengths and weaknesses and barriers and opportunities of the planning process based on their deep local knowledge of the planning system as users and campaigners. Enabled them to engage with Camden Council's Planning team in a different way. Outcomes for UAL/PCL: • Demonstrated that the process of learning through design and design methods can be grasped by non-designers. It showed that design methods can be learned and applied by a group of very young non-experienced non-designers in not much time (a sprint) with expert support / facilitation. i.e. it supports the argument that experiential learning works to develop design capacity at the same time as delivering useful insights into the design context. • Demonstrated how a design process can foster comfort amongst a diverse disciplinary group working with uncertainty. • Learned about the capacity of our collaborative infrastructure (cross agency/cross disciplinary team and ways of working) to be responsive to opportunity and context. • Understanding of an articulated design process as a 'boundary object' (Star, 1989) in the context of collaboration between and across disciplines and agencies. Consideration of the project itself as a boundary object, allowing both heterogeneity and cooperation in relation to critiques of the planning process. • Demonstrated scalability for the insights gained from the Future Libraries project i.e. If creative consultation/engagement can work within the complexity of the planning process then it can be useful in most instances of local government engagement and consultation. |
| Start Year | 2016 |
| Description | Reimagining Planning project |
| Organisation | London Borough of Camden |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Public |
| PI Contribution | The Reimagining Planning project was a collaborative design sprint within the Public Collaboration Lab's (PCL's ) portfolio of collaborative design experiments. The project focused on a 4 week collaborative student project involving University College London (UCL) BSc Management Science and University of the Arts London (UAL) design students. The project was delivered in partnership with Camden Council and the PCL. It was led by Dr Lucy Kimbell (UCL design module tutor and UAL academic) in close collaboration with Professor Adam Thorpe (PCL). The project brought together students from diverse disciplines (Design and Management Science), users and non-users of Camden's planning system, and experts from different backgrounds (architects, planning consultants and planning officers) to collaborate to understand the planning system in the London Borough of Camden and the barriers to engagement with it as experienced by diverse publics. Also, to co-design and prototype ideas for better ways to engage people in processes of neighbourhood planning and development control in the borough. The PCL research team collaborated with the Strategy and Change and Planning and Development departments at Camden Council, UCL (Dr. Lucy Kimbell) and different departments within UAL to co-design and coordinate the project and support the teaching of students and delivery of site visits, field research and collaborative workshops with Camden residents. |
| Collaborator Contribution | Camden Council Strategy and Change team: Co-designing and coordinating the project, including enrolment and coordination of community researchers and workshop attendees. Camden Council Planning and Development Management team: Co-designing and coordinating the project, including enrolment and coordination of council officers in briefing the project team and coordinating and accompanying the site visits to 'live' planning applications and developments. Andrew Mulroy Architects: Briefing students and providing feedback to insights and proposals. Iceni Projects: Briefing students and providing feedback to insights and proposals. University College London, BSc Management Science: Coordination and delivery of the UCL student cohort and leading the tutoring linked to the UCL design module. Also, provided the premises. |
| Impact | Outputs of this collaborative project include: • A series of insights around diverse perspectives on engagement with the planning system. • A set of 'planning personas' to help inform/structure future planning engagement activities. • A set of proposals and prototypes for tools, methods and strategies for engaging a more diverse range of people within the planning process. Outcomes for different partners are listed below. Outcomes for UCL undergraduates: • Made tangible the abstraction of design thinking and gave insight into and experience of design methods and tools. • Through the project students developed their own understanding and expertise about the planning process and decision making. Outcomes for Camden Council Planning and Development Management team: • Articulation of insights and ideas around re-imagining the planning process. • Realisation of some of the reasons for lack of engagement of certain publics. • Re-emphasis of issues and challenges already known to the members of the team led to reflection and renewed intentions to 'act to resolve or address the issues raised'. Outcomes for Camden Council Strategy and Change team: • A cost neutral opportunity to greatly explore and extend the issue of planning engagement. • Learning from the project can be applied to a wide array of consultations and will be shared with engagement colleges. Outcomes for residents, users of the system, small businesses: • Some residents reported an increased ability and preparedness to participate in planning because they have more confidence to do so. Outcomes for expert participants (architects, consultants and activists): • Enabled experts to contribute to the process of reflection around the strengths and weaknesses and barriers and opportunities of the planning process based on their deep local knowledge of the planning system as users and campaigners. Enabled them to engage with Camden Council's Planning team in a different way. Outcomes for UAL/PCL: • Demonstrated that the process of learning through design and design methods can be grasped by non-designers. It showed that design methods can be learned and applied by a group of very young non-experienced non-designers in not much time (a sprint) with expert support / facilitation. i.e. it supports the argument that experiential learning works to develop design capacity at the same time as delivering useful insights into the design context. • Demonstrated how a design process can foster comfort amongst a diverse disciplinary group working with uncertainty. • Learned about the capacity of our collaborative infrastructure (cross agency/cross disciplinary team and ways of working) to be responsive to opportunity and context. • Understanding of an articulated design process as a 'boundary object' (Star, 1989) in the context of collaboration between and across disciplines and agencies. Consideration of the project itself as a boundary object, allowing both heterogeneity and cooperation in relation to critiques of the planning process. • Demonstrated scalability for the insights gained from the Future Libraries project i.e. If creative consultation/engagement can work within the complexity of the planning process then it can be useful in most instances of local government engagement and consultation. |
| Start Year | 2016 |
| Description | Reimagining Planning project |
| Organisation | Mulroy Architects Ltd |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Private |
| PI Contribution | The Reimagining Planning project was a collaborative design sprint within the Public Collaboration Lab's (PCL's ) portfolio of collaborative design experiments. The project focused on a 4 week collaborative student project involving University College London (UCL) BSc Management Science and University of the Arts London (UAL) design students. The project was delivered in partnership with Camden Council and the PCL. It was led by Dr Lucy Kimbell (UCL design module tutor and UAL academic) in close collaboration with Professor Adam Thorpe (PCL). The project brought together students from diverse disciplines (Design and Management Science), users and non-users of Camden's planning system, and experts from different backgrounds (architects, planning consultants and planning officers) to collaborate to understand the planning system in the London Borough of Camden and the barriers to engagement with it as experienced by diverse publics. Also, to co-design and prototype ideas for better ways to engage people in processes of neighbourhood planning and development control in the borough. The PCL research team collaborated with the Strategy and Change and Planning and Development departments at Camden Council, UCL (Dr. Lucy Kimbell) and different departments within UAL to co-design and coordinate the project and support the teaching of students and delivery of site visits, field research and collaborative workshops with Camden residents. |
| Collaborator Contribution | Camden Council Strategy and Change team: Co-designing and coordinating the project, including enrolment and coordination of community researchers and workshop attendees. Camden Council Planning and Development Management team: Co-designing and coordinating the project, including enrolment and coordination of council officers in briefing the project team and coordinating and accompanying the site visits to 'live' planning applications and developments. Andrew Mulroy Architects: Briefing students and providing feedback to insights and proposals. Iceni Projects: Briefing students and providing feedback to insights and proposals. University College London, BSc Management Science: Coordination and delivery of the UCL student cohort and leading the tutoring linked to the UCL design module. Also, provided the premises. |
| Impact | Outputs of this collaborative project include: • A series of insights around diverse perspectives on engagement with the planning system. • A set of 'planning personas' to help inform/structure future planning engagement activities. • A set of proposals and prototypes for tools, methods and strategies for engaging a more diverse range of people within the planning process. Outcomes for different partners are listed below. Outcomes for UCL undergraduates: • Made tangible the abstraction of design thinking and gave insight into and experience of design methods and tools. • Through the project students developed their own understanding and expertise about the planning process and decision making. Outcomes for Camden Council Planning and Development Management team: • Articulation of insights and ideas around re-imagining the planning process. • Realisation of some of the reasons for lack of engagement of certain publics. • Re-emphasis of issues and challenges already known to the members of the team led to reflection and renewed intentions to 'act to resolve or address the issues raised'. Outcomes for Camden Council Strategy and Change team: • A cost neutral opportunity to greatly explore and extend the issue of planning engagement. • Learning from the project can be applied to a wide array of consultations and will be shared with engagement colleges. Outcomes for residents, users of the system, small businesses: • Some residents reported an increased ability and preparedness to participate in planning because they have more confidence to do so. Outcomes for expert participants (architects, consultants and activists): • Enabled experts to contribute to the process of reflection around the strengths and weaknesses and barriers and opportunities of the planning process based on their deep local knowledge of the planning system as users and campaigners. Enabled them to engage with Camden Council's Planning team in a different way. Outcomes for UAL/PCL: • Demonstrated that the process of learning through design and design methods can be grasped by non-designers. It showed that design methods can be learned and applied by a group of very young non-experienced non-designers in not much time (a sprint) with expert support / facilitation. i.e. it supports the argument that experiential learning works to develop design capacity at the same time as delivering useful insights into the design context. • Demonstrated how a design process can foster comfort amongst a diverse disciplinary group working with uncertainty. • Learned about the capacity of our collaborative infrastructure (cross agency/cross disciplinary team and ways of working) to be responsive to opportunity and context. • Understanding of an articulated design process as a 'boundary object' (Star, 1989) in the context of collaboration between and across disciplines and agencies. Consideration of the project itself as a boundary object, allowing both heterogeneity and cooperation in relation to critiques of the planning process. • Demonstrated scalability for the insights gained from the Future Libraries project i.e. If creative consultation/engagement can work within the complexity of the planning process then it can be useful in most instances of local government engagement and consultation. |
| Start Year | 2016 |
| Description | Reimagining Planning project |
| Organisation | University College London |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | The Reimagining Planning project was a collaborative design sprint within the Public Collaboration Lab's (PCL's ) portfolio of collaborative design experiments. The project focused on a 4 week collaborative student project involving University College London (UCL) BSc Management Science and University of the Arts London (UAL) design students. The project was delivered in partnership with Camden Council and the PCL. It was led by Dr Lucy Kimbell (UCL design module tutor and UAL academic) in close collaboration with Professor Adam Thorpe (PCL). The project brought together students from diverse disciplines (Design and Management Science), users and non-users of Camden's planning system, and experts from different backgrounds (architects, planning consultants and planning officers) to collaborate to understand the planning system in the London Borough of Camden and the barriers to engagement with it as experienced by diverse publics. Also, to co-design and prototype ideas for better ways to engage people in processes of neighbourhood planning and development control in the borough. The PCL research team collaborated with the Strategy and Change and Planning and Development departments at Camden Council, UCL (Dr. Lucy Kimbell) and different departments within UAL to co-design and coordinate the project and support the teaching of students and delivery of site visits, field research and collaborative workshops with Camden residents. |
| Collaborator Contribution | Camden Council Strategy and Change team: Co-designing and coordinating the project, including enrolment and coordination of community researchers and workshop attendees. Camden Council Planning and Development Management team: Co-designing and coordinating the project, including enrolment and coordination of council officers in briefing the project team and coordinating and accompanying the site visits to 'live' planning applications and developments. Andrew Mulroy Architects: Briefing students and providing feedback to insights and proposals. Iceni Projects: Briefing students and providing feedback to insights and proposals. University College London, BSc Management Science: Coordination and delivery of the UCL student cohort and leading the tutoring linked to the UCL design module. Also, provided the premises. |
| Impact | Outputs of this collaborative project include: • A series of insights around diverse perspectives on engagement with the planning system. • A set of 'planning personas' to help inform/structure future planning engagement activities. • A set of proposals and prototypes for tools, methods and strategies for engaging a more diverse range of people within the planning process. Outcomes for different partners are listed below. Outcomes for UCL undergraduates: • Made tangible the abstraction of design thinking and gave insight into and experience of design methods and tools. • Through the project students developed their own understanding and expertise about the planning process and decision making. Outcomes for Camden Council Planning and Development Management team: • Articulation of insights and ideas around re-imagining the planning process. • Realisation of some of the reasons for lack of engagement of certain publics. • Re-emphasis of issues and challenges already known to the members of the team led to reflection and renewed intentions to 'act to resolve or address the issues raised'. Outcomes for Camden Council Strategy and Change team: • A cost neutral opportunity to greatly explore and extend the issue of planning engagement. • Learning from the project can be applied to a wide array of consultations and will be shared with engagement colleges. Outcomes for residents, users of the system, small businesses: • Some residents reported an increased ability and preparedness to participate in planning because they have more confidence to do so. Outcomes for expert participants (architects, consultants and activists): • Enabled experts to contribute to the process of reflection around the strengths and weaknesses and barriers and opportunities of the planning process based on their deep local knowledge of the planning system as users and campaigners. Enabled them to engage with Camden Council's Planning team in a different way. Outcomes for UAL/PCL: • Demonstrated that the process of learning through design and design methods can be grasped by non-designers. It showed that design methods can be learned and applied by a group of very young non-experienced non-designers in not much time (a sprint) with expert support / facilitation. i.e. it supports the argument that experiential learning works to develop design capacity at the same time as delivering useful insights into the design context. • Demonstrated how a design process can foster comfort amongst a diverse disciplinary group working with uncertainty. • Learned about the capacity of our collaborative infrastructure (cross agency/cross disciplinary team and ways of working) to be responsive to opportunity and context. • Understanding of an articulated design process as a 'boundary object' (Star, 1989) in the context of collaboration between and across disciplines and agencies. Consideration of the project itself as a boundary object, allowing both heterogeneity and cooperation in relation to critiques of the planning process. • Demonstrated scalability for the insights gained from the Future Libraries project i.e. If creative consultation/engagement can work within the complexity of the planning process then it can be useful in most instances of local government engagement and consultation. |
| Start Year | 2016 |
| Description | Social Isolation and Loneliness |
| Organisation | Camden Council |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Public |
| PI Contribution | The PCL research team delivered a landscape review of existing services in the borough that offer support to people experiencing social isolation and loneliness. The team delivered a workshop which mapped the services and the demographics they serve to identify barriers to success and opportunities for intervention to improve outcomes for service users. The insights from which where documented in a short film and report which was circulated to stakeholders. A second workshop assembled support services and service users to identify opportunities for collaboration that might bring together diverse groups of service users (for example students and older people). This workshop resulted in the co-design of pilot projects including the co-design of the Charlton Street - Co-designing a market of social value project. |
| Collaborator Contribution | Camden council supported the engagement and assembly of service providers and co-desighed and co-delivered the workshops. They also circulated the reported findings and provided support for the pilot projects that followed from the event. |
| Impact | The partnership contributed to the design and delivery of the pilot project Charlton Street - Co-designing a market of social value. |
| Start Year | 2018 |
| Description | Youth Hubs project |
| Organisation | London Borough of Camden |
| Department | Strategy and Change |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Public |
| PI Contribution | This Public Collaboration Lab (PCL) student project with first year MA Narrative Environments students at Central Saint Martins focused on Youth Hubs in Camden. The project was led by Professor Adam Thorpe and coordinated by the PCL research team who gave the students a unique insight into how their skills and competences can contribute to the co-creation of place-based propositions for local societal challenges - the existing Youth Hubs are currently considered unfit for delivering the diverse range of activities and services planned following the restructuring of Youth Services in Camden. |
| Collaborator Contribution | The MA Narrative Environments students acted as a bridge between a range of different organisations and individuals, helping to articulate and visualise the narratives of young people that are often overlooked. The group divided into three smaller groups who scoped their different youth centres and met the teenagers who use them, as well as interviewing the staff. Camden Council staff provided access to the Youth Hubs, a connection with the Youth Hub leaders and gave their insights into the restructuring and challenges of Youth Services in Camden. |
| Impact | Tbc |
| Start Year | 2016 |
| Description | Youth Hubs project |
| Organisation | London Borough of Camden |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Public |
| PI Contribution | This Public Collaboration Lab (PCL) student project with first year MA Narrative Environments students at Central Saint Martins focused on Youth Hubs in Camden. The project was led by Professor Adam Thorpe and coordinated by the PCL research team who gave the students a unique insight into how their skills and competences can contribute to the co-creation of place-based propositions for local societal challenges - the existing Youth Hubs are currently considered unfit for delivering the diverse range of activities and services planned following the restructuring of Youth Services in Camden. |
| Collaborator Contribution | The MA Narrative Environments students acted as a bridge between a range of different organisations and individuals, helping to articulate and visualise the narratives of young people that are often overlooked. The group divided into three smaller groups who scoped their different youth centres and met the teenagers who use them, as well as interviewing the staff. Camden Council staff provided access to the Youth Hubs, a connection with the Youth Hub leaders and gave their insights into the restructuring and challenges of Youth Services in Camden. |
| Impact | Tbc |
| Start Year | 2016 |
| Description | Arts Work of the Future with Digital Maker Collective |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | The Digital Maker Collective at University of the Arts London invited guest contributors/makers from across the globe, including MA Industrial Design students at Central Saint Martins who took part in the 2017 Public Collaboration Lab project responding to overcrowded housing in the London Borough of Camden, to transform the Tate Exchange into a large public tech innovation studio, a space to get hands-on with technology exploration and rapid prototyping, and discover new forms of collaborative digital making experimentation. The students had designed structural interventions and a system for distributing, manufacturing and assembling them to support residents who are living in overcrowded conditions where the option of moving to larger accommodation is unrealistic in the short to medium and long terms. The project was displayed all week as part of the Tate Exchange event at the Tate Modern, London. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
| URL | http://www.tate.org.uk/whats-on/tate-modern/tate-exchange/workshop/arts-work-future |
| Description | Bigger Picture presentation |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Local |
| Primary Audience | Undergraduate students |
| Results and Impact | Presentation at Bigger Picture event at CSM (14th November 2017). The work of the Public Collaboration Lab was presented by Adam Thorpe to over 500 undergraduate students from Central Saint Martins. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
| Description | Camden Council Senior Management Team |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Local |
| Primary Audience | Policymakers/politicians |
| Results and Impact | On Wednesday 25th November 2015 Adam Thorpe and Chris Widgery, Strategic Lead for Strategy and Change within Camden Council, gave a presentation of interim progress and outcomes of the Public Collaboration Lab research and prototype to the senior management team for London Borough of Camden. The presentation and the project received positive feedback and direction was given for the next stages of the project in regards to the prioritisation of council challenges/services to receive support from the Lab. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2015,2016 |
| Description | Camden Lab Space workshop |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Local |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | This co-design workshop was held on 23rd July 2015 with participants from Camden Council's Strategy and Change department, Public Collaboration Lab researchers and graduate and undergraduate 'sprint' teams (BA Graphic Design, MA Architecture and MA Industrial Design). The purpose of the workshop was to consult and collaborate with Camden Council's Strategy and Change team in the site selection and design for a collaborative workspace within 5 Pancras Square council premises. The aim was create awareness for the PCL and its ways of working and to get some initial insight into the approaches to project delivery within Camden Council. Outcomes of the workshop included a space design proposal for a PCL workspace at Camden Council as well as a scoping report on project journeys: - Focus on integration between Strategy and Change team officers and PCL staff and student teams. - Focus on exploration of synergy between a Systems Thinking approach and Human-Centred Design approach (teams have met since to learn more of each others approaches and look for ways to integrate approaches). |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2015 |
| Description | Camden Transformation Board |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Local |
| Primary Audience | Policymakers/politicians |
| Results and Impact | 'Public Collaboration Lab (PCL) Space and Identity Design' presented by Professor Adam Thorpe (PCL) to the Transformation Board at Camden Council on 18th August 2015. The presentation received raised awareness for design-led ways of working within the council. Proposals received approval from the board and led to further actions towards implementation of a Public Innovation Lab space within Camden Council's offices. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2015 |
| Description | Chair - Cumulus Hong Kong 2016 Open Design for E-very-thing |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | The Open Design for Engagement track of the conference was chaired by Adam Thorpe due to his work around the Public Collaboration Lab (PCL). It asked "What are the methods, tools and approaches that favour encounter and foster engagement - and ultimately participation - in 'open' processes of collaborative enquiry, visioning and production?" From living labs to design performances - this stream looked at platforms and practices that "stage" these encounters and engagements. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2016 |
| Description | Consultation Institute Special Interest Group event |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | On 5th November 2015, Adam Thorpe presented the Public Collaboration Lab (PCL) / Camden Council collaboration and Future Libraries project to 30+ members of the Consultation Institute Local Government Special Interest Group, hosted by Camden Council, as an example of innovation in consultation and engagement. The approach was greeted with interest and requests for further information about how other councils could deliver similar collaborative work with design Higher Education Institutions. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2015 |
| Description | Creative Engagement and Consultation JISCmail Special Interest Group |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A magazine, newsletter or online publication |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Policymakers/politicians |
| Results and Impact | Following the Creative Engagement and Consultation workshop on 12th February 2016, the Public Collaboration Lab (PCL) have created a special Interest group around creative engagement and consultation (facilitated by Dr Lara Salinas). The group aims to explore how design universities and local governments can work together to carry out local engagement in more creative and possibly more inclusive ways by using a participatory design approach and fostering opportunities for collaboration between local government and higher education design institutions. The membership consists of local government officers and design academics interested or active in new opportunities for collaborative learning and societal impact. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2016 |
| Description | Creative Engagement and Consultation workshop |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Other audiences |
| Results and Impact | A half-day workshop held on 12th February 2016 with local government and design higher education participants exploring the value of participatory design approaches to creative engagement and participation. The purpose of the workshop was, besides providing opportunities for collaboration, to explore how universities and councils can work together to carry out local engagement in more creative and possibly more inclusive ways by using participatory design approaches. As a networking event, the workshop sought to provide opportunities for collaboration. Follow up and facilitation was provided by the Public Collaboration Lab (PCL). It was an opportunity for local government to see the value of collaboration with higher education and vice versa. The outcome of this activity was a report that summarises the workshop insights and provides guidance/recommendations for local authorities and higher education institutions seeking to collaborate. In addition, higher education institutions and local authorities were more willing to collaborate as a result of the workshop for they now understood the value of higher education and local government collaboration, in particular of creative engagement and consultation activities. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2016 |
| Description | DXCC Conference Design for Collaborative Cities conference (Tongji University, China) |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Other audiences |
| Results and Impact | The Design for Collaborative Cities Conference (DxCC Conference) in October 2018 explored the questions: What can design do for social cohesion? What can it do for urban commons? How can it trigger and support a regenerative circular economy? How can it enrich the urban ecosystem with appropriate enabling infrastructure? It did so by bringing together researchers and practitioners to share and discuss "several meaningful examples worldwide". Adam Thorpe, Principle Investigator of PCL, introduced the findings of the PCL project discussing the contribution of their challenge-driven learning model, focused on 'learning together by doing together', to social cohesion in London Borough of Camden. The conference was one step in the roadmap of the DESIS Thematic Cluster on Collaborative Cities-an articulated design research programme self-organised by the international DESIS Network, involving several design schools worldwide and dealing with the issue of design and social innovation in city-making processes. Following the conference, PCL hosted a workshop on DxCC at University of the Arts London facilitated by Ezio Manzini (founder of the DESIS Network) and Adam Thorpe (Principle Investigator of PCL). |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
| URL | https://www.cumulusassociation.org/dxcc-conference-design-for-collaborative-cities-conference/ |
| Description | Democracy and Design seminar |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Professor Adam Thorpe (Principal Investigator with the Public Collaboration Lab) presented at this seminar at the Triennale in Milan which, in collaboration with the Department and the Faculty of Design at Milan Polytechnic, explored the possible contribution of design to the ideas and practices of democracy. Thorpe presented 'Design, city making and participative democracy' which discussed Design's contribution to distribute and diversify democratic decision making, and to open up the process of governance so as to include more diverse perspectives and possibilities. He also discussed the relevant approaches of design for social innovation, focused on finding new ways of addressing societal goals and challenges and drawing on work undertaken by the Public Collaboration Lab. Here, appreciation for the complexity, contextual specificity and socially situated nature of societal challenges has fostered approaches that distribute complexity and apply the principles of participatory and collaborative design in attempts to 'democratise innovation'. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2017 |
| URL | http://www.triennale.org/evento/seminariodemocrazia-e-designcontributi-per-una-democrazia-progettual... |
| Description | Driving Value and Business Innovation Through Collaboration Between Industry and Academia |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Policymakers/politicians |
| Results and Impact | An all-Party Parliamentary event, Design and Innovation, was held on 24th November 2015 at the House of Commons. Representatives from academia and creative industries, including Public Collaboration Lab (PCL) researcher Dr Lara Salinas, presented examples of university-industry-government projects. The main impact of the event was that, as well as providing an opportunity for networking and potential collaborations, it provided a dissemination of the PCL model. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2015 |
| Description | Education and Social Impact symposium (CENTRO University, Mexico City) |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Policymakers/politicians |
| Results and Impact | Keynote presentation for CENTRO University's Social Design Hub symposium on Higher Education and Social Impact, as part of the Mexico City World Design Capital 2018. Adam Thorpe was invited to contribute alongside speakers from the Universidad Federal de Rio in Brazil, Babson College in Boston, NESTA in London, Design Academy Eindhoven, and the Design Council in London. The symposium shared different perspectives and case studies around the topic of the social impact of higher education (education models, financing schemes, the future and other related issues). Thorpe presented the work of the AHRC-funded Public Collaboration Lab as an exemplar of how design Higher Education can deliver social impact working in collaboration with local government and community partners via challenge driven action learning projects addressing local societal challenges. Contacts made during the event have visited our research centre in London and exchanged knowledge and case studies to further our practices in the field of design-led social innovation. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
| URL | https://www3.centro.edu.mx/wp-content/uploads/Memorias-Simposio_Concordia_ENG.pdf |
| Description | Future Libraries project - Final presentations |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Local |
| Primary Audience | Policymakers/politicians |
| Results and Impact | MA Industrial Design students led by Professor Adam Thorpe and the Public Collaboration Lab (PCL) research team involved library users and citizens in a dialogue about the 'Future of Libraries' by using a range of creative engagement tools and techniques. Staff and students presented their insights and findings on 14th July 2015 to Camden Council officers working in different areas of the council such as Strategy and Change, Engagement and Consultation, Communication, as well as Legal department (amongst others). The work was very well received by the participants and the potential of these new creative engagement and consultation practices was recognised as significant. It was suggested that this approach be integrated into future engagement and consultation activities of the council and subsequently further requests for collaboration around projects of this kind have been received and actioned; including in the context of Youth Services and Planning and Development Management. The new approach has been diseminated more widely to local authorities and practitioners via several engagement events listed elsewhere. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2015 |
| Description | Future Libraries project - Insight discovery workshop |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | The workshop was organised by MA Industrial Design students working on the Future Libraries project on 11th May 2015. The Libraries Transition Manager, other council staff as well as diverse service users attended so the students could gain their insights into the challenges and opportunities that Camden's Library Service faces and what this means to customers and what services they value. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2015 |
| Description | Future Libraries project: Workshop 1 |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Local |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Workshop with library users/ Camden citizens on 20th June 2015 at Swiss Cottage Library, London Borough of Camden, to explore future of Camden's libraries. Diverse citizens contributed collaboratively to collective visioning of future libraries creating several new service propositions that were used to inform a Cabinet Office report. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2015 |
| Description | Future Libraries project: Workshop 2 |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Local |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Workshop with library users/Camden citizens on 22nd June at St Pancras Library, London Borough of Camden, to explore the future of Camden's libraries. Diverse citizens contributed collaboratively to collective visioning of future libraries creating several new service propositions that were used to inform a Cabinet Office report. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2015 |
| Description | Future Library project - Camden citizen engagements |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Local |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Public Collaboration Lab (PCL) staff and students delivered 250 creative consultation engagements with Camden citizens across 6 libraries in the London Borough of Camden between 4th - 11th June 2015. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2015 |
| URL | https://publiccollaborationlab.wordpress.com/2016/02/10/future-libraries/ |
| Description | Guest lecture MA Design Management, Lancaster University |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Postgraduate students |
| Results and Impact | Guest lecture by Public Collaboration Lab (PCL) researcher Dr Lara Salinas for MA Design Management, Lancaster University on 29th February 2016. The main purpose of the lecture was to share the PCL model on design for social innovation (higher education and local government collaboration). The outcome of the activity was dissemination of innovative collaborative models for service innovation. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2016 |
| Description | Home Community and Library workshop |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Local |
| Primary Audience | Other audiences |
| Results and Impact | This workshop held on 4th March 2016 explored a new service proposal to connect residents in Camden who may be at risk of loneliness and social isolation with cross-sector support related to their interests, and in doing so delivering early intervention in response to emergent needs. This new service platform, prototyped and tested by Masters students at University of the Arts London, aims to extend and build on relational values originating from the existing Camden Home Library Service to build capacity around a preventative approach to urgent and costly health and wellbeing demands. The purpose of the workshop was to explore opportunities for this service concept, to support the achievement of the desired outcomes of different organisations by helping them to identify and connect with relevant people in a community in human centred ways. The outcome of the workshop was to formulate new relationships and develop new funding models for the development and delivery of council services. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2016 |
| Description | Home Library Service project - Age UK workshop |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Local |
| Primary Audience | Third sector organisations |
| Results and Impact | An Age UK workshop took place on the 1st September 2015 at the Age UK Head Office. The workshop involved engaging local members to share their experiences of using Camden Council services, with the aim of them co-desiging future age friendly services that will enable a wider reach to the vulnerable within the community. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2015 |
| Description | Home Library Service project - Co-design activity with Camden Council officers |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Local |
| Primary Audience | Policymakers/politicians |
| Results and Impact | A co-design workshop was held on 18th September 2015 to explore the opportunities for introducing technology and volunteers in the redesign of the Home Library Service. In addition, the workshop explored how the service could be transformed into a new model of Adult Social Care with members from across departments in order to remove silos and barriers in the service development. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2015 |
| Description | Home Library Service project - Final presentations |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Local |
| Primary Audience | Policymakers/politicians |
| Results and Impact | On the 18th December 2015 a final presentation of the Home Community and Library was given to Senior Management from Camden Council. The presentation also offered new potential funding partners through the identification of overlapping agendas between the private and public sector. The final outcomes facilitated discussions on the future of government services and opportunities for new business models for council services. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2015 |
| Description | Home Library Service project - Interim presentation |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Local |
| Primary Audience | Policymakers/politicians |
| Results and Impact | A Home Library Service interim presentation took place on 27th July 2015 and was attended by Camden Council officers from Adult Social Care, Library Services, Transformation and Change, Systems Thinking and Strategy and Change departments. The aim of the presentation was to demonstrate the wider value of the current Home Library Service and the opportunity for it to be developed and transformed into a new model of Adult Social Care based on user interests and the sharing of tacit knowledge. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2015 |
| Description | Home Library Service project - Service concept workshop |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Local |
| Primary Audience | Policymakers/politicians |
| Results and Impact | On the 23rd October 2015 a workshop was held to engage council officers to explore the new service development concepts and in particular the digital platform for the service transformation of the Home Library Service. The new concept, the Home Community and Library, demonstrated the potential opportunities through a new digital platform for extending the Home Library Service and engaging volunteers in delivering the service. The concept(s) also demonstrated the potential for interest based Adult Social Care services. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2015 |
| Description | How Can a Designer Act as an Agent for Social Change? Democratising Innovation and Innovating Democracy |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Central Saint Martins (CSM) celebrated the launch of CSM Public with 'Art, Design and the Common Good', an evening of debate and exhibitions exploring how art and design schools can be agents for social change. The event celebrated the launch of several exhibitions across the college on this social theme which included the 'Public Collaboration Lab' exhibition. Adam Thorpe presented his socially responsive research and practice including the Public Collaboration Lab research project. The presentation and panel discussion raised awareness for the work of the Public Collaboration Lab leading to enquiries about future collaborative opportunities. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2016 |
| URL | http://www.arts.ac.uk/csm/csm-public/csm-public-launch-event/ |
| Description | Human-Centred Design and Systems Thinking: Two Approaches workshop |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Local |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | The workshop was held on 7th January 2016 between Public Collaboration Lab (PCL) project partners, design students and staff from the University of the Arts London and staff from Camden Council's Strategy and Change team, specifically the Systems Thinking team. The aim of the workshop (facilitated by Dr Sarah Rhodes) was to examine the differences and similarities in the two approaches (Human-centred Design and Systems Thinking) and explore the possibility of developing a framework for integrating aspects of both, which can subsequently be tested by the PCL. It addressed the research question: is there a language and/or a process that makes sense to all contributors of the PCL? The impact of the workshop was greater awareness by both parties of each other's working methodologies. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2016 |
| Description | Knowledge Quarter Steering Group |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Local |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Adam Thorpe presented the Public Collaboration Lab (PCL) research, including the Future Libraries project to the Knowledge Quarter (KQ) Steering Group on the 20th January 2016, hosted by Camden Council. The presentation was well received and resulted in a commission for PCL designers to design and deliver an engagement tool for a KQ engagement event to be hosted at the Wellcome Collection, London in March 2016. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2016 |
| Description | LDOC keynote presentation |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | London Doctoral Design Centre's (LDOC) 10th Keynote lecture titled 'What can participatory design contribute to participatory democracy: A response to the call to Stand Up for Democracy' by Lorraine Gamman and Adam Thorpe presented on 23rd November 2017 at Central Saint Martins. This presentation discussed the potential contribution of participatory design to democracy in local government and criminal justice, presenting work by the Public Collaboration Lab as one of the case studies. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2017 |
| URL | http://ldoc-cdt.ac.uk/keynote-10-what-can-participatory-design-contribute-to-participatory-democracy... |
| Description | Let's Sort it Out! Stakeholder feedback workshop (x2) |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | BA Product Design students at Central Saint Martins organised Stakeholder Feedback sessions at Fellows Road estate (16th February 2016) and Chalcots estate (17th February 2016) with stakeholders to gain their feedback and make better informed decisions about their product design proposals to facilitate waste disposal, increase recycling and reduce cross-contamination of waste streams at the estates. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2016 |
| Description | Let's Sort it Out! project - Final presentations |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Other audiences |
| Results and Impact | On 15th March 2016 the students on the Let's Sort it Out project presented their research, prototypes and proposals to the project stakeholders including Camden citizens, industry partners as well as Camden Council officers. The presentation of the outputs of the project led to requests from participants for further collaborative projects of this nature. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2016 |
| Description | Let's Sort it Out! project - Insight discovery workshop (x2) |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Insight Discovery collaborative workshops held at Chalcots estate (27th January 2016) and Fellows Road estate (29th January 2016) involving Camden residents, students and Camden Council officers and staff in exploring the issues surrounding waste contamination. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2016 |
| Description | MAKE in Camden |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Local |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Funded by the University of the Arts London Local Partnership Fund (LPF), the Public Collaboration Lab led the delivery of MAKE in Camden which successfully engaged Central Saint Martins, our local community and partners with the proposed concept of an 3rd space learning environment / creative co-working space and helped to further consolidate longer term, strategic partnerships and funding opportunities. The week long MAKE in Camden 'pop-up' enabled a clearer understanding of an initial proposal for an infrastructure and economic model for an open access space for public innovation - a Camden Public Innovation Place (CPIP). Over the course of the MAKE in Camden project we engaged with: 3 Camden primary schools 6 Camden community researchers 8 CSM technical staff 20 CSM academics actively engaged via curriculum projects and KE roundtable 10 local partner organisations in delivery of activities 30 CSM students 61 local partners participated in a strategic networking event 70 people via public survey There were: 1,259 visitors and participants in activities delivered during the week long event 17,655 hits on one MAKE Instagram post These activities produced data, insights and evidence to shape follow-on funding proposals and applications with our local partners and community. Through MAKE, we are now in a position to create more strategic framework objectives and programmes of work with the following key partners: Camden Council, KX Construction Skills Centre, Somers Town Community Association and the Living Centre. This insights and partnerships have enabled funding bids to local and EU funders. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
| URL | https://www.knowledgequarter.london/event/make-at-the-lethaby-gallery/ |
| Description | New Nordic Welfare Democratising Innovation workshop (Odense) |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | On 22nd October 2015 Adam Thorpe presented the Public Collaboration Lab model/project to two groups of 25+ (total 50+) practitioners and policy makers as a novel approach to public sector innovation. The presentation was one of three international case studies drawn upon to introduce the topic of 'democratising innovation' through social design. The presentation catalysed questions and debate and requests for further information, creating new collaborative opportunities with participants. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2015 |
| URL | http://subsites.odense.dk/subsites4/new%20nordic%20welfare# |
| Description | Overcrowded Living project - Camden sharing event (x2) |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Outcomes from the Overcrowded Living project were shared with stakeholders on 8th June 2016 and 11th October 2016. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2016 |
| Description | Overcrowded Living project - Co-design workshop |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | The Overcrowded Living project considers how design-led creative activities and collaborative processes can be used to engage residents and other stakeholders in generating insights into the challenges, needs and desires of different people living in overcrowded conditions to identify opportunities to improve the situation and design the means by which to do so. Central to this was this co-design workshop ran by MA Industrial Design students from Central Saint Martins on 28th May 2016 (supported by University of the Arts London and Camden Council) that helped identify key challenges and explored potential solutions to the overcrowding living problem. The stakeholders who attended the workshop included residents who are living in overcrowded accommodation and front line staff who visit or have contact with them, including those working for Public Health and Housing. The following outcomes came about through this workshop: - Design and application of tools and methods to enable collaborative research with residents and staff. - A set of visualised insights into the needs, desires, hopes and fears of people living in overcrowded accommodation (personas and scenarios). |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2016 |
| Description | PCL Future Libraries project |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Undergraduate students |
| Results and Impact | Invited speaker Dr Sarah Rhodes shared the Public Collaboration Lab (PCL) work with an international audience of twenty BFA Industrial Design students and design academics at Wayne State University, Detroit, US on 14th January 2016. The aim was to disseminate the work of the PLC to a wider international audience, eliciting feedback and sharing ideas. The outcome of the activities was wider engagement of PCL Future Libraries project. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2016 |
| Description | PCL evaluative interviews |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Postgraduate students |
| Results and Impact | 31 interviews were carried out by the independent evaluation team, the Institute for Local Government, University of Birmingham, with Public Collaboration (PCL) team members, council staff, students, citizens and stakeholders. A further 3 evaluative interviews were undertaken by the PCL team. The PCL team also undertook 19 interviews with local authority and design higher education institution staff. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2016 |
| Description | Plural Futures #2 Beyond Borders workshop |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Local |
| Primary Audience | Undergraduate students |
| Results and Impact | PLURAL FUTURES is a series of workshops programmed by University of the Arts London (UAL) sustainability co-ordinators Gary Campbell [CSM] and Rosemary Willatt [LCF] to encourage discourse and develop creative responses to a range of environmental, social and ethical issues. Each monthly event focuses on a different issue with an external organisation leading the session in an exchange of practice with UAL staff and students. This workshop was led by Professor Adam Thorpe and provided the opportunity to collaborate with staff, students, recent graduates from across UAL and a range of diverse communities to explore innovative ways of coming up with creative solutions for real life social problems. After the workshop, the attendees had the chance to network and discover more about the support available to fine tune their ideas, test their concepts and apply for the RSA Student Design Award (Beyond Borders), Mayor's Entrepreneur 2017 competition and the UAL SEED Fund. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2010,2017 |
| Description | Probes, Things and Objects |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | The Future Libraries Bureau, displayed in the PCL exhibition, is an engagement tool based on the board game Cluedo . It follows the fictional narrative of the board game's format - "There has been a murder in the old library and the killer has burnt it down to hide the evidence. While the police are hunting the murderer, a detective from the Future Libraries Bureau is trying to reshape the future of the new library with input from the general public, ensuring the new library works for the users better than before." We are interested in the role of the Future Libraries creative engagement tools and their relationship to existing definitions such as 'things', 'boundary objects' and 'cultural probes'. The terminology to describe the application of different PD practices has come from many areas and is sometimes inconsistent (Sanders et al. 2010). We propose, through this mini-workshop, to take a moment to experience the tools and reflect on their role and the need for specificity in their definition. The workshop takes the form of two activities, which are starting points for a group discussion. The workshop participants are: 1. Invited to interact with the Public Collaboration Lab engagement tools displayed in the exhibition, reflecting on their functionality, characteristics, etc. 2. Building on Sanders & Stappers work, map the tool on the revised Approaches to Making Framework (2014) These activities will inform a wider roundtable discussion on the various definitions of these objects, identifying which are the most useful and/or relevant in the context of PD research. The results of the above activities and a summary of the roundtable discussions will be documented as part of the wider Public Collaboration Lab research project, disseminated at research events in London, UK in October and, more informally, on the Public Collaboration Lab research blog. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2016 |
| Description | Red Lines Are Not For Crossing lecture |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Undergraduate students |
| Results and Impact | This lecture was organised by the Public Collaboration Lab (PCL) with two leading art activists in the global climate justice movement (John Jordan from the Laboratory for Insurrectionary Imagination and Robbie Gillett from Reclaim The Power) who spoke about how to use creativity to support the fight to save our planet, our people and ourselves here in the UK, in Paris (during the United Nations Conference on Climate Change - Cop21) and around the world. The lecture came out of the PCL project as it offered a way to democratise innovation; to freely share innovations with others to create user-innovation communities and a rich intellectual commons. The outcome of the lecture was that an art action build was organised and a network of artists and activists was created to work together to combat climate change. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2015 |
| Description | Red Lines Art Action Build workshop |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Undergraduate students |
| Results and Impact | This workshop was a day of collaborative creative action bringing people together to create pieces of insurrectionary art and objects of disobedience to take to the United Nations Conference on Climate Change (Cop21) in Paris on 29th November 2015. The workshop was run by the Public Collaboration Lab (PCL) as a strategic collaboration between design students and professional artists and activists to develop design-led approaches to a social challenge, in this case climate change. The workshop built on the aims of the PCL to democratise social innovation. The outcome of the workshop was the below pieces of art activism which were taken to the streets of Paris during the Cop21 conference: • GIANT INFLATABLE MESSENGER BARRICADES • BRANDALISM POSTER CAMPAIGNS • INSURRECTIONARY ART PERFORMANCES |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2015 |
| Description | Reframing Migration workshop |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Looking around, we can recognise several examples of migrating people catalysing and contributing to new ways of meeting everyday needs - collaborative initiatives and organisations demonstrating in practice how inclusion can be promoted by creating the conditions for migrants and resident communities to explore new ways of living and working together. Thanks to these activities, we are seeing the migrant problem turned on its head, where migrants and resident communities are co-producing solutions that provide opportunities for the whole of society. The Reframing Migration workshop was organised to explore examples of these positive practices to better understand how to create the conditions for migration as social innovation. The workshop used the learning from the Public Collaboration Lab (PCL); taking a whole system approach, seeing all people as contributors and strengthening community cohesion to define an approach which can be extended and applied elsewhere. The outcomes of the workshop were: • Reframing Migration Workshop Report: A Fresh Look at Migration http://www.desisnetwork.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/Reframing-Migration-REPORT_2016.pdf • Film by Permaculture People https://youtu.be/y1ffqX2pSw0 |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2016 |
| URL | http://www.desisnetwork.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/Reframing-Migration-REPORT_2016.pdf |
| Description | Reimagining Adult Social Care workshop |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Other audiences |
| Results and Impact | This one-day co-design workshop held on 30th November 2015 was led by Lucy Kimbell with Merton Council, Social Kemistri, Kareinn and Uscreates (amongst others) to generate visions for looking after older people. Rather than completely 'reimagining' Adult Social Care, the focus for the day was very much about looking at it from a human-centred point of view, concentrating on the people involved, empathy and the value beyond monetary concerns. The outcome of the workshop included identifying common key points including ensuring equal exchange of common interests, common rules such as respecting personal space, providing support and community groups for both parties and the need to build on existing services. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2015 |
| Description | Reimagining Planning project - Field visits and interviews |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Local |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | On 22nd January 2016 research staff and students attended site visits and interviewed planning experts including; architects, developers, development consultants and planning officers. Teams of students and researchers also visited a development area and conducted observations and interviews. The purpose of this activity was ethnographic research for the project. Participant organisations agreed to future involvement in activities of this kind. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2016 |
| Description | Reimagining Planning project - Final presentations |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Local |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | On 12th February 2016 the students and Reimagining Planning team presented their research, prototypes and proposals to the project stakeholders including Camden citizens, architects and planners engaged in the project, as well as Camden Council officers. The presentation of the outputs of the project led to requests from participants for further collaborative projects of this nature. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2016 |
| Description | Reimagining Planning project - Idea generation + co-design with users workshop |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | This workshop was part of the Reimagining Planning project which aimed to support Camden Council by producing new insights about how people currently engage in planning and ideas for how they might do so more effectively in future. UCL's BSc Management Science students and students from several design courses at Central Saint Martins ran the workshop on 29th January 2016 to generate ideas for the project. The workshop used methods associated with service design and "design thinking" in the context of a real challenge - planning. The outcomes of the workshop were: • Personas: Profiles of types of user of the Planning system, based on research. • Journey maps: Visual representations of people's experiences of the Planning system, based on research. • Insights and opportunities report: A summary of the main insights from the research into people's experiences, barriers they face in the Planning system/process and motivations for getting involved, and opportunities for the council to do things differently. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2016 |
| Description | Reimagining Planning project - Live prototying with citizens |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Local |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | On 5th February 2016 a diverse group of citizens (identified by the council's community researchers) participated in live prototyping sessions exploring possible scenarios for planning engagement. Students within the groups presented their prototypes as desk top walk-throughs and role plays and citizens interacted with them providing discussion and feedback. Students reported that they gained valuable feedback from the audience that they would not normally have access to and citizens reported that this experience gave them more insight and confidence to engage in the planning process(es). |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2016 |
| Description | SIL workshop 1 |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Local |
| Primary Audience | Third sector organisations |
| Results and Impact | Working with Camden to tackle Social Isolation and Loneliness (SIL) in the borough. Tackling SIL is a council priority and the Public Collaborative Lab (PCL) was asked to catalyse a collaborative response from Camden stakeholders. PCL designed and delivered a workshop in December 2017 to map existing initiatives to tackle SIL within the borough. A report has been written and submitted to the council and a short film has been made. A number of new partnerships and collaborative projects are developing as a result of the workshop. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2017 |
| Description | SIL workshop 2 |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Local |
| Primary Audience | Third sector organisations |
| Results and Impact | Working with Camden to tackle Social Isolation and Loneliness (SIL) in the borough. Tackling SIL is a council priority and the Public Collaborative Lab (PCL) was asked to catalyse a collaborative response from Camden stakeholders. PCL designed and delivered a workshop in December 2019 to map existing initiatives to tackle SIL within the borough and followed this up with a workshop in March 2018 which brought together local organisations to explore opportunities for collaboration to further impact upon SIL in Camden. The March workshop deployed a method called 'collaboration jam' which was developed via the AHRC funded DESIS-UK network activities. After the workshop, participating organisations continued to work together to explore opportunities for collaboration to further impact upon SIL in Camden. One such collaboration involving the PCL is Chalton Street: Market of Social Value which involved PCL researchers and staff and students from Central Saint Martins working with local community groups to co-design market stalls for use by residents to re-invigorate a local market street and create opportunities for connection and exchange. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
| Description | Weaving People and Places seminar |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | This event was the last step in the University of the Arts London (UAL) Cultures of Resilience (CoR) project, organised by Ezio Manzini and Nick Bell with Professor Adam Thorpe as part of the editorial board. There are two mainstream trends that are currently weakening communities-in-place: that of a hyper-individualised, delocalised society; and that of the notion of going back to the communities and places of the past. This event presented examples of art and design contributions to processes of community building that can counter these trends and help enable conditions for the kind of encounters that evolve towards new social forms. This seminar focused on collective reflection, and was an opportunity to discuss how in our current context, art and design is collaborating to (re)build communities-in-place. The outcome of the workshop was this report http://culturesofresilience.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/CoR-Weaving-People-and-Places-booklet.pdf |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2016 |
| URL | http://culturesofresilience.org |
| Description | XXII International Research Society for Public Management annual conference |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Design-led Approaches to Public Value Creation in Public Administration and Public Management. Co-Chairs: Jenny Lewis; Arwin van Buuren; Christian Bason; Mateusz Lewandowski; Catherine Mangan; Adam Thorpe. The public sector has traditionally been seen as an inhospitable environment for change and innovation. However, increased austerity and dissatisfaction with existing approaches have fuelled interest in bringing design-led social innovation to bear on public policy and public services. Shrinking resources, discontented electorates and complex problems of the last decade have prompted the public sector to look for new ways of governing, and developing and delivering public services. In this effort, design has been heralded as a central concept because of its user-centeredness that in a co-productive or co-creative way bridges the gap between public policies, services and citizens' needs and expectations, and environmental challenges (Thorpe & Gamman, 2016; Thomas & Grace, 2008; Junginger, 2014; Mulgan, 2014, Sangiorgi, 2015). Consequently, all kinds of living labs, policy experiments and other ways of 'learning-by-doing' are rapidly gaining popularity in public administration (Gascó, 2016), in order to co-create value with involved stakeholders and in particular service users to strengthen the user-orientation in public policy and services and collectively solve complex challenges (Oosterlaken, 2009; Tromp, Hekkert, & Verbeek, 2011). Although the notion of public administration as a design science is certainly not new (Simon, 1971; Miller, 1984; Shangraw & Crow, 1997; Meyer, 2005), there is much that we do not know about the application of design thinking to public policy. Design remains underexplored as an approach to create new forms of public value. Further, the contribution of design as a co-production strategy within public sector contexts is not yet well understood. Hence, this panel is dedicated to explore the principles, methodological underpinnings, challenges and practices of applying design-oriented approaches to the field of public policy and governance. In particular, within the scope of the IRSPM theme, the panel seeks to explore how design-led approaches contribute to realising ambitions around the co-creation and co-production of public services. This panel has started discussion around establishing a SIG in co-design in public administration within IRSPM. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
| URL | https://medium.com/the-policy-lab/design-led-approaches-to-public-value-creation-in-public-administr... |
| Description | Youth Hubs project - Final presentations |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Other audiences |
| Results and Impact | On 16th March 2016 the students on the Youth Hubs project presented their research, prototypes and proposals to the project stakeholders including Camden citizens, Youth Hub leaders and Camden Council officers. The presentation of the outputs of the project led to requests from participants for further collaborative projects of this nature. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2016 |